KTAR News: Water Watch

The three lower basin states, Arizona, California and Nevada, have come to an agreement on hwo to conserve more than 3 million acre feet of Colorado River water over the next 2 years. Arizona is committing to a 27% mandatory reduction of its Colorado River supply or 10% of the state's total annual water use. 

The City of Peoria is undertaking a $40 million project to drill three new groundwater wells to be able to meet demand. The extra wells are to prepare for potential Colorado River water cuts as Peoria gets about 60% of their water supply from the Central Arizona Project. The groundwater wells are also needed to support the Amkor semiconductor packaging facility coming to the area. 

The City of Phoenix says it is not running out of water but will need to tap into backup supplies to meet demand over the next 10 years. Phoenix recently looked at its water supply and demand then evaluated how potential Colorado River water cuts will impact its water management. 

There's a new bipartisan push to secure drought resiliency funding for the Southwest. Arizona U.S. Representatives Greg Stanton and Andy Biggs sent a letter to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation asking for at least $450 million in Inflation Reduction Act funding to be released for water projects. Biggs says it should be used to get the desalination plant in Yuma up and running. 

Salt River Project is confident they have enough water to meet demand following a warmer than normal spring. The entire SRP reservoir system, as whole, is about 54% full right now. SRP Senior Hydrologist Jake Richardson says while we had decent rain in the fall, low snowpack and an unseasonably warm spring made it difficult for much for that water runoff to reach the reservoirs. 

Volunteers filled up an entire dumpster with trash following a cleanup at the Tres Rios wetlands earlier this month. The annual cleanup happens every April to coincide with Earth Month. Phoenix Water Assistant Director Nazario Prieto says while there is an illegal dumping problem, sometimes folks recreating out there leave their trash behind too. 

The U.S. Geological Survey has a new AI tool to predict drought conditions of the nation's rivers up to three months out. The free public tool from the USGS shows 80% of Arizona's rivers are in streamflow drought as of this week, with no signs of improving. 

The Bureau of Reclamation will likely be making a decision on a new Colorado River operating agreement in the next two weeks. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Doug Burgum tells the Mike Broomhead Show the more than 100-year-old treaty was created during a wet cycle, adding some cuts will have to be implemented due to sustained drought. 

Arizona looks to desalination to secure new water supplies. Desalination is the process of taking ocean water and removing the salt. Startup OceanWell is still in the research and development phase. Their technology is different from onshore desalination because it takes place 400 meters below the ocean's surface and uses water pressure to save on energy costs. 

Arizona's first Advanced Water Purification plant is about three years out from taking wastewater and making it drinkable. The City of Phoenix celebrated being halfway done with construction at the Cave Creek facility by filling up a treatment basin with one million gallons of water last week. It's part of the Pure Water Phoenix program. 

The Community Water Project Acceleration Act would speed up the time it takes cities and towns to receive federal funding for smaller water projects. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works projects with limited federal funding would be allowed a categorical exclusion to bypass the environmental assessment, which can face years long delays, in order to receive money more quickly. 

The Northern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement is asking for $5 billion in federal funding to be implement. Arizona U.S. Senator Mark Kelly pleaded with Congressional members to fund the measure that guarantees water sources for the Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes. 

Arizona Congressman Greg Stanton hopes any Colorado River water rights deal will be split equally among the upper and lower basins. He says disproportionate water cuts for Arizona would be unfair because we lead the way in terms of water conservation. 

February's snowstorm in the high country hopes to produce ample snowmelt runoff for the watersheds. Salt River Project was out on the Verde River watershed last week to measure the snowpack and calculate how much water it will produce. SRP Senior Hydrologist Stephen Flora says they went to Happy Jack to measure the snow water equivalent in the Verde River watershed. 

The U.S. Department of Interior is working on a Colorado River water rights settlement after the seven basin states failed to come to an agreement by the February 14th deadline. Arizona U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego believes a federal settlement will be more favorable for Arizona as opposed to a seven-state agreement. 

The Feb. 14 deadline has passed, and the basin states still don't have a new Colorado River operating agreement amid historic drought. Central Arizona Project President Terry Goddard tells Arizona's Morning News it's the longest, continuous reduction in precipitation in roughly 1,000 years. Lakes Powell and Mead are dangerously close to dead pool. The basin states have until the end of the year to finalize a new operating agreement into state and federal law. 

A new experimental technology called cloud seeding is being used in Arizona to produce more rain. About 30 cloud seeding tests were done in Pinal County last summer. The project cost nearly $220,000 to execute and produced about 34,000-acre feet of rain, for a water cost of roughly $6.50 an acre foot.  

Proposed legislation would allow New York City hedge fund Water Asset Management to sell water from the McMullen Valley aquifer, in Western Arizona, to municipalities in the Valley. Wenden residents worry this will further deplete the aquifer, while WAM maintains they can help extend the life of the aquifer. 

Salt River Project has teamed up with ASU and Airborne Snow Observatories to measure the snowpack in the Salt River Basin. ASO uses aircraft outfitted with lidar technology to measure the snowpack. ASU grad students then put the data into hydrological models to help inform how much water comes into the Salt River Basin. 

The Town of Cave Creek paid $50k in October to buy one acre of land from Harquahala Valley Landowners LLC that would have given them 500 acre feet of groundwater a year for the next 100 years. 

Rio Verde Foothills residents now have access to hauled water thanks to a year’s long project from EPCOR. Scottsdale stopped brining water to the unincorporated community in 2023. EPCOR Senior Vice President of Regulated U.S. Water Shawn Bradford explains this is when EPCOR stepped in and started working with Maricopa County, the City of Scottsdale and the Arizona Corporation Commission on a solution. 

The Center for Biological Diversity has accused federal appraisers of ignoring water concerns in Southern Arizona. The environmental nonprofit received documents showing appraisers for Housing and Urban Development, as well as the Federal Housing Administration are not including water scarcity in their reports for homes in Sierra Vista and Fort Hauchuca. 

Glendale Community College students were awarded grants for their projects creating sustainable solutions to affordable housing and water scarcity. Third-place winner Farah Manasir received $1,000 for her NanoLoop project - Affordable Water Recycling for Arizona Homes and Communities. 

A water study conducted in-part by Northern Arizona University found the Rio Grande River in New Mexico and Texas is potentially at risk of a water shortage due to overuse. By measuring the amount of water coming into the river and subtracting what is being taken out, it found about 50% overuse of the river from what’s available.

The Arizona Board of Regents has awarded $3 million to the Arizona Hub for Agriculture Innovation Research, which will work on solutions to make the industry more sustainable given water challenges. The tri-university initiative will take place in Yuma where they grow high value crops year-round.