By Janet Perez
Mail | X: @AzNewsmedia

Former Arizona attorney general, Phoenix mayor and current Central Arizona Project Board President Terry Goddard made a presentation to the Florence Town Council at its Monday meeting to provide general information about CAP projects and the Colorado River shortage.

Florence receives an annual allotment of 2,048 acre-feet from the Central Arizona Project that is not for potable use, but the water resource is still important to the town, according to a staff report. One acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons.

“The town’s Central Arizona Project allotment is recharged to the aquifer at New Magma Irrigation District,” the report stated. “Recharge is the primary method in which water enters an aquifer through percolation. By recharging this water, the town earns long-term storage credits that can be used later via groundwater pumping or to offset the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District fees for excess pumping fees.”

The Central Arizona Project is a 336-mile aqueduct that stretches from Lake Havasu to Tucson and includes 14 pumping plants that lift water nearly 3,000 feet, according to Goddard’s presentation.

The CAP service area covers Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties, where 80% of the state’s population resides with nearly six million people. Water allocation is 46% for tribes and 54% for municipal areas.

The CAP is governed by the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, a 15-member board of directors with 10 members from Maricopa County, four from Pima County and one from Pinal County.

The Arizona Water Banking Authority has acquired long-term storage credits that are intended to mitigate the effects of a Colorado River shortage on Central Arizona Project municipal and industrial subcontractors by meeting water supply demands when diversions from the Colorado River have been or will be disrupted by shortages,” the staff report stated.

Florence entered an intergovernmental agreement with the Arizona Water Banking Authority in September to allow for the ability to recover any reductions of the town’s CAP allotment either by receiving stored water or long-term storage credits.

Currently, Goddard told the council that the Lower Colorado River Basin is in a Tier 2a shortage, representing a 3% reduction to the state’s Colorado River supply. He added that strong snowfall this year will push up the basin to a Tier 1 shortage in 2024, representing a 0% reduction to Arizona’s Colorado River supply.

Goddard, however, cautioned against depending on snowfall to replenish the river and stressed the need for conservation. In his presentation, Goddard showed how voluntary water conservation in the state, along with mandatory shortage reduction and Drought Contingency Plan contributions saved the state more than 3.7 million-acre feet of water from around 2014 to 2023.

We’d like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org. Janet Perez can be reached at jperez@iniusa.org.

Janet Perez
News Editor | Queen Creek & San Tan Valley

jperez@iniusa.org

Meet Janet
Janet Perez joined Independent Newsmedia as editor of the Queen Creek Independent and Florence Independent in 2020. She started her career in 1989 with the Gannett-owned El Paso Times. In 1992, she moved to Tempe and has worked in newspapers, magazines, radio and television. She left Arizona for three years to work at New Mexico State University and Baylor University before returning to work at Arizona State  University. Missing the business, she went back to journalism in 2017.

Community: A long-time pet owner, she supports animal welfare causes.

Education: University of Texas at El Paso with a BA in journalism and a minor in political science. 

Random Fact: She had a head full of random facts.  

Hobbies: Reading, watching documentaries, cooking and playing with her dogs.