Holly Irwin, a district supervisor in La Paz County, home to Cibola, is fighting the plan. President Joe Biden has approved three bills that will improve access to water for three tribes in Arizona amid an unrelenting drought. Supplemental water deliveries to Lake Powell began in July 2021 under emergency provisions of the 2019 Drought Response Operation Agreement. Lake Mead's drop is the result of an ongoing megadrought that's persisted for 22 years. Were working on phasing into the other responsibilities that we have, of actually making that water available to others when shortages hit us.. We dont operate facilities, OConnell explained. Salt and Verde River water from SRP. The Cities along the river currently use less than half of their existing municipal entitlement. But its also at risk of having water curtailed because its a lower-tier right. The Water Bank relies on 26 storage facilities across the state. Phoenix and other cities haveconsidered pumping more groundwateras climate changes effects continue to strain rivers. Those recharge basins can vary significantly in size. You might also like: Lake Mead and Colorado River Basin Water Shortage: Causes, Effects, and Policy Solutions. Following more than two decades of a megadrought that has shrunk the Colorado River and drawn down the Lake Powell reservoir to levels dangerously close to the cutoff for continued hydropower production it almost sounds like a parable. As drought pushes east, more intense wildfires are sparking in new areas. I dont necessarily see excess water being available again in the future. Current increases in metro Phoenix break down like this: City leaders wont have to worry about losing their Colorado River water next year, but more extreme shortages could hit closer to home. Unfortunately, the States failed to produce a viable plan by the deadline. It is worth noting that despite a population increase of six million residents since 1957, Arizona has been using about the same amount of water now as they did then. When the elevation of Lake Mead is projected in August to fall to 1,075 feet or lower by the end of the current year, the federal government is to declare a Tier 1 Shortage beginning in January. In late April 1996, Lake Powell sat at an elevation of 3,673 feet just 27 feet below its maximum capacity. We anticipate a Tier 1 Colorado River Shortage in 2022 will be declared next week with the release of the United States Bureau of Reclamation (BOR)s August 24-Month study. As drought tightened its decades-long grip on the American West, leaders in 2019 signed a series of agreements known as the Drought Contingency Plan, which call for leaving more water in Lake Mead to delay severe shortages. This targeted Boosting helps us to reach wider audiences aiming to convince the unconvinced, to inform the uninformed, to enlighten the dogmatic. In addition to declaring the Tier 2a Shortage, Reclamation reiterated that even further reductions will be needed in 2023 since the current framework is not doing enough to protect the River. Where rates are increasing, it generally comes out to a few dollars per month for the average homeowner. Now Arizona is experiencing that junior status. CAP and ADWR authored a Colorado River Shortage Fact Sheet you can read for more information, but here are the highlights: Arizona will have a substantial cut to its Colorado River water allocation with the bulk of the cuts falling on Central Arizona agriculture water users. Even after investing billions in treatment plants and infrastructure to utilize Colorado River water, the ten AMWUA cities have been preparing for years to receive less water from the River. Mandatory shortages are affecting some states, and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation has called for more widespread cuts as key reservoirs shrink. Each profile features information and data visualizations that Arizonans can use to better understand and impact their communities. 181,000 acre-feet is enough water to supply over 5,400 average US households for an entire year. Over the same period, the state has recorded 6.2 more days that are above 110F (43C), which translates to significantly more danger days where residents are more likely to succumb to heat-related health issues and deaths. According to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, 1 acre-foot of water or the amount of water required to fill a single acre of land to a depth of 1 foot is enough to serve up to 3.5 single-family households annually. Guest Login provides access to public areas of this site. State lawmakers passed a measure last year to allow local municipalities to use their own infrastructure to pump groundwater, a process known as independent recovery, to deliver to their customers. All rights reserved. So what does this mean for the people of Arizona? The states Water Bank operates by exchanging Colorado River water for long-term credits, which may then be used to access stored water in the future. The Arizona water shortage 2021 is just the beginning of an ongoing crisis in the region, as climate change-induced droughts and heatwaves have driven water levels at Lake Mead and the Colorado River to plummet. After 25 years, its savings balance stored underground in facilities across the state has grown to 3.75 million acre-feet. Our readers include residents, business owners, water wonks, elected officials, and journalistspretty much anyone who cares about water. A Tier 3 shortage would impact the amount of water available to Arizona cities and tribes, according to the Central Arizona Project. These record lows prompted the first-ever Tier 1 Water Shortage declaration for the reservoirs, which has been in effect since early 2022, requiring water users including states like Nevada as well as Mexico to conserve and reduce their water consumption. Considering Arizona relies more than 40% of water supplies from groundwater, lawmakers need to address the unregulated drainage of rural groundwater by industrial farms. Projections of Lake Powell indicate the potential of falling below the minimum power pool as early as July 2022. Central Arizona Water Conservation District board President Terry Goddard said last month that his agency predicts almost for certain that even larger Tier 3 cuts The bank never intended to fully firm 100 percent; we knew we would never have enough credits to do that, she explained, referring to the technical term for using the stored water to shore up supplies. But Arizona was hit hardest by the declaration with nearly one fifth of the states water supply being cut off. Farmers therefore will be impacted first (and most) by the ongoing water shortage declaration, forcing them to take conservation measures including fallowing land where a portion of cropland cannot be