REFERENCE TITLE: floodwater harvesting; study; urging Congress

State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-fourth Legislature Second Regular Session 2020

HCM 2009

Introduced by Representatives Dunn: Biasiucci, Blackman, Bolick, Bowers, Campbell, Cobb, Cook, Fernandez, Finchem, Gabaldón, Griffin, Lieberman, Nutt, Osborne, Peten, Pierce, Rivero, Rodriguez, Shope, Sierra, Teller, Senators Borrelli, Gowan, Kerr, Otondo, Pratt, Rios

 

A CONCURRENT MEMORIAL

 

urging congress to fund a study on floodwater harvesting.

 

 

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

 

To the Congress of the United States of America:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, the seven Colorado Basin states, which consist of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, are in the nineteenth year of severe drought and are therefore experiencing a severe water shortage; and

Whereas, water levels are critical.  Lake Powell and Lake Mead store the water supply for both urban and rural usage, and, if drought conditions continue, these reservoirs are likely to reach critically low elevations by 2026; and

Whereas, on January 21, 2020, the Lake Mead water level was at 43%, or approximately 1,093 feet; and

Whereas, the Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead and provides power to millions of people in Southern California, Nevada and Arizona.  If the level of Lake Mead declines below 1,050 feet, hydropower generation will be significantly reduced; and

Whereas, at 895 feet, Lake Mead can no longer provide water; and

Whereas, a new water source could help augment Colorado River supplies; and

Whereas, Denver, Colorado is successfully harvesting floodwater from the Missouri River to help alleviate its water shortage; and

Whereas, in wet years, the Missouri and Mississippi rivers reach flood level with a resulting loss of vast quantities of water into the Gulf of Mexico; and

Whereas, historic flooding in 2011 and 2019 along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers caused 19 deaths and damaged infrastructure, homes, businesses and agriculture and other industries. Combined estimates of damages and losses of the flooding exceeded $22 billion, according to the United States National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; and

Whereas, liquid can be successfully moved thousands of miles through pipelines; and

Whereas, Arizona has long been at the forefront among western states in supporting the development and implementation of pioneering, well‑reasoned water management policies.

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

1.  That the United States Congress fund a technological and feasibility study of the development of a diversion dam and pipeline to harvest floodwater from the Mississippi River to replenish the Colorado River and prevent flood damage along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

2.  That, if shown to be feasible, the United States Congress implement the diversion dam and pipeline as a partial solution to the water supply shortage in Lake Powell and Lake Mead and the flood damage that occurs along the Missouri and Mississippi rivers.

3.  That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the President of the United States Senate, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Governors of the Missouri and Mississippi river states of Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota and Tennessee, and each Member of Congress from the State of Arizona.