ARIZONA HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

Fifty-sixth Legislature

First Regular Session

HB 2448: appropriation; groundwater; Santa Rosa canal

Sponsor: Representative Martinez, LD 16

Committee on Natural Resources, Energy & Water

Overview

Appropriates $25,000,000 from the state General Fund (GF) in fiscal year (FY) 2024 to the Arizona Department of Water Resources to distribute to two irrigation districts as part of a settlement agreement.

History

The Ak-Chin Indian Community (Community) is a federally recognized tribe that resides on a reservation in Pinal County. As part of its water rights settlements, the Community is entitled to an annual permanent supply of at least 75,000 acre-feet of higher priority water from the Central Arizona Project (CAP) suitable for agricultural use. Additionally, the United States agreed to design and build the infrastructure necessary to convey this water to the Community, which included the Santa Rosa Canal (P.L. 95-328 and P.L. 98-530).

In March 2020, the Community sued two neighboring irrigation districts, the Central Arizona Irrigation Drainage District and Maricopa-Stanfield Irrigation and Drainage District, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona. It alleged that these districts pumped poorer quality groundwater that was ultimately discharged into the Santa Rosa Canal, where it commingled with the Community's CAP water and rendered it unsuitable for agricultural use (Case 2:20-cv-00489-JJT (D. Ariz.)).

Representatives from the Community and the districts signed a settlement agreement in January 2023. This agreement requires the districts to disconnect wells and related infrastructure from the Santa Rosa Canal in stages over three years as new infrastructure to deliver pumped groundwater is built. During this three-year period, the parties will monitor water quality where the Community diverts the canal's water to ensure certain substances (such as total dissolved solids) do not exceed specific thresholds. The districts may be required to reduce groundwater pumping when exceedances occur. Additionally, the districts will not pump groundwater from certain wells into the canal during winter months. This agreement is contingent on the districts receiving commitments of government funding totaling $50 million or more by February 20, 2023.

Provisions

1. Appropriates $25,000,000 from the GF in FY 2024 to the Arizona Department of Water Resources to distribute equally between the Maricopa-Stanfield Irrigation and Drainage District and the Central Arizona Irrigation and Drainage District to build infrastructure to deliver groundwater as part of a settlement agreement between these districts and the Ak-Chin Indian Community. (Sec. 1)

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5. HB 2448

6. Initials PAB Page 0 Natural Resources, Energy & Water

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