REFERENCE TITLE: Yuma desalting plant; continued operation

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-fourth Legislature

Second Regular Session

2020

HCM 2004

Introduced by

Representative Griffin

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

urging the Secretary of the united states Department of the Interior to immediately take all necessary measures to operate the Yuma Desalting Plant.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

To the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, under a treaty agreement entered into in 1973, the United States is required to ensure that water delivered to Mexico as part of Mexico's allocation of Colorado River water meets certain water quality standards; and

Whereas, in accordance with this agreement, the United States Congress enacted the Colorado River Basin Salinity Control Act of 1974, which directed and authorized the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior to construct, operate and maintain a desalting plant to treat drainage water from the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District and deliver the treated water to Mexico; and

Whereas, construction of the Yuma Desalting Plant was completed in 1992; and

Whereas, the Yuma Desalting Plant is capable of treating 100,000 acre‑feet of water annually; and

Whereas, except for limited, initial operations in 1993, a demonstration run completed in 2007 and a nine-month pilot run completed in 2011, the federal government has failed to operate the Yuma Desalting Plant for most of its existence; and

Whereas, the United States Department of the Interior is using 100,000 acre-feet of water from Lake Mead to fulfill its water quality obligations to Mexico, rather than conserving an equivalent amount of water through the operation of the Yuma Desalting Plant; and

Whereas, the Colorado River system is in its 20th consecutive year of drought; and

Whereas, as a result of these drought conditions, the United States Department of the Interior is projecting that a shortage on the Colorado River is increasingly likely; and

Whereas, the Colorado River Basin Water Supply and Demand Study released by the Bureau of Reclamation in December 2012 concluded that there will be a future imbalance between the supply and demand for Colorado River water and cited measures such as water conservation, reuse and augmentation to stave off future shortages on the Colorado River; and

Whereas, the Central Arizona Project is a junior priority rights holder to Colorado River water and would bear the largest reduction of Colorado River water in times of shortage; and

Whereas, by abdicating its obligation to operate the Yuma Desalting Plant, the federal government has caused the loss of more than 1,300,000 acre-feet from Lake Mead, placing the State of Arizona at increased risk of water shortage; and

Whereas, if the federal government were to operate the Yuma Desalting Plant, it would conserve 100,000 acre-feet per year, equivalent to the water needed to supply more than 250,000 Arizona homes with water annually.

Wherefore your memorialist, the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring, prays:

1.  That the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior immediately take all necessary measures to operate the Yuma Desalting Plant.

2.  That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior, the President of the United States, the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives and each Member of Congress from the State of Arizona.