planted for an entire season. New predictions for Lake Mead highlight the need for additional actions on top of the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan, said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department Water Resources. But these measures will not be enough to combat water scarcity as the Colorado River continues to deplete. Catch up on the latest news and stories on the 12 News YouTube channel. Hualapai will have the right to divert up to 3,414 acre-feet of water per year, along with the ability to lease it within Arizona (AP Photo/John Locher, File)AP. The Bureau of Reclamation declared its first-ever Tier 1 shortage last year, sparking a series of actions intended to shore up Lake Powell and the Glen Canyon Dams hydropower production. In my opinion, look somewhere else we need to be able to sustain ourselves.. Apparently, the state has also stored nearly 3 trillion gallons of water for future use or non-rainy days, which is equivalent to serving the city of Phoenix for 30 years, according to the ADWR. What impact will those additional reductions have on the cities? These adjustments require time for planning, stretching their existing workforce, and a significant amount of money from already set budgets for 2023. Reclamation says more cuts are needed. Greenstone, a Phoenix-based investment firm, bought nearly 500 acres with the intent to sell the lands water allotment to Queen Creek, a growing Phoenix suburb about 200 miles away. For alternative water sources, there has been discussions of pumping floodwaters from the Mississippi River basin to either Colorados Front Range or to New Mexicos Rio Grande. Water, as described at the start of a panel discussion Tuesday on Arizonas water supplies, is one of the hottest topics around. Arizona has been in a Tier 1 shortage condition Lake Mead. The US Bureau of Reclamation declared a Tier 2a Shortage for the Colorado River in 2023 with its August 24-Month Study publication. As the climate crisis intensifies, battle lines are beginning to form over water. Hundreds of homes here get water trucked in from Scottsdale, but those deliveries will end on January 1, 2023. But while the state has long focused on squirreling away its excess water supply, it did not turn its attention to the question of extraction until nearly a decade ago. By Jennifer Yachnin | 06/07/2022 01:27 PM EDT, The Arizona Water Bank was established in 1996 to store unused Colorado River water delivered via the Central Arizona Project canal, shown above, a 336-mile-long system of aqueducts, tunnels, pumping plants and pipelines. On November 8, 2022, residents in two southeastern Arizona groundwater basins voted on whether to put limits on groundwater use. Every water user in all sectors within each state must be a part of the solution by contributing to the protection of this shared river system. If the projected level falls below 1,075 feet of elevation above sea level, a shortage is declared, and Arizona must cut back its use of water. Cole Lauterbach, The Center Square. Arizona should also consider restricting municipal water consumption, such as outdoor watering and irrigation, akin to measures implemented in Las Vegas, as well as ways to increase the share of recycled and reclaimed water. You can also read more about the basics of Arizona Water in the WeSERV Water Issues Task force flyer Water in Arizona Is My Property in an AMA or INA? Follow him on Twitter@MrJoshuaBowling. Deangelis and her neighbors are hoping to find another water source to purchase for their homes, but in order to do that they must get certain approvals from their county, which has not happened yet. Farmers across Arizona are expected to be hit the hardest as agriculture uses the majority of the state's river water allocation at an estimated 527,000 acre-feet per year. One of the measures that Biden 2019 Drought Response Operation Agreement. It is also where the all-important Hoover Dam is located bordering with Nevada where it helps control floods, provide irrigation water as well as generate hydroelectric power. A shortage likely wouldnt have direct impacts for Valley cities until a more extreme shortage, when Lake Mead hits 1,045 feet and partially cuts water supplies that some cities rely on. In Arizona, the current drought is approaching 15 years in length and has surpassed the worst drought in more than110 years of official recordkeeping. Not only is Lake Powell's water level plummeting because of drought, its total capacity is shrinking, too, We are what I call the sacrificial lamb for the bigger areas, Irwin told CNN. You can access the Arizona drought map and search specific cities, counties and zip codes for drought conditions on drought.gov. Updated every January and August, the August projection of the following January 1 water elevation determines whether a shortage is to be declared on the system. In 2021, the Bureau of Reclamation declared its first-ever water shortage, cutting more than 500,000 acre-feet of water going to Arizona. An acre-foot of water would generally supply three average Phoenix households with water for a year. A Tier 2 shortage, if its declared, cuts an additional 80,000 acre-feet of water to Arizona. 2023 Advance Local Media LLC. The state Department of Water Resources likewise requires storage facilities to monitor water levels and water quality. As water levels in Lake Mead continue to drop, a multistate drought contingency agreement signed in 2019 would subject Arizona to further reductions in its Colorado River water (E&E News PM, June 2). The third bill that Biden signed amends a 2010 water rights settlement for the White Mountain Apache Tribe in eastern Arizona, authorizing additional funding and extending deadlines to complete a rural water system and dam. Municipal water providers face operational challenges with their treatment plants and delivery systems without knowing how significant a cutback will be required from their Colorado River water supply. A dry irrigation canal that runs through land farmed by Tempe Farming Company, in Casa Grande, Arizona. She continued: But it is a finite supply, and once those credits are gone, theyre gone. The underground storage process involves physically storing water drawn from the Colorado River in existing aquifers. My main concern with all of this is the precedent that is setting, that is whats so scary, Irwin told CNN. Otherwise, the Central Arizona Water Conservation District could be responsible for pumping water and then delivering it via canals. Basically, that credit is what gives you the ownership of that water.. The region has suffered from a long-term drought, and Lake Mead water levels have declined significantly over the past two decades. 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