Description
The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision makers consider the ensuing environmental impacts when deciding whether or not to proceed with a project.
Draft Environmental Assessment for
Assignment of Central Arizona Project Municipal & Industrial Priority Subcontract Water Entitlements from Four Water Companies to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District
U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Phoenix Area Office
May 2007
DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT OF CENTRAL ARIZONA PROJECT MUNICIPAL & INDUSTRIAL PRIORITY SUBCONTRACT WATER ENTITLEMENTS FROM FOUR WATER COMPANIES TO THE CENTRAL ARIZONA WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
Prepared by
Central Arizona Water Conservation District 23636 North Seventh Street Phoenix, AZ 85024
(623) 869-2672
and Bureau of Reclamation 6154 W. Thunderbird Road Glendale, AZ 85306-4001 (623) 773-6254
May 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
PURPOSE AND NEED ...................................................................................................................... 1 A. B. C. D. Background................................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose and Need ......................................................................................................................... 3 Project Location............................................................................................................................ 4 Summary of Scoping Process ....................................................................................................... 6
II.
PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES.............................................................................. 7 A. B. C. No Action Alternative................................................................................................................... 7 Proposed Action............................................................................................................................ 9 Alternatives Considered but Eliminated ..................................................................................... 10
III. AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES ...................... 12 A. Water Resources ......................................................................................................................... 12 1. Affected Environment.......................................................................................................... 12 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 13 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 15 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 16 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 16 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 17 B. Land Use..................................................................................................................................... 18 1. Affected Environment.......................................................................................................... 18 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 18 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 19 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 20 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 20 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 21 C. Socioeconomic Resources .......................................................................................................... 22 1. Affected Environment.......................................................................................................... 22 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 22 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 25 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 26 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 26 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 27 D. Biological Resources .................................................................................................................... 28 1. Affected Environment.......................................................................................................... 28 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 29 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 33
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2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 33 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 33 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 36 E. Cultural Resources...................................................................................................................... 36 1. Affected Environment/Existing Conditions ......................................................................... 36 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 36 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 38 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 38 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 38 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 39 F. Indian Trust Assets ..................................................................................................................... 39 1. Affected Environment/Existing Conditions ......................................................................... 39 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 39 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 40 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 41 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 41 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 41 IV. SELECTED RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS/DIRECTIVES....................................... 43 A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K. L. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (P.L. 91-190) ..................... 43 Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (FWCA) (P.L. 85-624)...................................................... 43 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-205) ......................................................................... 43 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (P.L. 90-542).................................................................... 43 Wilderness Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-577, as amended) ................................................................... 43 Clean Water Act (P.L. 92-500, as amended) (CWA) ................................................................ 44 National Historic Preservation Act (P.L. 89-665) ...................................................................... 44 Farmland Protection Policy Act (P.L. 97-98) ............................................................................. 44 Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management) .................................................................... 45 Executive Order 12898 (Environmental Justice) ........................................................................ 45 Executive Order 11990 (Wetlands)............................................................................................. 45 Department of Interior, Secretarial Order, Indian Trust Assets (ITAs) ...................................... 45
LITERATURE CITED ............................................................................................................................ 46
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Alternative Water Sources Considered and Reasons For Their Elimination as Viable Options........................................................................................................................................ 11 Table 2. Projected Replenishment Obligations in Transferring Entities’ Service Areas (af) .................. .18 Table 3. Projected Number of Housing Units in Transferring Entities’ Service Areas............................ 21 Table 4. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics Maricopa County and Census Tract related to WEWC .............................................................................................................. 23 Table 5. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract related to Sunrise and Maricopa County .................................................................................................... 23 Table 6. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract Related to NRUC and Maricopa County ..................................................................................................... 24 Table 7. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract related to LPSCo and Maricopa County..................................................................................................... 25 Table 8. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Maricopa County and State of Arizona ................................................................................................................................... 26 Table 9. Summary of Federally Listed Species, Proposed Endangered Species, and Candidate Species and Their Habitat Needs ................................................................................................ 29
LIST OF FIGURES
(Following Page 47) Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Figure 6. Service Areas Of All Five Entities Involved In Proposed CAP Assignment West End Water Company Service Area. Sunrise Water Company Service Area. New River Utility Company Service Area. Litchfield Park Service Company Service Area. Phoenix AMA, Including CAGRD Members, HMRP and AFRP
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A. Appendix B. Appendix C. Appendix D. ADWR Correspondence Related to Transfer Evaluations AGFD Correspondence Cultural Resource Site File Search Summary Biological Report Memoranda
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I.
PURPOSE AND NEED
This Environmental Assessment (EA) has been prepared to describe and assess the environmental consequences anticipated to result from the Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) termination of Central Arizona Project (CAP) water service subcontracts currently held by four water companies, and assignment of 7,746 acre feet annually (afa) of CAP municipal and industrial (M&I) priority water entitlements associated with those subcontracts to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD). As proposed, all of the CAP M&I entitlements held by West End Water Company (WEWC) (157 afa), Sunrise Water Company (Sunrise) (944 afa), and New River Utility Company (NRUC) (1,885 afa), along with the remaining 4,760 afa of Litchfield Park Service Company’s (LPSCo) CAP water entitlement1 would be transferred to CAWCD exclusively for use in meeting the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District’s (CAGRD) replenishment obligations as defined by Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS), Title 48, Chapter 22, Article 4. CAWCD and Reclamation would execute the “Supplemental Contract Between the United States and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District for Delivery of Central Arizona Project Water” (Supplemental Contract) as an amendment to CAWCD’s master repayment contract with Reclamation (Contract No. 14-06-W-245, Amendment No. 1, Supplement No. 1). The Supplemental Contract would allow CAWCD to deliver the 7,746 afa to meet CAGRD’s statutory obligations. CAWCD's use of this water would not be subject to future Federal approvals or environmental reviews. The EA has been prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Council on Environmental Quality regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508), and Reclamation's Draft NEPA Handbook (Reclamation 2000).
A. Background
CAWCD is a multi-county water conservation district formed under laws of the State of Arizona to serve Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima Counties. CAWCD’s primary responsibilities include: operating, maintaining, repaying and managing the CAP. In 1993, the Arizona Legislature provided CAWCD with additional responsibilities and authorities relating to groundwater replenishment within CAWCD’s three-county service area. These new replenishment authorities are commonly referred to as the CAGRD. Therefore, although the CAGRD is not a separate legal entity from CAWCD, for purposes of this EA, the term “CAGRD” shall mean CAWCD exercising its authority under ARS Title 48, Chapter 22, Article 4. The replenishment authorities assigned to the CAGRD establish a mechanism for landowners and water providers within the Phoenix, Pinal, and Tucson Active Management Areas (AMAs) to demonstrate they have an assured water supply, which is required under the regulations enforced by the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), termed the Assured Water Supply Rules (AWS Rules). The AWS Rules became effective in February 1995, and are designed to protect groundwater supplies within each AMA and to ensure that people purchasing or leasing subdivided land within an AMA have a
1
LPSCo’s original CAP M&I water allocation was 5,580 afa, for which an M&I subcontract was executed on January 10, 1985. Portions of LPSCo’s entitlement were subsequently transferred to the City of Avondale (670 afa) and the City of Goodyear (150 afa).
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water supply of adequate quality and quantity. There are five basic criteria for proving an assured water supply (AWS). An applicant for an AWS must prove: 1. Sufficient quantity of water is continuously available to satisfy the water demands of the development or service area for 100 years; 2. Water source meets water quality standards; 3. Proposed use of water is consistent with State water conservation standards; 4. Proposed use is consistent with the state water management goals, and
5.
Applicant is financially capable of installing the necessary water distribution and treatment facilities.
In each AMA, every new subdivision must demonstrate the availability of a 100-year assured water supply to the ADWR before sales of parcels within the subdivision can begin. An AWS can be demonstrated in two ways. First, the owner or developer of a proposed subdivision can prove an AWS for the subdivision and receive a Certificate of AWS (CAWS) from ADWR. The CAWS covers only the specific subdivision for which it is issued. Alternatively, a municipal water provider may prove an AWS for its entire service area and receive a Designation of AWS (DAWS) from ADWR. Any subdivisions that are served by the municipal provider are automatically deemed to have a proven AWS by virtue of the provider’s DAWS. Membership in the CAGRD provides a means by which an AWS applicant can satisfy criterion number 4 above, which requires that the proposed water use be consistent with the water management goals of the particular AMA. Because the management goals within an AMA limit the quantity of mined groundwater an applicant may use to demonstrate an AWS, new developments may not rely solely on mined groundwater to serve their water demands. However, if a water provider or a landowner has access to groundwater and desires to rely on groundwater to demonstrate a 100-year water supply, it may do so, provided it joins the CAGRD. As a member of the CAGRD, the landowner or provider must pay the CAGRD to replenish any groundwater pumped by the member that exceeds the pumping limitations imposed by the AWS Rules. There are two general types of CAGRD membership: member lands, and member service areas. Member lands are individual subdivisions enrolled in the CAGRD to obtain a CAWS. A member service area is the entire service area of a water provider that has enrolled in the CAGRD to obtain a DAWS. In general, the CAGRD operates in the following manner. First, a property owner or water provider electing to rely partially or completely on groundwater enrolls its land or service area as a member of the CAGRD. The landowner or water provider then demonstrates compliance with criterion 1, 2, 3 and 5, as listed above, to the satisfaction of the ADWR. Once this is complete, the ADWR will consider enrollment in the CAGRD as proof of consistency with the management goals of the AMA (criterion 4), and that proof of an AWS has been established. Each year after enrollment, the water provider must
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report to CAGRD the amount of “excess groundwater”2 delivered within the member land or member service area. This volume of excess groundwater (along with volumes of excess groundwater pumped that are reported for all other CAGRD members within the same AMA) becomes CAGRD’s replenishment obligation for that AMA, which must be replenished (recharged) within three years. CAGRD determines what it will cost to satisfy its replenishment obligations for an AMA and establishes appropriate assessment rates each year. The assessment rate must provide sufficient funding to acquire water supplies3 and replenish (or recharge) them within the AMA. The assessment rates are levied against each parcel of member land (collected in property tax bills) and against each service area (paid directly to CAGRD by the water provider). Once collected, the funds are used to buy the water and recharge it to offset CAGRD’s replenishment obligations. Each year, CAGRD must report to ADWR the replenishment obligations incurred and the replenishment completed in the previous year. The four water companies—WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo—have not developed the necessary infrastructure to take, treat, and serve CAP water to their customers. However, they have demonstrated to the ADWR the availability of a 100-year supply of water resources to serve their customers’ water needs. These four water companies intend to continue serving groundwater to their customers and do not intend to make direct delivery of their CAP entitlements. The four water companies have decided to not obtain DAWS for their service areas. Therefore, for new subdivisions that have been platted since 1995 (when the AWS Rules became effective) which are located within the service areas of WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, or LPSCo, developers are required to obtain a CAWS. All of those subdivisions have been enrolled as member lands of the CAGRD. Because the four water companies have not developed the infrastructure needed to take, treat, and serve CAP water, these member land subdivisions would not be served CAP water directly. Therefore, the four water companies have requested that their CAP water service subcontract entitlements be transferred to CAGRD for use in satisfying groundwater replenishment obligations incurred as a result of their continued groundwater use in excess of the pumping limits imposed by the AWS Rules, to serve CAGRD member lands within their service areas. In accordance with State policy, ADWR reviewed these requests, held public hearings, and recommended that all of the annual CAP M&I entitlements held by NRUC (1,885 af), Sunrise (944 af), and WEWC (157 af), along with the remaining 4,760 af of LPSCo’s entitlement, be transferred to the CAGRD. ADWR also recommended the water first be used to offset CAGRD replenishment obligations resulting from use of excess groundwater within the service areas of the transferring water companies; any remaining water could then be used to satisfy replenishment obligations for other member lands enrolled as of the effective date of the transfer.
B. Purpose and Need
The purpose of this project is to approve the transfer of 7,746 afa of CAP water, currently allocated to four water companies whose water service areas are located in western Maricopa County, Arizona, to
2
Excess groundwater is that amount of groundwater pumped by a member service area or a member land that exceeds the amount allowed to be pumped under the AWS rules. CAGRD must use renewable water supplies (as defined in ARS 48-3771.C.) to meet its replenishment obligations.
