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AWBA NEWS
ARIZONA WATER BANKING AUTHORITY
Final Minutes
March 14, 2000
Arizona Department of Water Resources
Welcome/Opening Remarks
All members of the Authority
were present except Tom Griffin, Sen. Ken Bennett and Rep. Gail
Griffin.
Minutes
The Authority approved the
minutes from the December 15, 1999 and January 26, 2000 meetings.
Water Bank Staff Activities
Tim Henley, manager of the AWBA, reviewed the current deliveries. The
actual deliveries for January and February were very close to the
planned deliveries for those months. Mr. Henley also informed the
Authority that the Pima Mine Road Recharge (PMR) facility would close
mid-March due to the permitted capacity being reached. The long term
permit for PMR is currently being processed and it is anticipated that
it will be issued sometime this summer. The Authority had some
questions regarding the status of the Agua Fria Recharge facility and
the capacity of GRUSP.
Mr. Henley discussed the AWBA newsletter which was developed to provide information between quarterly meetings. The first issue of the newsletter was published in February.
Interstate Storage and Release Agreements
Mr. Henley provided an update
of the exploratory discussions being held with Southern Nevada Water
Authority, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California and the
Bureau of Reclamation. The discussion group, composed of Tim Henley,
Mike Pearce of the ADWR, and Larry Dozier of CAWCD, has been utilizing
the issues of negotiation which were identified in a handout at the
January 26, 2000 meeting as a basis for the discussions. Mr. Henley
presented a summary of the specific concerns of the three parties.
The Southern Nevada Water Authority and Metropolitan Water District of Southern California made presentations which described their water needs and what role they perceived the AWBA playing in their water planning process.
Mike Pearce distributed copies of a preliminary Storage and Release Agreement. He stated that it was his perception that this would be one of at least three agreements which would need to be drafted in the interstate storage process.
Mr. Henley stated that he would like the AWBA staff to be given the flexibility to hold special interstate banking exploratory discussion meetings outside of the scheduled water bank meetings. Ms. Pearson agreed and stated that the staff should be prepared to start scheduling these meetings.
Recovery Subcommittee
Mr. Henley informed the
Authority that the Recovery Subcommittee met on March 2, 2000. Members
of the subcommittee are Bill Chase and Tom Griffin. Mr. Henley stated
that the meeting was informative
and well attended, however, he anticipates better attendance by
entities holding CAP subcontracts
at the next meeting and desires to get more input from them. Mr.
Henley stated that he will contact the river contractors and inform
them of recovery meetings to allow them the opportunity to attend and
provide comment. The next meeting of the Recovery Subcommittee will be
held sometime in May.
The update to the recovery database CD-ROM has been completed by
WestLand Resources and it will be distributed in the near future to
entities that provided information for the database.
1999 Annual Report
Gerry Wildeman presented an
outline of the contents of the 1999 Annual Report which will be very
similar to previous reports. The Authority will be able to view the
annual report in draft form prior to the June meeting.
Mr. Henley discussed the 10 year plan development process and stated that there will likely be a 10 year plan meeting in April for staff and other interested parties.
Interstate Issues
Rita Pearson provided a brief
update on the on-going negotiations occurring in California.
Call
to the Public
Ms. Pearson concluded the
meeting by stating that there may need to be a meeting prior to the
regularly scheduled June meeting to discuss interstate banking issues.
Mr. Henley stated that such a determination would be made at a later
date and that the public would be informed in the standard manner.
Larry Dozier, of the CAWCD stated that the Central Arizona Project (CAP) has created a committee to discuss the issues of interstate banking. The members of that committee are George Renner, Karl Pollen, Van Donohoe and Steve Weatherspoon. The first meeting is to be held at the CAP office on March 16.
The next AWBA meeting is scheduled for Wednesday, June 21, 2000.
The meeting concluded at 12:25 p.m.
