A letter this afternoon from Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke to Central Arizona Project board members, also circulated to Arizona’s Drought Contingency Plan Steering Committee, suggests another hangup in Arizona’s efforts to agree on a plan to reduce its Colorado River water use. It involves the distinction between using water from on-river water users versus contributions from users in central Arizona, in regard to a proposal from CAP board member Karen Cesare:
Full letter is here.
I must be missing something. The Governor wants to pay the Colorado River Indian Tribes $30 million to conserve water. But the conserved water cannot be used to meet any part of Arizona’s DCP reduction–that, according to the Governor, all must come from CAP water users. Nor can the conserved water help in any way with “DCP mitigation,” because that would be a “transfer.”
So then why is the $30 million and the on-river conservation even part of the DCP dialogue if it cannot be used for Arizona’s DCP obligation or for DCP mitigation?
Can anyone explain why the Governor wants to give away this money?