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CAWCD for use by CAGRD. Reclamation would enter into a supplemental contract with CAWCD regarding the delivery of this CAP water to CAGRD. CAGRD would use this water to replenish excess groundwater used by its members. CAGRD’s need for the project is to secure a long-term, economically feasible, right to a renewable water supply that it can use to meet replenishment obligations incurred on behalf of its members. The CAP water entitlements proposed for transfer are currently not being utilized by their subcontract holders and have, to date, been considered to be Excess CAP water. Although CAGRD currently has the authority to purchase Excess CAP water, such water is not guaranteed to be available for the long-term, and cannot be relied upon as a permanent supply. The transfer of these CAP entitlements would create a dependable, committed replenishment water source for CAGRD. The Proposed Action would protect the groundwater within the geographic area initially envisioned to benefit from the original allocation.
C. Project Location
There are five distinct entities involved in this transfer: WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, LPSCo (the four water companies that propose to give up their respective CAP M&I water entitlements they are currently not using), and CAGRD, the entity that would receive these entitlements. The project areas for the water companies consist of the service areas identified in each of their “Certificate of Convenience and Necessity,” as approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission (Figures 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). CAGRD, as discussed previously, is the name by which the replenishment authorities of the CAWCD are commonly referred. CAGRD is not technically defined by a “service area” boundary. It is an operational subdivision of CAWCD and, by statute, serves only within Maricopa, Pinal and Pima Counties in Arizona. The operational boundaries of CAGRD include three of the Active Management Areas currently identified in statute: Phoenix, Pinal and Tucson AMAs. Therefore, the only lands that are potentially eligible for membership in the CAGRD are those located within the Phoenix, Pinal, and Tucson AMAs. Once a subdivision or water service area is enrolled as a member of the CAGRD, the corresponding “footprint” of land becomes part of CAGRD’s service area. Thus, although CAGRD is authorized to serve within the boundaries of the Phoenix, Pinal and Tucson AMAs, its service area is technically defined only by the members that have enrolled. Land that is not enrolled in CAGRD is not part of CAGRD’s service area. In addition, the replenishment obligation incurred by the CAGRD as a result of use of excess groundwater by members in a particular AMA must be satisfied through replenishment in the same AMA. For purposes of this EA, CAGRD’s project area potentially includes those member service areas and member lands that are located within the Phoenix Active Management Area (AMA), since the transferred water would most likely be recharged within Maricopa County to replenish excess groundwater used within the Phoenix AMA (Figure 6). Based upon recommendations made by ADWR, under the proposed action, the Supplemental Contract would restrict CAGRD’s use of the transferred CAP water by requiring that CAGRD first use the transferred water to satisfy the annual replenishment obligations for member lands and member service
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areas4 located within the boundaries of the transferring entities. For obligations incurred within the NRUC, Sunrise and WEWC service areas, the corresponding replenishment would have to occur within the area of hydrologic impact of the associated groundwater withdrawals. For obligations incurred within the LPSCo service area, the replenishment must occur within the Phoenix AMA. The CAGRD currently uses three groundwater recharge facilities that satisfy these provisions: the Agua Fria Recharge Project, the Hieroglyphic Mountains Recharge Project, and the Tonopah Desert Recharge Project. These facilities are briefly described below. • Agua Fria Recharge Project (AFRP) - This facility is composed of two components: an inchannel recharge component and a spreading basin component. The spreading basin component includes a conveyance canal and approximately 100 acres of infiltration ponds. The project is located near central Peoria, Arizona, in the northwest valley of the Phoenix metropolitan area in Maricopa County. The site extends from approximately four miles downstream of Waddell Dam on the Agua Fria River to a point just south of Jomax Road. It has a total permitted capacity of 100,000 af per year. It is the only recharge project in Arizona that utilizes streambed recharge and infiltration basins at a single facility (CAGRD 2003). Hieroglyphic Mountains Recharge Project (HMRP) - This facility consists of approximately 38 acres of spreading basins adjacent to the north side of the CAP canal. The facility is located in the northwest portion of the Phoenix metropolitan area near the northern boundary of Surprise, Arizona. It is located northwest of Phoenix, approximately one mile west of the intersection of 163rd Avenue and the CAP canal. The facility has been permitted to store up to 35,000 af of CAP water per year (CAGRD 2003). Tonopah Desert Recharge Project (TDRP) – This facility consists of approximately 207 acres of spreading basins immediately south of the CAP canal. The facility is located in the far west portion of the Phoenix Active Management Area, about 40 miles west of Phoenix and seven miles northwest of Tonopah. The facility has been permitted to store an average of 100,000 af of CAP water per year.
•
•
The restricting provisions proposed to be included in the Supplemental Contract, along with CAGRD’s operating policy to satisfy replenishment obligations using facilities that are located as close to its members’ pumping as possible, effectively dictate the use of the AFRP and HMRP for replenishment of the subject CAP water. Therefore, these two groundwater recharge facilities will be considered components of the project location (Figures 1 and 6).
There are currently no member service areas within the boundaries of the transferring entities; however, there is no prohibition against water providers enrolling their service areas as member service areas in the future.
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D. Summary of Scoping Process
Reclamation initiated a 30-day public scoping comment period, with distribution of a scoping mailer to over 100 entities, on October 29, 2003. The public was requested to provide input to Reclamation regarding issues and concerns that should be included in the EA. One letter of comment was received. One point raised in that letter was that Reclamation’s request for scoping comments failed to identify another ADWR recommendation that has been included in the proposed Supplemental Contract. This recommendation provides CAGRD with the ability to transfer a portion of the targeted entitlements in the event another entity relieves CAGRD of its replenishment obligations for member lands located within the water service areas of any of the four water companies involved. Another point raised in this letter expressed concern regarding the absence of restrictions on where the LPSCo portion of CAP water could be recharged. The issues raised in this letter have been addressed in the EA.
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II.
PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES
A. No Action Alternative
The No Action alternative describes the conditions that are assumed to exist into the future in the absence of the Federal action, and provides a basis for comparison with the Proposed Action. Under the No Action alternative, Reclamation would not approve the proposed assignment of CAP water from WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo, and would not execute the Supplemental Contract with CAWCD for 7,746 afa of CAP water. WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. None of the companies would develop the infrastructure necessary to take, treat and deliver CAP water to their customers, and all four water companies would continue to utilize groundwater to serve their customers. Developers of residential subdivisions within the water service area of these four water companies would continue to enroll their property as member lands of the CAGRD in order to meet the requirements of the AWS Rules (as outlined in Section I). Under the No Action Alternative, CAGRD would continue to be responsible for meeting replenishment obligations for groundwater delivered to all of its member service areas and member lands, including any new member lands enrolled within the WEWC, NRUC, Sunrise, and LPSCo water service areas. CAGRD would continue to purchase Excess CAP water to the degree it remains available, for use in satisfying its replenishment obligations. CAGRD would continue to pursue acquisition of other short and long-term rights to water supplies to broaden and diversify its water supply portfolio. The supplies acquired for the purpose of satisfying replenishment obligations incurred within the WEWC, NRUC, Sunrise and LPSCo service areas would be stored at the HMRP and AFRP, with the exception of effluent supplies, which would be stored at effluent recharge facilities. The potential water supplies available to the CAGRD as outlined in its 2004 plan of operation include: 1. Excess CAP water – Excess CAP water is CAP water that is contracted but not ordered. CAWCD estimates that Excess CAP water will be available at least through 2030. However, there are other CAP customers that rely on Excess CAP water, including non-Indian agricultural (NIA) customers, the Arizona Water Banking Authority (AWBA), municipal water providers, and others. CAWCD estimates that available Excess CAP water will average about 100,000 afa over the next 45 years, ranging from 400,000 af to 0 af in some years. 2. CAP Indian Leases – Past water rights settlements have authorized Indian communities, tribes, and nations to lease their CAP water for “off-reservation” uses. Indian communities with available CAP water authorized for lease “off-reservation” include: Ak-Chin Indian Community, Gila River Indian Community, San Carlos Apache Tribe, Tohono O’odham Nation, and Fort McDowell YavapaiApache Nation. CAWCD estimates approximately 158,000 afa will be available from CAP Indian leases.
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3. CAP NIA Priority Allocation – The Arizona Water Settlement Acts authorizes the reallocation of approximately 96,000 afa of NIA-priority CAP water to non-Indian municipal and industrial (M&I) purposes. The CAGRD is eligible to participate in the reallocation process, to be conducted by ADWR. The first phase of this reallocation process may begin in 2009. The NIA-priority water is the lowest priority within the CAP system and may suffer shortages such that the volume available may be 0 in some years. 4. Arizona non-CAP Colorado River Supplies – Existing non-CAP Colorado River contractors include irrigation districts, individual water users, and Indian communities. These water users could make water available to the CAGRD through sale, lease, forbearance/fallowing, and conservation savings. Use of water supplies held by Indian communities for use “off-reservation” requires Congressional authorization. CAWCD estimates up to 318,000 afa could be available to the CAGRD from nonCAP Colorado River supplies. 5. Imported Groundwater – Arizona law authorizes the exportation of groundwater from Butler Valley, Harquahala Valley, and McMullen Valley groundwater basins for use inside the Phoenix, Pinal, and Tucson AMAs. To develop imported groundwater resources, new groundwater well fields, conveyance pipelines, and inlet facilities would be required to deliver imported groundwater to the CAP system. The imported groundwater would then be delivered through the CAP system. At present, plans for such facilities are conceptual. Currently, Federal approval is required to utilize the CAP canal to transport (wheel) non-CAP water and should a specific proposal for wheeling non-CAP water be submitted to Reclamation, compliance with environmental regulations, including NEPA, would be required to develop imported groundwater resources for use by the CAGRD. CAWCD estimates up to 181,000 afa are available to the CAGRD from imported groundwater supplies. 6. Effluent – Numerous water providers generate effluent that exceeds the amount they can use for their own purposes. Although many of these providers eventually plan to use their effluent, in the near term such effluent could be made available to the CAGRD. CAWCD does not own or operate wastewater treatment plants or effluent underground storage facilities. Further, effluent would not be transported in the CAP system, but would likely be stored at effluent underground storage facilities adjacent to wastewater treatment plants. Rather than construct and operate effluent underground storage facilities itself, CAGRD would likely purchase storage credits developed by others through their operation of effluent treatment and recharge facilities. CAWCD estimates up to 205,000 afa may be available for use by the CAGRD. Effluent supplies are anticipated to be available for the next 15 to 30 years; however, after that point it is assumed water providers will fully utilize the effluent for their own uses.
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B. Proposed Action
Under the Proposed Action, the following CAP water service subcontractors would transfer their entire entitlements to CAGRD: WEWC (157 afa); Sunrise (944 afa); and NRUC (1,885 afa). LPSCo would transfer its remaining entitlement of 4,760 afa to CAGRD. All four water service subcontracts would be terminated. A Supplemental Contract between Reclamation and CAWCD would be executed for the delivery of 7,746 afa of CAP water to CAGRD. The proposed Supplemental Contract requires CAGRD to use the allocated CAP water to first meet replenishment obligations incurred as a result of excess groundwater delivered to CAGRD member lands by the transferring entities. After all annual replenishment obligations for these member lands have been satisfied, any remaining CAP water allocated to CAGRD under the proposed action would then be used to satisfy the replenishment obligations for member lands enrolled as of the date of the Supplemental Contract. According to CAGRD, the most likely scenario is that the remaining CAP water would be recharged within the Phoenix AMA (CAGRD 2006). Consistent with ADWR recommendations,5 the Supplemental Contract would require that replenishment of excess groundwater delivered to member lands located within the WEWC, Sunrise and NRUC water service areas occur within the area of hydrologic impact of the excess groundwater withdrawals. Also consistent with ADWR recommendations, for excess groundwater withdrawals associated with member lands located within the LPSCo water service area, replenishment would be required to occur within the Phoenix AMA. In addition, the proposed Supplemental Contract requires that, should another entity relieve CAGRD of its replenishment obligation for any portion of the member lands located within the WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC or LPSCo water service areas, CAGRD would transfer to that entity a prorated share of the transferred CAP water. CAGRD would take delivery of the transferred CAP water through existing infrastructure for recharge at either the AFRP or the HMRP. These existing facilities are of sufficient size and design to allow replenishment of the transferred CAP entitlement, in compliance with existing state laws and the permits issued for the facilities. The receipt and use of this water would not change the size or configuration of the transferring entities’ existing systems or service areas. The transferring entities would continue to utilize groundwater to serve their respective water service areas. Therefore, the proposed action would not require construction of additional facilities. Any CAP water left over after satisfying replenishment obligations of member lands located within the water service areas of the four water companies would be
In developing its recommendations regarding transfer of the entitlements, ADWR complied with the decision guidelines established in its August 23, 1996, Policy Regarding Process for Transfers of Central Arizona Project Municipal and Industrial Water Subcontracts. These decision guidelines determine the priority between competing applications for CAP transfers. Due to the location of the AFRP and HMRP with respect to the WEWC, SWC and NRUC service areas, CAGRD was able to commit to performing replenishment within the area of hydrologic impact (AOHI) of groundwater pumping within these service areas. With this commitment, CAGRD received priority consideration for ADWR’s recommended transfer of entitlements from these three subcontractors. The AFRP and HMRP are not located within the AOHI of LPSCo groundwater pumping, thus CAGRD could not make a similar commitment for water received under a transfer from LPSCo. However, CAGRD did commit to replenishing the LPSCo water in the Phoenix AMA to satisfy replenishment obligations resulting from groundwater pumping in the LPSCo service area. With this commitment, CAGRD received a somewhat elevated priority for the LPSCo transfer, resulting in an ADWR recommendation that a portion (4,760 afa) of LPSCo’s entitlement be transferred to CAGRD.
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recharged at existing recharge facilities. It is anticipated this recharge would occur within the Phoenix AMA. The proposed entitlements to be transferred to CAGRD were originally intended to serve the water demands of the transferring entities’ service areas. The proposed action would preserve that intent by making the water available for replenishing excess groundwater delivered by the transferring entities’ within their respective service areas. While the Proposed Action provides for a long-term sustainable water supply6 for the CAGRD, it does not change or modify the need for the CAGRD to pursue and obtain sufficient other water supplies as identified in the No Action alternative. The Proposed Action does provide for the use of CAP water as a replenishment supply for excess groundwater uses for member lands within the service areas of the water providers assigning CAP water to the CAGRD.
C. Alternatives Considered but Eliminated
No other alternatives were considered in depth for WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo. These entities do not have existing means nor regulatory incentive for taking, treating and delivering CAP water to their customers. However, the potential for a financial incentive to build the necessary infrastructure to accept the CAP water was explored. This alternative, however, would not be economically feasible to any of the entitlement holders. There was also consideration of utilizing a neighboring service provider’s infrastructure to convey these entities’ entitlements to their respective service areas. Sunrise and NRUC’s neighbor, the City of Peoria, has a treatment plant that would be able to treat Sunrise and NRUC’s CAP entitlements and deliver the water to them. This alternative was explored but at present the City and the two water companies are unable to reach agreement. LPSCo and WEWC do not have any neighboring entities with water treatment plants that would be able to treat and convey their CAP entitlements. CAGRD has considered water sources other than those listed in its 2004 Plan of Operation (as described above), to increase its dependable, committed replenishment water supplies. Several reasons have restricted the use of other types of sources. The potential alternative supplies and reasons for elimination from consideration are listed in Table 1. Because the water sources identified in Table 1 are all non-viable from CAGRD’s perspective, they were not further considered as alternatives to the Proposed Action, nor were they considered likely to occur under the No-Action alternative.
Under the Arizona Water Settlements Act (2004) CAP M&I subcontracts are permanent service contracts. It should be noted that all or some portion of the CAP M&I water to be transferred under the Proposed Action may not be available in years of extreme shortage on the Colorado River. However, water supply firming activities of the Arizona Water Banking Authority are designed to reduce shortages to CAP M&I supplies. The CAP M&I water to be transferred under the Proposed Action could be considered to be a more reliable supply than some of those identified in the No Action alternative (e.g., Excess CAP water and CAP NIA Priority water), but it may be less reliable than others (e.g., higher priority non-CAP Colorado River supplies, imported groundwater and effluent). Regardless of the supplies, CAGRD has a statutory responsibility to meet all of its replenishment obligations. Therefore, CAGRD will develop a portfolio of water supplies necessary to comply with Arizona law under both the Proposed Action and No Action alternatives.
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Table 1. Alternative Water Sources Considered and Reasons For Their Elimination as Viable Options. Potential Water Source for CAGRD’s Recharge Use
Active Management Area (AMA) Groundwater Rights Non-Arizona Colorado River Supplies Excess Salt River Project (SRP), Roosevelt Water Conservation District, Maricopa County Municipal Water Conservation District No. 1, or Salt /Gila River Rights Additional Groundwater Basins other than Butler Valley, McMullen Valley and Harquahala Valley Bill Williams River Rights Unused Arizona On-River (Colorado River) Municipal & Industrial Rights Colorado River Reserve Water for Use at National Wildlife Refuge Colorado River Supplies less than 10,000 afa Water Supply Committed Under Existing Contracts or Leases Other Surface Water Rights not identified as potentially available in CAGRD’s Plan of Operation 1 2
Reason(s) for Inability of CAGRD to Utilize Water
Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD 1. Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD 2. Supply would not qualify for long term storage credits (ARS 45-851.01.B) Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD Rights held by Arizona municipal providers cannot be considered because those rights are already earmarked for future development by holder Mitigation costs to complete NEPA compliance would be too high Inefficient to negotiate a Colorado River lease or fallowing agreement for that small of an amount of water. Water is already committed to other users 1. Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD 2. Supply would not qualify for long-term storage credits (ARS 45-851.01.B)
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III.
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES
This section describes the existing affected environment and likely environmental consequences of Reclamation's approval of the assignment of 7,746 afa of CAP water entitlements from WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo to CAGRD. A No Action scenario is also evaluated for the service areas and CAGRD to provide a basis for comparison with the Proposed Action. The analysis is focused on the resource areas that may be impacted. The following resource areas are not anticipated to be affected to any measurable degree, and are therefore not included in the analysis: Surface water resources, air resources, recreational resources, geology, and soils.
A. Water Resources
1. Affected Environment The four water companies are located within the Phoenix AMA, in the West Salt River Valley groundwater subbasin. The West Salt River Valley subbasin covers an area of approximately 1,330 square miles. The subbasin is a broad alluvial valley that is bounded on the west by the White Tank Mountains; to the south by the Buckeye Hills, Sierra Estrella, and South Mountains; to the east by the Union Hills, Phoenix Mountains, and Papago Buttes; and to the north by the Hieroglyphic Mountains and Hedgepeth Hills. The sediments in the West Salt River Valley subbasin are generally alluvial units that range in thickness from less than 100 feet near the basin margins to over 10,000 feet in the central portions of the basin in the vicinity of Luke Air Force Base. The sediments in the subbasin are composed primarily of unconsolidated sediments of sand, gravel, silt and clays. In general, the sediments form three broad units: the upper alluvial unit, the middle fine-grained unit, and the lower alluvial unit. Groundwater is found in each of the three units, forming a large heterogeneous alluvial aquifer. In general, most groundwater is pumped from the middle fine-grained unit. It is estimated that the West Salt River Valley subbasin aquifer includes more than 8 million acre-feet of groundwater (ADWR 1999). Groundwater development in the West Salt River Valley began in the late 1800s with the development of shallow groundwater wells along the Agua Fria, Salt, and Gila Rivers. Currently, groundwater uses include agricultural irrigation, municipal, and industrial water supply purposes. Municipal water providers include WEWC, NRUC, Sunrise, LPSCo, other private water companies, and the cities of Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria, Avondale, Goodyear, and Surprise. As a result of groundwater development, water levels in some portions of the subbasin have declined substantially, creating large cones of depression near Luke Air Force Base and Deer Valley. Groundwater pumping also has resulted in land subsidence and earth fissuring near Luke Air Force Base. Groundwater logging is occurring in the Buckeye and Goodyear areas due to effluent discharge from the 91st Avenue Waste Water Treatment Plant and irrigation practices (ADWR 1999).
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a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders (1) WEWC The WEWC’s service area encompasses approximately 5.81 square miles in the northwestern portion of the West Salt River Valley subbasin, primarily around the town of Wittmann. Depth to groundwater in the vicinity of WEWC ranges from approximately 400 to 500 feet below ground surface (bgs) (ADWR 2002). Water quality in the area is good, with concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) generally less than 300 milligrams per liter (mg/L), and low levels of nitrates and fluoride (ADWR 2002, USGS 2003). Several ephemeral washes are located within the service area, and are tributary to the Agua Fria River, which is located approximately 12 miles southeast of the WEWC. Surface water generally flows northwest to southeast; however, the CAP and Beardsley Canals impede surface flow from reaching the Agua Fria River. There are approximately 64 registered wells within the WEWC service area, ranging from approximately 300 to 800 feet in depth bgs. The majority of these wells are small-capacity domestic wells (ADWR 2003). WEWC owns and operates three of these wells. The WEWC wells range from 633 to 800 feet in depth bgs. The wells are used to meets all of its customers’ demands. WEWC served 98 af of groundwater to 236 customers in 2005. Water use is primarily for domestic residential purposes. (2) Sunrise Sunrise’s service area encompasses approximately 3.92 square miles in the northeastern portion of the West Salt River Valley subbasin, primarily within the City of Peoria corporate limits. Depth to groundwater in the vicinity of Sunrise ranges from approximately 400 to 600 feet bgs (ADWR 2002). Water quality in the area is good, with concentrations of TDS generally less than 500 mg/L, and low levels of fluoride, although there have been reports of elevated levels of nitrates and arsenic (ADWR 2002, USGS 2003). Several ephemeral washes are located within the service area that are tributary to New River, which forms the eastern boundary of the service area. Surface water generally flows north to south in the area. There are approximately 46 registered wells within the Sunrise service area, ranging from approximately 200 to 1,200 feet in depth bgs. The majority of these wells are small-capacity domestic wells (ADWR 2003). Sunrise owns and operates five of these wells. The Sunrise wells range in depth from 850 to 1,260 feet in depth bgs. The wells are used to meet all of Sunrise’s customer demands. Sunrise served 1,009 af of groundwater to 1,272 customers in 2005. Water use is primarily for domestic residential purposes.
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(3) NRUC NRUC’s service area encompasses approximately 1.68 square miles in the northeastern portion of the West Salt River Valley subbasin, primarily within the City of Peoria corporate limits and immediately south of the Sunrise Water Company. Depth to water and water quality are similar to that described above for Sunrise. Several ephemeral washes are also located within the NRUC service area, and are tributary to New River. Like Sunrise, New River forms the eastern boundary of the NRUC service area. There are approximately 13 registered wells within the NRUC service area, ranging from 600 to 2,000 feet in depth bgs. NRUC owns and operates six of these wells primarily for domestic residential purposes. The NRUC wells range from 1,200 to 1,977 feet in depth bgs and are used to meet all of its customers’ demands. NRUC served 1,877 af of groundwater to 2,653 customers in 2005. The majority of the remaining wells are large-capacity irrigation wells (ADWR 2003). (4) LPSCo LPSCo’s service area encompasses approximately 20.16 square miles in the western portion of the West Salt River Valley subbasin, near the cities of Litchfield Park, Goodyear, and Glendale. Depth to groundwater in the vicinity of LPSCo ranges from approximately 50 feet bgs on the east side of the service area near the Agua Fria River to approximately 300 feet bgs on the west side of the service area, near the regional cone of depression known as the Luke Sink (ADWR 2002). Water quality in the area varies widely. Concentrations of TDS can be as low as 200 mg/L; however, the presence of a massive salt body known as the Luke Salt has affected salinity levels in the area, and deeper wells can have concentrations of TDS in excess of 4,000 mg/L. Concentrations of fluoride are generally low, although there have been reports of elevated levels of nitrates and arsenic (ADWR 2002, USGS 2003). The Agua Fria River is located immediately east of the LPSCo service area. Surface water generally flows north to south within the service area. Portions of the Roosevelt Irrigation Canal, Colter Channel, and Airline Canal also pass through the service area. There are approximately 96 registered wells within the LPSCo service area, ranging from approximately 50 to 2,000 feet in depth bgs. LPSCo owns and operates nine of these wells. The LPSCo wells range from 503 to 2,000 feet in depth bgs and are used to serve all of its customers’ demands. In 2005, LPSCo served 9,304 af of groundwater to 12,978 customers. Water use is primarily for domestic residential purposes. Approximately one third of the 96 registered wells are monitoring wells, and over half are primarily large-capacity irrigation wells (ADWR 2003).
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b. CAGRD The affected environment for the CAGRD for purposes of this EA includes the member lands and member service areas for which the CAGRD could fulfill replenishment obligations by recharging the 7,746 afa of CAP water that would be transferred to CAGRD by the four water companies. This includes the water service areas of the four water companies, which are described above, and the Phoenix AMA. The Phoenix AMA covers approximately 5,646 square miles and includes seven groundwater subbasins: East Salt River Valley, West Salt River Valley, Rainbow Valley, Hassayampa, Lake Pleasant, Carefree, and Fountain Hills subbasins. Groundwater in the Phoenix AMA generally occurs in broad alluvial aquifers composed of unconsolidated sands, silts, clays and gravels. Groundwater development in the Phoenix AMA began in the late 1800’s when shallow groundwater wells were drilled adjacent to streams to supplement surface water supplies for irrigation. Currently, ADWR estimates approximately 2.3 million acre-feet are used annually in the Phoenix AMA with 1.4 million acre-feet provided from renewable supplies (CAP and SRP water) and approximately 900,000 acre-feet from groundwater (ADWR 2004). Additionally, ADWR estimates approximately 250,000 acre-feet of effluent are reused in the Phoenix AMA. At present, groundwater levels are generally stable or rising in the East Salt River Valley subbasin due to reduction in agricultural uses, increases in artificial recharge, and increased natural recharge from recent floods along the Salt River stream bed. Depth to groundwater ranges from 150’ to 600’ bgs. In the western subbasins (West Salt River, Hassayampa, and Rainbow Valley) groundwater levels are generally stable, with some areas suffering from water logging conditions. In general, depth to groundwater ranges from 10 feet (water logged areas near Buckeye) to 600 feet bgs. However, several large cones of depression do occur including: the Luke cone and Palo Verde cone. The remaining subbasins (Lake Pleasant, Carefree, and Fountain Hills) are isolated alluvial pockets with relatively thin alluvial aquifers. Groundwater levels are generally stable due to limited development and importation of renewable supplies (ADWR 2004). The CAGRD currently uses two groundwater recharge facilities that are located in the West Salt River Valley subbasin (where the four water companies’ service areas are located): the Agua Fria Recharge Project and the Hieroglyphic Mountains Recharge Project (Figure 7). Prior to initiating recharge operations, depth to water in the vicinity of the HMRP and AFRP were approximately 460 feet and 300 feet bgs, respectively. Currently, depth to groundwater is approximately 300 feet bgs at the HMRP and approximately 250 feet bgs at the AFRP. Water quality in these areas is good, with concentrations of TDS generally being less than 500 mg/L, and generally having low levels of arsenic, fluoride, and nitrate7 (ADWR 2002, USGS 2003).
On October 26, 2006, after nearly four years of operating the HMRP, a water quality sample taken from a monitor well located south of the facility exceeded the drinking water standard for nitrate. A subsequent sample also exceeded the nitrate standard. CAWCD has ascertained that the exceedance was likely associated with the dissolving of in-situ salts as water
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2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action Under the No Action alternative, the transfers would not occur and WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would continue to pump groundwater to meet their supply needs. It is anticipated by 2035, approximately 15,000 afa of groundwater would be pumped to supply the water demands within the service areas of the four water companies (CAGRD 2004). They would not be expected to utilize any portion of their CAP entitlements. Under this alternative, WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. As long as the water remains in the Excess CAP pool and is not used by higher priority users,8 it could be purchased and recharged by CAGRD to fulfill the replenishment obligations associated with member lands located within the water service areas of the four water companies. The availability of Excess CAP water will generally decline as contractors and subcontractors increase the use of their entitlements. To the extent that Excess CAP water is not available, CAGRD would use another source of water to meet its replenishment obligations, as described in Section II above. Because subdivisions within the service areas of the four water providers have already obtained CAWS, whether the proposed action is approved or not has no bearing on the anticipated volume of replenishment obligations that CAGRD will incur as a result of excess groundwater pumping by the transferring entities. However the mix of water supplies used to meet the obligations, as described previously, must approximate the reliability of CAP M&I priority water supplies in order that CAGRD may meet its replenishment obligations within the three-year time frame defined by Arizona statute. Arizona statutes require CAGRD to satisfy replenishment obligations incurred from these four services areas by recharging in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA “to the extent reasonably feasible” (ARS § 48-3772.I). Therefore, CAGRD could meet its obligations by replenishing anywhere in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA. Because CAWCD currently operates two recharge projects within the West Salt River Subbasin (AFRP and HMRP), it is likely that CAGRD would maximize the amount of water that it replenishes in these two projects regardless of whether or not the proposed action is approved. However, it is possible that CAGRD’s water supply portfolio under the No Action alternative could include a larger volume of effluent supplies. If this occurs, a portion of the replenishment associated with these four service areas
that had been recharged at the HMRP flushed out the vadose zone. CAWCD has developed an action plan to increase area groundwater monitoring activities and to protect nearby landowners until nitrate levels come back within compliance. CAWCD believes that aggressive operation of the project to facilitate the flushing of nitrates through the aquifer system will rectify the problem and will do so with approval and oversight from ADWR and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. As part of the settlement of Indian water rights claims and CAP repayment negotiations with the United States, CAWCD has adopted a policy providing NIA users with first priority for use of excess CAP water through 2030. Under the policy, NIA users have priority to 400,000 AF/year of excess CAP water through 2016; 300,000 af /year from 2017 through 2023; and 225,000 AF/year from 2024 through 2030.
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may not occur within the West Salt River Subbasin. This is because effluent cannot be stored at the AFRP or HMRP and there may be a limit on the capacity available in effluent recharge projects located within the West Salt River Subbasin. b. Proposed Action Under the Proposed Action, entitlement to 7,746 afa of CAP M&I water, currently allocated to the four water companies, would be transferred to CAGRD, thus providing CAGRD with a permanent supply that is extremely reliable. CAGRD would incur the same replenishment obligation for the four water companies’ service areas and would replenish the same volume of water under both alternatives. As with the No Action Alternative, groundwater would be used to supply future water demands within the water service areas associated with these four water companies, and CAGRD would be responsible for replenishing the excess groundwater used by the member lands located within the water service areas of the four water companies. Under the Proposed Action, the Supplemental Contract would require that replenishment on behalf of member lands in the NRUC, Sunrise and WEWC service areas be accomplished within the area of hydrologic impact of the associated groundwater withdrawals. To satisfy the replenishment obligations incurred as a result of groundwater pumping within the WEWC water service area, CAP water obtained by CAGRD under the proposed action would be replenished at the HMRP. For obligations incurred as a result of groundwater pumping within the Sunrise and NRUC water service areas, CAP water would be recharged into the AFRP. The Supplemental Contract would require that replenishment on behalf of member lands in the LPSCo service area be accomplished within the Phoenix AMA. It is CAGRD’s intent that CAP water transferred from the LPSCo water service subcontract to CAGRD would be replenished at the AFRP. While this facility is not within the area of hydrologic impact of groundwater pumping in the LPSCo service area, it is located in the western portion of the Phoenix AMA and therefore complies with the State’s AWS rules as well as the provisions of the proposed Supplemental Contract. In accordance with the proposed Supplemental Contract, any transferred CAP water that is “leftover” after fulfilling the replenishment obligations of the member lands located within the water service areas of the four water companies may be used to satisfy annual replenishment obligations for member lands enrolled as of the effective date of Exhibit A of the Supplemental Contract. More than 85% of CAGRD’s total replenishment obligations for member lands is projected to be incurred in the Phoenix AMA (CAGRD, 2004), translating to large volumes of water needed to meet replenishment obligations for member lands in the Phoenix AMA. Therefore, CAGRD would, in all likelihood, replenish any of the left-over CAP water within the Phoenix AMA, and probably at the AFRP or HMRP. However, CAGRD estimates that the total annual replenishment obligations for member lands within the four water companies’ service areas will exceed 7,746 AF by 2020 (CAGRD 2004), so left-over water would not be a long-term issue (Table 2).
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Table 2. Projected Replenishment Obligations in Transferring Entities’ Service Areas (afa) Service Area (annual amount to be transferred) WEWC (157) Sunrise (944) NRUC (1,885) LPSCo (4,760) Total (7,746)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
2008 10 244 1,333 3,989 5,576
2009 11 268 1,407 4,317 6,003
2010 13 292 1,481 4,644 6,430
2015 322 347 811 4,252 5,732
2020 626 682 2,219 10,166 13,693
CAGRD may replenish more water at these two facilities under the Proposed Action, as compared to what may occur under the No Action alternative. This possibility exists because, as discussed above, CAGRD may increase its reliance on effluent under the No Action alternative, thereby reducing the volume of water available to CAGRD for replenishment at the AFRP and HMRP. However, this possible increase in use of the facilities by CAGRD would not result in changes to the operating procedures at these two facilities.
B. Land Use
1. Affected Environment a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders (1) WEWC WEWC’s service area encompasses approximately 3,720 acres of land. Approximately 2540% is developed, consisting mainly of sparsely distributed residential developments with some commercial businesses. The town of Wittmann is located within the service area; the remainder falls within an unincorporated area of Maricopa County. Much of the service area consists of native desert, particularly in the northern, southern, and eastern portions. (2) Sunrise Sunrise’s service area is approximately 2,506 acres in size, and includes unincorporated Maricopa County land, a portion of the city of Peoria, and about 160 acres of State land. About 25% of the service area, including the State land, is native desert. The remainder of the service area consists of medium- to high-density residential neighborhood clusters that have been constructed or are planned for construction. There are also several commercial areas.
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(3) NRUC NRUC’s water service area is approximately 1,077 acres in size and is entirely located within the limits of the city of Peoria. Although there may be some small vacant parcels scattered within the service area, the entire service area is essentially fully developed with the exception of the New River corridor. (4) LPSCo The LPSCo service area is the largest of the four water service areas involved in the proposed transfer, encompassing approximately 13,214 acres. Portions of the service area fall within Litchfield Park, Goodyear, and Avondale city limits. The service area also includes unincorporated Maricopa County land. The area has been experiencing rapid conversion from agriculture to high-density residential development over the past several years. Approximately 70% of the LPSCo service area is already developed or planned for development. Several golf courses are also located within the service area boundaries. Approximately 3,000 acres consist of irrigated agricultural fields. These are located in the extreme western portion of the service area. About half of these acres are located within Luke Air Force Base’s outermost noise contour. There are also about 1,350 acres of undeveloped desert in two distinct parcels within the service area. One parcel is located in the extreme northeast portion of the service area that extends east of El Mirage Road. The other is just southeast of Luke Air Force Base. Both parcels are located in unincorporated Maricopa County.
b. CAGRD Member Lands - As of December 31, 2005, a total of 647 subdivisions have enrolled as member lands of the CAGRD in the Phoenix AMA. These 647 subdivisions represent approximately 115,600 homes. Of these 647 subdivisions, 420 are located in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA (representing about 84,200 homes) and 227 are located in the east portion of the Phoenix AMA (representing about 31,400 homes).9 Member Service Areas – As of December 31, 2005, a total of nine municipal water providers have enrolled their water service areas as member service areas of the CAGRD in the Phoenix AMA. Of these, five are in the west portion of the AMA and four are in the east portion, as indicated below.
CAGRD will not incur parcel replenishment obligations for thirteen of these member land subdivisions (ten in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA and three in the east portion) because the municipal water providers serving the subdivisions (City of El Mirage, City of Surprise and Johnson Utilities, LLC) enrolled their service areas as member service areas of the CAGRD after the member lands were enrolled. Therefore, the 3,876 homes within these thirteen subdivisions are not included in the figures provided herein.
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MSAs in the West Portion of the Phoenix AMA · City of Avondale · City of El Mirage · City of Goodyear · City of Peoria · City of Surprise
MSAs in the East Portion of the Phoenix AMA · City of Scottsdale · Johnson Utilities, LLC · Water Utilities Community Facilities District (Apache Junction) · Chaparral City Water Company
CAGRD will be using two existing recharge facilities within the Phoenix AMA (the AFRP and the HMRP) to fulfill its replenishment obligations for member lands and member service areas located in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA. These facilities are used exclusively for groundwater recharge. The AFRP encompasses approximately 100 acres with a permitted capacity of approximately 100,000 af per year. It is the only recharge project in Arizona to combine streambed recharge and spreading basins at a single facility. The HMRP utilizes 38 acres and has a permitted capacity of 35,000 af per year. HMRP consists of spreading basins adjacent to the north side of the CAP canal. 2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action Under the No Action alternative, it is anticipated that urbanization within the WEWC water service area would continue at about the same rate as, or more rapidly than, it has over the past several years. This would also be expected to occur within the Sunrise service area, with the possible exception of the State land, which might not be developed as rapidly as the neighboring private land. Development of the remaining land within the NRUC service area would not change, as at present it is essentially fully developed. Within the LPSCo service area, it is anticipated that agricultural areas and areas of native desert that lie outside the established noise contours of Luke Air Force Base would be developed within the next few years, based upon current development trends. However, it is anticipated that development of the remaining agricultural land within the noise contours would occur more slowly and would consist of development that is more compatible with the noise generated from Base activities, rather than conversion to high-density residential areas. Prior to constructing a subdivision of six or more dwellings, developers are required to acquire certificates of assured water supply from ADWR. All currently undeveloped land within the service areas of the four water companies would be eligible to enroll as member lands of the CAGRD. As indicated in Section I, membership in CAGRD proves consistency with the State’s water management goals, thereby allowing new subdivisions to obtain certificates of assured water supply. Therefore, as long as undeveloped land is still available, it is assumed that land development within the defined project area would continue to occur
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at its current rate. Table 3 provides a summary of the projected growth in the number of housing units within each of the four service areas through 2030 (CAP & MAG 2004).
Table 3. Projected Number of Housing Units in Transferring Entities’ Service Areas Service Area Name WEWC Sunrise NRUC LPSCo Total
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
2007 395 1,299 2,972 13,242 17,908
2010 413 1,446 3,521 15,294 20,674
2015 1,476 1,701 3,522 19,960 26,659
2020 2,535 1,952 3,522 24,602 32,611
2025 3,379 2,165 3,523 25,867 34,934
2030 4,264 2,394 3,523 27,496 37,677
WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. However, a possible occurrence under the No Action alternative is that the entitlements held by the four water companies could be transferred to one or more other water providers that are not members of the CAGRD, thereby increasing those providers’ portfolios of renewable water supplies. With an increase of available renewable supplies, State law would allow additional development (i.e., construction and land disturbance) to occur on lands located within those water providers’ service areas. b. Proposed Action Under the Proposed Action, CAGRD would receive a CAP water entitlement of 7,746 af annually. This water would be used to fulfill replenishment obligations of member lands located within the water service areas of WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo. Transferred water entitlements from Sunrise and New River would be used for recharge at the AFRP and WEWC’s entitlement would be recharged at the HMRP. LPSCo’s transferred entitlement would likely be used for recharge at AFRP, although legally it could be recharged at various recharge locations within the Phoenix AMA. The Proposed Action would potentially increase the volume of storage at HMRP and AFRP over that contemplated in the No Action alternative, if the No Action alternative includes the use of effluent storage. Because all currently undeveloped land within the service areas of the four water companies are eligible to be enrolled in CAGRD, it is assumed that land development under the Proposed Action would occur as it would be anticipated to occur under the No Action Alternative. There would be no difference in the impacts to land ownership or land development within the defined Project area between the two alternatives. However, the
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Proposed Action could result in less development on lands located outside of the defined Project. This would occur because, under the Proposed Action, the CAP entitlements proposed for transfer would not be available to other water providers that are not members of the CAGRD, thereby limiting the ability for additional lands to be developed in those service areas.
C. Socioeconomic Resources
1. Affected Environment a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders These water providers’ service areas fall within the political boundaries of several entities, including the cities of Peoria, Litchfield Park, Goodyear, and Avondale, smaller towns like Wittmann, and unincorporated Maricopa County land. Analysis was conducted through the evaluation of Census tracts. A Census tract is a geographically smaller area that documents the same type of demographic, racial, and economic statistics as larger areas such as counties and states. Service areas were compared with Maricopa County data to determine whether or not service areas were demonstrating the same trends as the county as a whole. (1) WEWC The entire WEWC service area is located in one census tract, Tract 405.09. This tract is actually larger than WEWC’s water service area. According to the Census 2000, Census Tract 405.09 consists of a smaller percentage of a non-white population, unemployment rate, and a lower 1999 Median Household Income when compared to Maricopa County, Arizona (Table 4). Also shown in Table 4, the occupational category with the greatest number of jobs in Census Tract 405.09 was the Sales and Office category while the majority of employees in Maricopa County were in the Management and Professional employment fields. (2) Sunrise The Sunrise service area is located in portions of three census tracts, Tract 303.71, 303.73, and 303.75. According to the Census 2000, these three census tracts consist of smaller percentages of non-white populations when compared to Maricopa County, Arizona. These census tracts also consisted of higher 1999 Median Household Incomes. Two of the three tracts had lower unemployment rates (2000) than the County (Table 5). When occupation types were compared, the largest job category in these three census tracts was the same as the County; most employees were categorized as working in Management and Professional fields.
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Table 4. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics Maricopa County and Census Tract related to WEWC WEWC Census Maricopa County Tract Census Tract 405.09
Population Characteristics Population %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income % Unemployment (2000) Employment No. Employed (over Age of 16) Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 2 3 15,675 88% 12% $32,254 1.9% 4,474 (29% of population) 21.5% 21.7% 25.5% 2.7% 14.7% 13.9% 3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3.0% 1,427,292 (46%) 33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
Table 5. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract related to Sunrise and Maricopa County Sunrise Census Tracts Maricopa County 303.75 303.71 303.73
Population Characteristics Population (persons) %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income % Unemployed (2000) Employment No. Employed (over Age of 16) Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 4 2,258 95.3% 4.7% $81,976 1% 1,188 (53%) 32.7% 10% 32.5% 0.7% 14.1% 9.9% 12,306 92.8% 7.2% $57,103 1.6% 5,459 (44%) 37.6% 12.7% 32.4% 0% 9.8% 7.5% 2,942 90.9% 9.1% $74,073 5% 1,491 (51%) 45.8% 12% 29.5% 0% 8.5% 4.2% 3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3% 1,427,292 (46%) 33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
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(3) NRUC The NRUC service area is located in portions of three census tracts, Tract 303.68, 303.71, and 303.73. Two of these tracts, 303.71 and 303.73, also contain portions of the Sunrise service area. According to the Census 2000, all three census tracts consist of smaller percentages of non-white populations when compared to Maricopa County, Arizona. These census tracts also consisted of higher 1999 Median Household Incomes. Two of the three tracts consisted of lower unemployment rates (2000) than the County (Table 6). When occupation types were compared, the greatest amount of jobs for people living within the census tracts was the same type as the County; most employees were categorized as working in Management and Professional fields.
Table 6. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract Related to NRUC and Maricopa County New River Census Tracts Maricopa County 303.71 303.73 303.68
Population Characteristics Population (persons) %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income Unemployment (2000) Employment No. Employed (over Age of 16) Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12,306 92.8% 7.2% $57,103 1.6% 5,459 (44%) 37.6% 12.7% 32.4% 0% 9.8% 7.5% 2,942 90.9% 9.1% $74,073 5% 1,491 (51%) 45.8% 12% 29.5% 0% 8.5% 4.2% 2,738 98.4% 1.6% $54,559 2.1% 751 (27%) 53.3% 2.8% 34% 0% 3.5% 6.4% 3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3.0% 1,427,292 (46%) 33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
(4) LPSCo The LPSCo service area is located in portions of five census tracts, Tract 610.05, 610.09, 610.02, 610.03, and 610.06. According to the Census 2000, all five census tracts consisted of about the same or smaller percentages of non-white populations when compared to Maricopa County, Arizona. All five census tracts consisted of higher 1999 Median Household Incomes and lower unemployment rates (2000) than the County (Table 7). When occupation types were compared, in four of the five census tracts most employees were categorized as working in Management and Professional fields, which is the same as for the County. In the fifth
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census tract, the greatest number of employees fell into the sales and office industries category.
Table 7. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract related to LPSCo and Maricopa County Litchfield Park Service Co. Census Tracts Maricopa County 610.05 610.09 610.02 610.03 610.06
Population Characteristics Population %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income Unemployment (2000) Employment No. Employed Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 6,458 79.4% 20.6% 50,861 0.9% 1,536 (24%) 29.6% 16.1% 28.4% 2.1% 9.5% 14.3% 87 100% 0% 51,250 0% 45 (52%) 31.1% 0% 42.2% 0% 11.1% 15.6% 4,104 91.7% 8.3% 74,125 2.6% 1,805 (44%) 47.5% 12.7% 23.4% 0.2% 6% 10% 10,395 77% 23% 62,698 1.8% 5,260 (51%) 36.9% 10.4% 32.3% 0.4% 8.3% 11.8% 8,072 79.2% 20.8% 46,210 1.9% 3,689 (46%) 27.9% 19.1% 24.2% 3.7% 12.1% 13% 3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3.0% 1,427,292 (46%) 33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
b. CAGRD Those portions of CAGRD’s service area that are most directly impacted by the Proposed Action are the member lands located within the four water companies’ service areas. The demographic, racial, and economic statistics for these areas are provided in Tables 4-7 above. Due to the expansive and non-contiguous nature of CAGRD’s remaining membership in the Phoenix AMA (which makes up the project area), such statistics are not readily available. Therefore, the Maricopa County data provided in Tables 4-7 above are assumed to be representative of the remaining CAGRD membership in the Phoenix AMA as a whole. Maricopa County data as compared to the entire state of Arizona are provided below in Table 8.
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Table 8. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Maricopa County and State of Arizona (U.S. Census Bureau) Maricopa County
Population Characteristics Population %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income % Unemployment (2000) Employment No. Employed (over Age of 16) Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
10
Arizona
5,130,632 75% 25% $40,558 3.4% 2,233,004 (43.5%) 32.7% 16.2% 28.5% 0.6% 11.0% 10.9%
3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3.0% 1,427,292 (46%)
33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders Under the No Action alternative, all four water companies would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water and the four water companies would continue to be responsible for the annual capital payments associated with the entitlements.10 The providers would continue to serve water to their respective service area. Lands served by these providers would continue to be developed under the No Action alternative. These water providers would continue to pump groundwater to serve both existing and future customers. Future customers would be enrolled as member lands of the CAGRD in order to comply with Arizona’s Assured Water Supply Rules. Those customers whose lands are enrolled as member lands would pay annual replenishment assessments based on the amount of excess groundwater delivered to their property. Since these four water companies have never utilized the water proposed to be transferred, there would be no
Under existing CAP M&I subcontracts, the subcontractor is responsible for paying an annual capital charge to CAWCD regardless of whether the CAP water is ordered or not.
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change in the water service provided. Future rates for water supplied by CAGRD to offset groundwater pumping by the water companies is discussed under “CAGRD” below. No change in the lifestyle or social well-being of the populations serviced by any of these water companies is anticipated as a result of their continued reliance on these sources. (2) CAGRD Under the No Action alternative, CAGRD would continue to enroll member lands within the four water companies’ service areas as provided by State law. CAGRD would be required to continue to satisfy all of its replenishment obligations through recharge in the Phoenix AMA. CAGRD would continue using available excess CAP water for replenishment and would continue to use the AFRP and HMRP. Under the No Action alternative, if there is insufficient excess CAP water available, CAGRD would secure additional water supplies from the sources described in Section II above and CAGRD rates would be set based on the cost of securing and replenishing whatever water supplies CAGRD obtains. CAGRD rates are calculated on an AMA-wide basis; therefore, the costs associated with securing and replenishing water to meet replenishment obligations in the Phoenix AMA would be “spread” over CAGRD’s entire Phoenix AMA membership. There are no residences located within the AFRP and HMRP. CAWCD operates the facilities to maximize hydrologic and economic efficiency regarding recharge. CAGRD uses the facilities to meet replenishment obligations in the Phoenix AMA using its available water supplies. To the maximum extent possible, CAGRD would use these facilities to offset replenishment obligations incurred as a result of pumping within the WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo service areas.
b. Proposed Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders Many conditions under this alternative would be identical to those under the No Action alternative. All four water companies would transfer their unused CAP water entitlements and would no longer be responsible for the entitlements’ annual capital payments. Lands served by these providers would continue to be developed and the providers would continue to serve their respective service areas through groundwater pumping. Future customers within the water companies’ service areas would be enrolled as member lands of the CAGRD in order to comply with Arizona’s Assured Water Supply Rules and those customers would pay annual replenishment assessments based on the amount of excess groundwater delivered to their property. These four water companies have never utilized the water that is proposed to be transferred, and there is no infrastructure in place for them to do so; therefore, under the Proposed Action there would be no change in the water service provided to the residents served by WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, or LPSCo.
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The only anticipated impact to socioeconomic conditions within the four water companies’ service areas relates to the difference in CAGRD assessment rates paid by members under the Proposed Action compared to the No Action alternative. As discussed above, the Proposed Action provides CAGRD with a reliable water supply that can be used to meet replenishment obligations. Under the No Action alternative, CAGRD would need to secure an equally reliable supply to meet its replenishment obligations and any difference in the costs (higher or lower) of securing and replenishing such supplies would be borne by CAGRD members. Further discussion of CAGRD rates is provided in the next paragraph. (2) CAGRD Under the Proposed Action alternative, CAGRD would incur essentially the same replenishment obligations as it would under the No Action alternative. CAGRD would have the ability to use the transferred 7,746 af of CAP subcontract water to meet its replenishment obligations in the Phoenix AMA. As indicated above, there could be some impact on CAGRD members’ assessment rates depending on the cost of the CAP water to be transferred when compared to an alternative supply; however, the impact would likely be insignificant. This is because CAGRD rates are calculated on an AMA-wide basis and the volume of water to be transferred under the Proposed Action is relatively small compared to CAGRD’s projected overall replenishment obligations for the Phoenix AMA.11 Based on these projected replenishment obligations, it is anticipated that every $10/af incremental change (higher or lower) in CAGRD’s cost of purchasing and replenishing water would result in a corresponding change of about $0.20 in the average member land homeowner’s annual replenishment assessment over the long-term. Thus, it would take a large difference between the cost of the Proposed Action and the No Action alternative to have any significant economic effect on CAGRD members.
D. Biological Resources
1. Affected Environment Table 9 lists the federally listed and candidate species identified by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as potentially occurring in Maricopa County, Arizona.
11
CAGRD’s annual replenishment obligations for the Phoenix AMA are projected to reach 138,200 AF by 2020 and 186,700 AF by 2035 (CAGRD 2004).
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Table 9. Summary of federally listed and candidate species and their habitat needs
Species Status Known Distribution and Habitat Needs Arizona agave E Transition zone of oak-juniper woodland and mountain mahogany-oak scrub, Agave arizonica usually steep rocky slopes from 3,000 to 6,000 feet (AGFD 1997) Arizona cliffrose E Rolling limestone hills within Sonoran desertscrub from 2,500 to 4,000 feet Purshia subintegra (AGFD 2001a) Bald eagle T Large trees or cliffs near creeks, lakes, and rivers with abundant prey, i.e., fish Haliaeetus leucocephalus (AGFD 1996) California brown pelican E Shore bird usually found near sandy beaches and lagoons. Nests along coastal Pelecanus occidentalis islands with shrubby vegetation and small trees. In AZ, this species can be californicus found at large inland lakes (Monson, G., and A.R. Phillips 1981) Desert pupfish E Permanent water in shallow springs, streams, and marshes (AGFD 2001b) Cyprinodon macularius macularius and eremus Gila topminnow E Permanent water in small streams, springs, and cienegas (AGFD 2001c) Poeciliopsis occidentalis occidentalis Lesser long-nosed bat E Desert scrub with agave and columnar cacti. Caves or abandoned tunnels for Leptonycteris curasoae roosts at elevations of 6,000 feet or less (AGFD 1998) yerbabuenae Mexican spotted owl T Canyons and dense forests above 4,100 feet in elevation (USFWS 1995) Strix occidentalis lucida Razorback sucker E Slow backwaters of medium and large streams and rivers (AGFD 2001d) Xyrauchen texanus Southwestern willow E Dense cottonwood/willow & tamarisk vegetation communities along rivers & flycatcher streams (AGFD 1996) Empidonax traillii extimus Sonoran pronghorn E Sonoran desert plains with wide alluvial basins and desert grassland (AGFD Antilocapra americana 1996) sonoriensis Yuma clapper rail E Freshwater or brackish stream-sides and marshes with dense vegetation, Rallus longirostris especially cattail/bulrush (AGFD 2001e) yumanensis Western yellow-billed C Broadleaf deciduous riparian forest habitats and tamarisk woodlands adjacent cuckoo to surface water (AGFD 1996) Coccyzus americanus occidentalis Gila chub E Small headwater streams, springs, cienegas, and marshes of the Gila River Gila intermedia basin (AGFD 2001f) USFWS categories: Endangered (E) – Taxa in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range; Threatened (T) - Taxa likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range; Candidate (C) - Taxa whose protection under the Endangered Species Act has been found to be warranted, but precluded by higher priority listing activities at this time. 1 2 3 4 5 6
a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders The biological resource observations described in this section are based largely on field reconnaissance investigations conducted by SWCA, Inc. on September 26, 2003. SWCA’s findings are documented in biological report memoranda provided in Appendix D.
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(1) WEWC This 3,720-acre service area is located in the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Approximately 25-40% of the service area is developed. The vegetation present in the natural undisturbed portions of the project area consist mainly of native desert vegetation typical of the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of the Sonoran desertscrub biotic community. The dominant vegetation species present within the project area include the following: creosotebush (Larrea tridentata), blue paloverde (Parkinsonia florida), saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea), velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina), triangle-leaf bursage (Ambrosia deltoidea), canyon ragweed (Ambrosia ambrosioides), desert ironwood (Olneya tesota), and grasses. Protected native plants classified under the Arizona Native Plant Law (ARS §3-904) are also present in the project area. Federally Endangered and Threatened Species. All 14 federally listed and candidate species were eliminated from further consideration because their known geographic ranges are distant from the project area and/or the project area does not contain habitat known to be necessary to support these species (Table 9). State Special Status Species. The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) also maintains a statewide database, known as the Heritage Data Management System (HDMS), which tracks records for federally listed species or other species of special concern. AGFD searched this database for occurrence records of special status species within a five-mile radius of the WEWC service area. The AGFD response letter indicated that there are no records of any special status species within five miles of the project area (Appendix B). (2) Sunrise This 2,506-acre service area is located in the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Approximately 25% of the service area is native desert, with the remainder consisting of residential neighborhood clusters that have been constructed or are planned for construction, and several commercial areas. The vegetation present in the natural undisturbed areas includes the following: creosotebush, blue paloverde, saguaro, triangle-leaf bursage, chainfruit cholla (Opuntia fulgida), and desert ironwood. New River is also located within the project area and the following vegetation was observed along the river: catclaw acacia (Acacia greggii), desert broom (Baccharis sarothroides), blue paloverde, desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), and burrobrush (Hymenoclea salsola). New River Dam is located about 1 mile upstream of the water service area. The New River is ephemeral within the project area, and about ¼ mile of the river has been channelized in the southernmost portion of the water service area. Protected native plants classified under the Arizona Native Plant Law (ARS §3-904) are also present in the project area.
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Federally Endangered and Threatened Species. All 14 federally listed and candidate species were eliminated from further consideration because their known geographic ranges are distant from the project area and/or the project area does not contain habitat known to be necessary to support these species (Table 9). State Special Status Species. AGFD searched the HDMS database for occurrence records of special status species within a three-mile radius of the Sunrise service area These species are the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassisii), California leaf-nosed bat (Macrotus californicus), and the cave myotis (Myotis velifer). No known occurrences are from within the service area proper. Although these species have status listings, these listings do not afford the species any statutory protection under the Endangered Species Act. A copy of the request letter and the AGFD response letter is included in Appendix B. The Sonoran desert population of the desert tortoise is listed as a Wildlife of Special Concern in Arizona (WSCA) by the AGFD. They are found above the flats on rocky bajadas and hillsides. Because of the flat topography of the Sunrise service area and the fragmented nature of the remaining undisturbed desert, it is unlikely that this species is present. The California leaf-nosed bat is listed as a WSCA by the AGFD. This bat is found primarily south of the Mogollon Plateau in Sonoran and Mohave desertscrub and occasionally in Chihuahuan and Great Basin desertscrub. Roost sites include mines, caves, and rock shelters. Foraging could occur over remnant desertscrub within the project area, but it is more likely that the species would be transient from roosting sites to larger patches of undisturbed desert habitat. The cave myotis can be found south of the Mogollon Plateau from Lake Mohave, Burro Creek, Montezuma Well, the San Carlos Apache Reservation and the Chiricahua Mountains south to Mexico. It is predominantly found in desertscrub of creosote, brittlebush, paloverde and cacti, but sometimes up to pine-oak communities. Roosts include mines, caves, or rock shelters. As with the California leaf-nosed bat above, foraging could occur over remnant desertscrub within the project area, but it is more likely that the species would be transient from roosting sites to larger patches of undisturbed desert habitat. (3) NRUC This 1,077-acre service area is located in the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Although there are some small vacant parcels scattered within the service area, the entire service area is essentially fully developed with the exception of a small portion of the New River corridor, which is located within the southern part of the water service area. The New River is ephemeral in the project area and has been channelized. The dominant vegetation species
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present within natural undisturbed portions of the project area include the following: creosotebush, blue paloverde, desert broom, and velvet mesquite. The following vegetation was observed along New River: desert broom, blue paloverde, and singlewhorl burrobrush (Hymenoclea monogyra). Protected native plants classified under the Arizona Native Plant Law (ARS §3-904) are also present in the project area. Federally Endangered and Threatened Species. All federally listed species and candidate endangered species (a total of 14 species) were eliminated from further consideration because their known geographic ranges are distant from the project area and/or the project area does not contain conditions similar to those known to be necessary to support these species (Table 9). State Special Status Species. AGFD searched the HDMS database for occurrence records of the following special status species within a three-mile radius of the Sunrise service area: the Western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea), California leaf-nosed bat, and the cave myotis. No known occurrences are from within the service area proper. Burrowing owls are associated with very sparse vegetation that allows long vistas over which danger can be detected. The best areas to observe these owls in Maricopa County are in the creosotebush-bursage associations adjacent to agricultural lands (Glinski 1998). Although we know of no records of the burrowing owl from the service area, it is possible that small, isolated populations may exist within the vicinity of the New River where habitat requirements are met and the soil substrate supports animal burrows suitable for nesting. The two bats species are most likely transient over the service area, moving from roosts to suitable foraging areas and back. (4) LPSCo This 13,214-acre service area is located in the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Only about 10% of the service area is undeveloped or undisturbed. The remaining portion consists of constructed (or planned) residential and commercial developments, golf courses and irrigated agriculture. The vegetation present in the undisturbed natural portions of the project area consists mainly of native desert vegetation typical of the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of the Sonoran desertscrub biotic community. The dominant vegetation species present within the project area include the following: Creosotebush, velvet mesquite, and saltbush (Atriplex spp.). Protected native plants classified under the Arizona Native Plant Law (ARS §3-904) are also present in the project area.
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Federally Endangered and Threatened Species. All federally listed and candidate species (a total of 14 species) were eliminated from further consideration because their known geographic ranges are distant from the project area and/or the project area does not contain conditions similar to those known to be necessary to support these species (Table 9). State Special Status Species. TAGFD searched the HDMS database for occurrence records of special status species within a four-mile radius of the WEWC service area. The AGFD response letter indicated that there are no records of any special status species within four miles of the project area (Appendix B). b. CAGRD As discussed in section I.C., for purposes of this EA, CAGRD’s project area includes those member service areas and member lands that are located within the Phoenix AMA. This area includes several ecological communities, but most of this region is within the Sonoran Desertscrub Biome as defined by Brown (1994). The majority of the lands within CAGRD’s project area are, or will be, fully urbanized. The AFRP is located within the Arizona upland subdivision of the Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). This portion of the Agua Fria River and its floodplain contain xeroriparian vegetation. Hills and mountains are located to the west of the area. The HMRP is located within the lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of the Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Most of the native desert vegetation has been disturbed in this area, but undisturbed portions contain upland and xeroriparian vegetation. The areas utilized by both recharge facilities (at each location) were surveyed for biological resources prior to the time of construction and use. Local and federal organizations were also consulted to determine how these replenishment facilities would affect the environment and what could be done to minimize those effects. Through planning and mitigation, AFRP and HMRP were permitted and developed with appropriate mitigation completed for each project.
2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (a) WEWC Continued groundwater pumping in the WEWC service area is not anticipated to affect local biological resources. There are no perennial streams, wetlands, riparian areas, or other special aquatic habitats in the service area that provide wildlife values which could
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be impacted by a continued use of groundwater. Through eventual development in the area, there is a potential that the entire service area would be developed, resulting in the removal of between approximately 2,200 to 2,800 acres of Sonoran Desertscrub vegetation. The service area, however, does not contain any habitat for federally listed or candidate species, or any State special status species; therefore, none would be adversely affected under the No Action alternative. There would, however, be local loss of small mammals, reptiles, and avian habitat from more common species typically associated with Sonoran desertscrub vegetation. Arizona Department of Agriculture (ADA) protected native plants are located within the project area. (b) Sunrise Continued groundwater pumping in the Sunrise service area is not anticipated to affect local biological resources. There are no perennial streams, wetlands, riparian areas, or other special aquatic habitats in the service area that provide wildlife values that could be impacted by a continued use of groundwater. Through eventual development in the area, there is a potential that the entire service area would be developed, disturbing approximately 750 to 1,000 acres of undeveloped land indirectly under the No Action alternative, and vegetation removal would occur. The service area, however, does not contain any habitat for federally listed or candidate species, or any State special status species; therefore, none would be adversely affected under the No Action alternative. With regard to WSCA including the desert tortoise, California leaf-nosed bat, and the cave myotis, vegetation removal is not expected to significantly effect the foraging, breeding, or roosting activities of these species. There would, however, be local loss of small mammals, reptiles, and avian habitat from more common species typically associated with Sonoran desertscrub vegetation. ADA protected native plants are located within the project area. (c) NRUC Continued groundwater pumping in the NRUC service area is not anticipated to affect local biological resources. Although there is a small portion of the New River within the service area, this portion is ephemeral. Except for this small portion of the New River corridor, this entire service area has been developed (or construction is underway). The service area does not contain any habitat for federally listed or candidate, species; therefore, none would be adversely affected under the No Action alternative. ADAprotected native plants are located within the project area. (d) LPSCo Continued groundwater pumping in the LPSCo service area is not anticipated to affect local biological resources. There are no perennial streams, wetlands, riparian areas, or other special aquatic habitats in the service area that provide wildlife values that could be
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12
impacted by a continued use of groundwater. Through eventual growth in the area, there is a potential that the entire service area would be developed, resulting in the removal of between approximately 1,300 to 3,300 acres of Sonoran Desertscrub vegetation under the No Action alternative. The service area, however, does not contain any habitat for federally listed or candidate species, or any WSCA. There would, however, be local loss of small mammals, reptiles, and avian habitat from more common species typically associated with Sonoran desertscrub vegetation. ADA-protected native plants are located within the project area. (2) CAGRD As provided under current Arizona statutes, CAGRD will continue to enroll new members under the No Action alternative.12 Although CAGRD will not initiate any construction itself, new developments within new and existing member lands and member service areas will result in additional construction and ground disturbance in locations scattered throughout CAGRD’s three-county service area. Under the No Action alternative, the four water companies would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. However, a possible occurrence under the No Action alternative is that the entitlements held by the four water companies could be transferred to one or more other water providers that are not members of the CAGRD, thereby increasing those providers’ portfolios of renewable water supplies. With an increase of available renewable supplies, state law would allow additional development (i.e., construction and land disturbance) to occur within those water providers’ service areas. Operations of the AFRP and the HMRP recharge facilities would continue to occur under the No Action alternative. The facilities would not require any additional infrastructure or facilities to accommodate the water it receives or recharges under the No Action alternative. Therefore, no ground disturbance would occur. There would be no adverse effect to any species utilizing the area, including federally listed, candidate, or proposed endangered species.
Current statutes do not allow CAGRD to deny enrollment of a member land or member service area if the applicant meets all of the qualifications listed in Arizona Revised Statutes Title 48, Chapter 22, Article 4.
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b. Proposed Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo) Impacts to local biological resources or their water resources in each of the service areas from implementation of the Proposed Action would be the same as is described and anticipated to occur under the No Action alternative. There would be no additional environmental consequences to biological resources under the Proposed Action as compared to the No Action alternative. Each of the four water companies’ CAP entitlements would be transferred to CAGRD and CAGRD would take possession of the water through the existing infrastructure. The proposed water transfers, therefore, would not result in any additional, transfer-related land disturbing or vegetation removal activities (2) CAGRD Impacts to local biological resources or their water resources from implementation of the Proposed Action would be the same as is described and anticipated to occur under the No Action alternative within the defined project area. There would be no additional environmental consequences to biological resources under the Proposed Action as compared to the No Action alternative. The Proposed Action would not result in the enrollment of more members in the CAGRD than would occur under the No Action alternative. CAP entitlements would be transferred to CAGRD and CAGRD would take possession of the water through existing infrastructure. Therefore the proposed water transfer would not result in any additional transfer-related land disturbing activities. In fact, the Proposed Action could result in less land-disturbing development on lands located outside of the defined project area. This would occur because, under the No Action alternative, the CAP entitlements proposed for transfer could be transferred to other water providers that do not serve member lands or member service areas of the CAGRD. With the increased availability of renewable water supplies, these water providers could prove an increased ability to serve new growth in their service areas under Arizona’s existing AWS regulations.
E. Cultural Resources
1. Affected Environment/Existing Conditions a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders For each service area, SWCA Environmental Consultants, Inc. (SWCA) conducted a site file search in October 2003 (Appendix C). This search consisted of review of the AZSite online database that contains archaeological survey and site information from previous studies. Additionally, archaeological site files were examined at the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the Arizona State Museum (ASM), Arizona State University (ASU), and the BLM Phoenix Area Office. The General Land Office (GLO) survey plat maps of the region,
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which show historic roads and buildings, were examined at the BLM office in Phoenix. National, state, and local Register of Historic Places were also checked for historic properties and districts. (1) WEWC The Class I site file search of this service area indicates seven archaeological sites have been previously identified within the WEWC service area: Three sites are considered eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP); three are considered to be not eligible for inclusion on the NRHP, and the eligibility of one site, which is prehistoric in nature, is unknown. The General Land Office plat map indicates that within the service area there are two segments of historic roads (US 60 and US 89), a historic rail way line (the Santa Fe-Prescott-Phoenix Rail Road), and a telegraph line that is directly adjacent to the rail way line. Additionally, mapping from 1919 shows a “flag station” within the service area. Records show that 11 archaeological surveys have been conducted within this service area. (2) Sunrise The Class I site file search of this service area indicates 18 archaeological sites have been previously identified within the Sunrise service area: Two sites are considered eligible for inclusion on the NRHP; eight have been determined to be not eligible for inclusion on the NRHP; and the eligibility of eight sites is unknown. Of these 18 sites, 11 have been identified as “prehistoric” (see Appendix C). Records also indicated that nine archaeological surveys have been conducted within this service area. The New River Dam Archaeological District lies north of the Sunrise parcel. There are abundant resources for tool making and lithic production in the district. Records show that six archaeological surveys have been conducted within this service area. Historically, several mining claim patents were issued on March 3, 1904, for areas just north of this water service area. As of 1916, several buildings were reported to exist atop and along the southern base of the Sunrise Mountains, including a dining room, cook house, bunk house, company office, store house, cyanide plant, assay office, water tank, and mill. Descriptions of historical findings include the identification of historic artifact scatters possibly associated with mining as well as a possible temporary mining camp with a possible trail to rock/wall alignments and enclosures. (3) NRUC The Class I site file search of this service area indicates seven archaeological sites have been previously identified within the 1,077-acre NRUC water service area; however all seven were recorded by avocational archaeologist Frank Midvale during the 1940s and 1950s and no information is available on these sites. Records also indicate that seven archaeological surveys have been conducted within the service area. No historic resources were identified as occurring within the service area.
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(4) LPSCo The Class I site file search of this service area indicates seven archaeological sites have been previously identified within the service area: Four of these sites are considered eligible for inclusion on the NRHP; one site is considered to be not eligible for inclusion on the NRHP; and the eligibility of two sites is unknown. Two sites have been identified as “prehistoric” and one site has been identified as both prehistoric and historic. Records also indicate that 23 archaeological surveys have been conducted. b. CAGRD Member Lands and Service Areas. CAGRD’s project area (the member lands and member service areas within the Phoenix AMA) contains a variety of landscapes from highly urbanized to native desert. In spite of more than 100 years of often-intensive development, intact cultural resources are present beneath the veneer of twentieth-century urbanization. In rural areas where development has been less intrusive and perhaps more localized, the chances for finding intact, relatively undisturbed cultural resources are obviously greater. 2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, LPSCo) Under the No Action alternative, each water service company would continue to seek to transfer its CAP water entitlements to other entities and would continue to use its existing wells and distribution system to serve its respective water service area. It is anticipated undeveloped areas within each service area would be developed subject to the local jurisdiction’s future planning and zoning decisions, and market conditions for private development. If cultural sites do exist, they may be impacted by such future development. Mitigation of cultural resources due to urban expansion would be determined by local jurisdictions and development of applicable permit requirements. (2) CAGRD Member Lands and Member Service Areas. There would be no new construction required in order for CAGRD to recharge the transferred CAP water entitlements. CAGRD would continue to enroll new member lands and member service areas throughout its three-county service area as provided by State law. Development within existing member lands and member service areas would occur subject to the local jurisdiction’s future planning and zoning decisions and market conditions for private development. If cultural sites do exist, they may be impacted by such future development. Mitigation of cultural resources due to urban expansion would be determined by local jurisdictions and compliance with applicable permit requirements. The 160 acres of State land located within the Sunrise water service area would need to be surveyed for cultural resources prior to sale for development.
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Recharge Facilities. AFRP and HMRP operations into the future would not change and no additional infrastructure or facilities would be needed under the No Action alternative; therefore, no ground disturbance would occur. It is therefore expected that cultural resources, if present, would not be impacted. There would be no adverse effect to any archaeological or historic resources within the recharge areas. b. Proposed Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo) Under the Proposed Action, currently undeveloped properties would be developed consistent with what is expected to occur under the No Action alternative. There would be no additional effect to archaeological sites or historic properties directly attributable to implementation of the Proposed Action. (2) CAGRD Under the Proposed Action, currently undeveloped properties within the three-county area would be developed consistent with what is expected to occur under the No Action alternative. There would be no additional effect to archaeological sites or historic properties directly attributable to implementation of the Proposed Action. The transferred CAP water would be delivered and used by CAGRD utilizing existing facilities; no new facilities would need to be constructed. Currently undeveloped properties that become members of CAGRD would be developed consistent with what is expected to occur under the No Action alternative and impacts to cultural resources would be the same as described under the No Action alternative.
F. Indian Trust Assets
1. Affected Environment/Existing Conditions Indian Trust Assets (ITAs) are legal assets associated with rights or property held in trust by the United States for the benefit of federally recognized Indian Tribes or individuals. The United States is responsible for protecting and maintaining rights reserved by, or granted to, Indian Tribes or individuals by treaties, statutes, and executive orders. ITAs include property in which a Tribe has legal interest. While most ITAs are located on a reservation, they can also be located off-reservation. Examples of ITAs include lands, minerals, water rights, and hunting and fishing rights. Tribal lands within the general project area include the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) and the Gila River Indian Community. a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders (1) WEWC There are no tribal lands within several miles of this service area; however, two tribal lands are located within a reasonably close proximity; they are the SRPMIC and the Gila River
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Indian Community. The Gila River Indian Community is the closest reservation located approximately 28 miles southeast of the WEWC service area boundary. The SRPMIC is located approximately 37.5 miles east of the service area. No ITAs have been identified during the cultural resource site file search conducted on this service area as being located within the WEWC service area. (2) Sunrise There are no tribal lands within several miles of this service area however, two tribal lands are located within a reasonably close proximity to the metropolitan Phoenix area; they are the SRPMIC and the Gila River Indian Community. The Gila River Indian Community and SRPMIC are both located approximately 21 miles from the Sunrise service area. No ITAs have been identified as being located within the Sunrise service area. (3) NRUC There are no tribal lands within several miles of this service area, however two tribal lands are located within a reasonably close proximity to the metropolitan Phoenix area; they are the SRPMIC and the Gila River Indian Community. The Gila River Indian Community is the closest reservation located approximately 18 miles southwest of the NRUC service area boundary. The SRPMIC is located approximately 20.5 miles east of this service area. No ITAs have been identified as being located within the NRUC service area during the site file search conducted on this service area. (4) LPSCo There are no tribal lands within several miles of this service area. However, two tribal lands are located within a reasonably close proximity to the metropolitan Phoenix area. They are the SRPMIC and the Gila River Indian Community. The Gila River Indian Community is the closest reservation located approximately 6 miles south of the LPSCo service area boundary. The SRPMIC is located approximately 24 miles east of this service area. No ITAs were identified as being located within the LPSCo service area during the cultural resource work conducted for this service area. b. CAGRD By law, CAGRD member lands and member service areas cannot be located on tribal lands; however, there are portions of three tribal communities located within the boundaries of the Phoenix AMA. These are the SRPMIC, the Gila River Indian Community and the Fort McDowell Indian Community. There are no tribal lands within several miles of the two recharge facilities, however, two tribal communities are located within a reasonable distance. These are the SRPMIC and the Gila River Indian Community. The SRPMIC is located approximately 28 and 34 miles away from the
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AFRP and HMRP, respectively. The Gila River Indian Community is located approximately 29 and 27 miles away from the AFRP and HMRP, respectively. These recharge facilities are already constructed. ITAs were considered prior to the construction of the HMRP as part of Reclamation’s NEPA process; however, there was no Federal nexus to the construction of AFRP, thus impacts to ITAs were not required to be considered. 2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo) Under the No Action alternative, WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would not utilize their CAP entitlements and would continue to seek to transfer them to other entities. Since there are undeveloped areas within each of their service areas, future development and ground disturbance could occur. Due to the fact that there are no known ITAs identified and the two Tribes closest to these service areas have not raised any ITA issues, it is unlikely that ITAs would be impacted or that the No Action alternative would affect any known resources that could potentially be related to ITAs. (2) CAGRD Under the No Action alternative, CAGRD would not receive any of the four water companies’ CAP entitlements. However, prior to the date when the water companies successfully transfer their entitlements to other entities, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. Both recharge areas, AFRP and HMRP, would continue to operate within their existing footprint with no new land disturbance. These areas will have no further development, therefore, it is not expected that ITAs would be impacted. As discussed in Section II above, CAGRD will pursue acquisition of short and long-term rights to water supplies to broaden and diversify its water supply portfolio in order to meet its replenishment obligations. One potential water supply that CAGRD may seek to acquire is CAP Indian priority water through one or more lease arrangements with tribal communities that hold such entitlements. CAP water made available through such a lease arrangement would be considered use of an ITA, but it would be used only with the approval and concurrence of the impacted tribe(s), which would result in a financial benefit to the tribe(s). b. Proposed Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders No land disturbing activities would occur with implementation of the Proposed Action. Impacts to ITAs from implementation of the Proposed Action would be the same as is described and anticipated to occur under the No Action alternative. There would be no additional effect to ITAs directly attributable to implementation of the Proposed Action.
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(2) CAGRD Under the Proposed Action alternative, CAGRD would receive the four water providers’ CAP entitlements. Both recharge areas, AFRP and HMRP, would continue to operate within their existing footprint with no new land disturbance. These areas would not have any further development. Impacts to ITAs from implementation of the Proposed Action would be the same as is described and anticipated to occur under the No Action alternative, except possibly with respect to leases of tribal CAP water. It is possible that the annual volume leased from the tribes by CAGRD would be less under the Proposed Action than it would under the No Action alternative. Therefore, the magnitude of the impacts to ITAs could be less under the Proposed Action. However, under both alternatives, ITAs would only be used with the approval and concurrence of the impacted tribe(s), which would benefit financially.
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IV.
SELECTED RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS/DIRECTIVES
The following is a summary of selected Federal laws, regulations and Executive Orders that provide information relevant to this EA.
A. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (P.L. 91-190)
This law requires Federal agencies to evaluate the potential environmental consequences of major Federal actions. NEPA also requires full public disclosure about the proposed action, accompanying alternatives, impacts, and mitigation. This EA was prepared in accordance with the requirements of NEPA. Reclamation initiated a 30-day public scoping comment period with distribution of a scoping mailer on October 29, 2003, to over 100 entities. One comment letter was received; relevant issues identified in that letter have been addressed in this EA. Although a substantial amount of time has elapsed between the scoping period and issuance of this draft EA, the relevant conditions and policies have not changed; therefore, Reclamation believes another scoping period is not necessary.
B. Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (FWCA) (P.L. 85-624)
This Act requires coordination with Federal and state wildlife agencies (FWS and AGFD) for the purpose of mitigating project-caused losses to wildlife resources from water development projects. This proposed project would not impound or divert surface waters in any of the service areas. Reclamation believes the consultation requirements of NEPA and the ESA are sufficient to also meet the requirements for consultation under the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act. The FWS will receive a copy of the draft EA for review and comment.
C. Endangered Species Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-205)
Section 7 of the ESA requires Federal agencies to consult with the FWS to ensure that undertaking, funding, permitting, or authorizing an action is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of listed species or destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat. There are no federally listed or candidate species or critical habitat that would be adversely affected by the proposed project.
D. Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (P.L. 90-542)
This Act designated the initial components of the National Wild and Scenic River System, and established procedures for including other rivers or reaches of rivers that possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values and preserving them in a free-flowing condition. There are no rivers designated or proposed for designation as wild or scenic within or near the project area.
E. Wilderness Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-577, as amended)
This Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System to preserve certain Federal lands for the public purposes of recreation, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use
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by current and future generations of Americans. There are no areas designated or proposed for designation as wilderness areas within or near the project area.
F. Clean Water Act (P.L. 92-500, as amended) (CWA)
The CWA strives to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters by controlling discharge of pollutants. The basic means to achieve the goals of the CWA is through a system of water quality standards, discharge limitations, and permits. Section 404 of the CWA identifies conditions under which a permit is required for actions that result in placement of fill or dredged material into waters of the United States (U.S.). In addition, a 401 water certification and 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit are required for activities that discharge pollutants to waters of the U.S. There would be no construction directly related to the proposed action that would require either a Clean Water Act 402 or 404 permit. Since these permits are not limited to Federal projects, private developers would be required to obtain any applicable permits under the Clean Water Act for their projects.
G. National Historic Preservation Act (P.L. 89-665)
This Act establishes as Federal policy the protection of historic sites and values in cooperation with States, tribes, and local governments. Because the proposed project does not involve land disturbing activities, it does not have the potential to cause effects to historic properties. The State Historic Preservation Office concurs with this determination (personal communication, Ms. Joanne Medley, March 21, 2007). The following tribes were each sent a copy of the scoping mailer regarding the proposed action on October 29, 2003: Hopi Tribe, Yavapai Prescott Indian Tribe, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Ak-Chin Indian Community, Tohono O’odham Nation, Gila River Indian Community, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, and Yavapai Apache Community Council. No comments were received from any of these tribes. Each tribe is also being provided a copy of the draft EA. Consultation with appropriate tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs would be undertaken should any of the tribes indicate a concern regarding effects to traditional cultural properties.
H. Farmland Protection Policy Act (P.L. 97-98)
This Act requires identification of proposed actions that would adversely affect any lands classified as prime and unique farmlands, to minimize the unnecessary and irreversible conversion of farmland to nonagricultural uses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources and Conservation Service administers this Act. The proposed action would not directly impact any lands classified as prime and unique farmlands. Agricultural land within the water service areas, some of which is classified as prime and unique, would continue to be developed based upon the demand for residential and commercial development and market conditions. It is anticipated the development patterns would be the same under either the No Action alternative or Proposed Action.
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I. Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management)
This Presidential directive encourages Federal agencies to avoid, where practicable alternatives exist, the short- and long-term adverse impacts associated with floodplain development. Federal agencies are required to reduce the risk of flood loss, minimize the impacts of floods on human safety, health and welfare, and restore and preserve the natural and beneficial values served by floodplains in carrying out agency responsibility. The Sunrise and NRUC water service areas contain small portions of the New River floodplain, and the eastern boundary of the LPSCo water service area abuts the Agua Fria River floodplain. The Proposed Action does not directly affect any floodplains.
J. Executive Order 12898 (Environmental Justice)
Executive Order 12898 requires Federal agencies to identify and address, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of Federal actions on minority populations and low-income populations. Low-income populations include communities or individuals living in close geographic proximity to one another, identified by U.S. Census Bureau statistical thresholds for poverty. Minority populations are identified where the percentage of minorities in the affected area exceeds 50 percent, or where the minority population percentage of the affected area is meaningfully greater than the minority population percentage of a much broader area. Neither of these conditions exists within either Maricopa County or the water service areas of the four water companies. No disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority populations and low-income populations would result from the proposed project.
K. Executive Order 11990 (Wetlands)
Executive Order 11990 requires Federal agencies, in carrying out their land management responsibilities, to take action that will minimize the destruction, loss, or degradation of wetlands, and take action to preserve and enhance the natural and beneficial values of wetlands. There are no wetlands in the project area that would be affected.
L. Department of Interior, Secretarial Order, Indian Trust Assets (ITAs)
ITAs are legal interests in assets held in trust by the U.S. Government for Indian tribes or individual Indians. These assets can be real property or intangible rights, including lands, minerals, water rights, hunting rights, money, and other natural resources. The trust responsibility requires that all Federal agencies take actions reasonably necessary to protect ITAs. No ITAs are currently known to be present within the project area or that could be affected by implementation of the proposed action.
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LITERATURE CITED
Arizona Department of Water Resources, 2004. Phoenix Active Management Area, AMA Description. _____, 2003. Well Registry (55-files) Database, Updated February 2003. _____, 2002. Groundwater Site Inventory (GWSI) Database, Updated November 13, 2002. _____, 1999. Phoenix Active Management Area, Third Management Plan. _____, 1994. Arizona Water Resources Assessment, Volume II, Hydrologic Summary, August 1994. Arizona Game and Fish Department. 2001a. Purshia subintegra. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 6 pp. _____, 2001b. Cyprinodon macularius macularius. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 3 pp. _____, 2001c. Poeciliopsis occidentalis occidentalis. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 5 pp. _____, 2001d. Xyrauchen texanus. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 4 pp. _____, 2001e. Rallus longirostris yumanensis. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 7 pp. _____, 2001f. Gila intermedia. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 6 pp. _____, 1998. Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuenae. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 6 pp. _____, 1997. Agave arizonica. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 4 pp. _____, 1996. Wildlife of special concern in Arizona. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 40 pp. Brown, D.E. (ed.). 1994. Biotic Communities: Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. 342 pp. CAGRD, 2006. Personal communication with Cliff Neal, Manager, Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, January 10, 2006. _____, 2004. Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District Plan of Operation, Submitted Draft, November 8, 2004. 71 pp. _____, 2003. Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District website. http://www.cagrd.com/Obligations/index.cfm?action=Facilities. Accessed October 23, 2003.
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Central Arizona Project and Maricopa Association of Governments Information Center (CAP & MAG). 2004. OUTLOOK 2003 – Municipal Demand Projections for CAWCD’s Service Area Assuming Historic Data through January 2003, Volume Two, Appendix, November 2004. