COUNCIL COMMUNICATION
TO: Honorable Mayor and Council
FROM: Kelly Garry, City Attorney
SUBJECT:Title
Adopt Resolution No. 17-3175 Opposing the Proposed Transfers of Colorado River Water to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District from the Town of Quartzsite and Lands Situated in the Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District
Body
FUNDING SOURCE:
N/A
PURPOSE:
Adopt resolution opposing proposed transfers of Colorado River water to central Arizona.
BACKGROUND:
Recent actions by the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) to acquire water rights allocated to this region are causing alarm.
The Town of Quartzsite and CAWCD recently entered into a long-term lease to transfer Quartzsite’s 1,070 acre-feet of 4th Priority Colorado River water to Central Arizona. This proposed transfer must be approved by the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which the parties have already submitted an application for approval. The Mohave County Water Authority retained legal counsel to advise it on this matter and intends on filing objections to the transfer at the State and Federal levels.
Similarly, in October the CAWCD Board will consider a proposed Purchase and Sale Agreement to Acquire Water Rights and Farmland in Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District (MVIDD) from various landowners. The $34 million transaction includes the acquisition of 2,125 acres of land and the accompanying water rights consisting of 2,500 acre-feet of present perfected rights and 11,429 acre-feet of 4th Priority Colorado River water.
There are a number of areas of concern with these actions, but of most concern is the transfer of 4th Priority Colorado River water out of the Colorado River mainstem communities to central Arizona. As part of the negotiations leading to the approval of what is now the Central Arizona Project, Arizona officials wisely and, consistent with prudent water management, recognized that the on-river communities within what is now the "Accounting Surface" (with the exception of the Yuma area which had pre-existing contracts) had no source of water other than the Colorado River. To address this, they set aside 10% (approximately 165,000 acre-feet) of Arizona's available Colorado River allocation for future growth along the mainstem.
The majority of the proposed water transfers from Quartzsite and the MVIDD allocations are from the 10% set aside. If these proposed transfers are successful, it opens the door to the depletion of water allocations on the mainstem.
MCWA, since its inception over twenty years ago, has consistently objected to any movement of the 10% set aside to central Arizona and will continue to do so. MCWA urges the opposition to these transfers and adopted resolutions to this effect.
If adopted by the City Council, copies of this resolution will be provided to the City’s Federal and State legislators, the Governor of Arizona, the Bureau of Reclamation, the Arizona Department of Water Resources, and the Mohave County Water Authority.
COMMUNITY IMPACT:
Promotes the protection of Colorado River water allocations to the river communities and the effective management of water resources for rural Arizona.
FISCAL IMPACT:
N/A
ATTACHMENTS:
Resolution No. 17-3175
SUGGESTED MOTION::Recommended Action
I move to adopt Resolution No. 17-3175 opposing the proposed transfers of Colorado River water to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District from the Town of Quartzsite and lands situated in the Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District.