House Engrossed

supporting funding; water conservation

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-fifth Legislature

First Regular Session

2021

HOUSE RESOLUTION 2016

A RESOLUTION

supporting the federal government's funding of water conservation infrastructure in the san carlos irrigation and drainage district.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Whereas, the San Carlos Irrigation and Drainage District (SCIDD) was formed in 1928 by the owners of 50,000 acres of irrigated farmland in Pinal County, Arizona comprising the off-reservation division of the Bureau of Indian Affairs' San Carlos Irrigation Project (SCIP); and

Whereas, SCIDD's irrigation water supply consists primarily of Gila River water and groundwater provided by SCIP, all of which SCIDD shares equally with 50,000 acres of Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) lands; and 

Whereas, SCIDD's system, which contains over 200 miles of unlined canals and laterals, is more than 100 years old and unavoidably loses excessive amounts of water; and

Whereas, the system urgently needs improvement given persistent drought conditions in the region. Concrete lining and associated improvements are needed to update the aged structures, improve hydraulic efficiency of the system and cut unacceptably high system water losses; and

Whereas, SCIDD currently is in the process of improving canals and facilities that serve all 100,000 acres of SCIDD and GRIC lands within SCIP, including the 130-year old earthen Florence Canal, with funds from the Arizona Water Settlements Act of 2004; and

Whereas, SCIDD will exhaust all of its available funding during construction of the next canal reach, precluding rehabilitation of more than 18 miles of old, unlined main canals and regulatory reservoirs, and over 200 miles of earthen laterals; and 

Whereas, lining the outdated earthen canals immediately would yield significant water conservation savings estimated at more than 50,000 acre-feet annually; and

Whereas, water scarcity in Pinal County is an increasingly acute issue, and this canal lining project is important to help bolster the overall well-being of Arizona's citizens, communities, environment and economy; and

Whereas, SCIDD's ongoing construction includes projects totaling over $100 million to date, with all projects having been completed on time and on budget; and

Whereas, the only impediment to the success of SCIDD's canal rehabilitation program is the lack of sufficient funds to complete all of the necessary work; and

Whereas, components remaining to complete the system rehabilitation are estimated to cost approximately $300 million and include constructing a 300 acre-feet mid-system regulatory reservoir, completing Reach 4, completing Reach 5 with small regulatory reservoir and constructing all SCIDD laterals.

Therefore

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona:

1. That the Members of the House of Representatives support the current efforts in the United States Congress to enact water infrastructure legislation to improve the conservation of water with existing projects and to construct new projects needed to increase the supply of water for Arizona.

2. That the Members of the House of Representatives support congressional efforts to procure the necessary water conservation and infrastructure funding at the next possible funding opportunity, to safeguard Arizona's precious water supplies for the well-being of Arizona's citizens, communities, environment and economy.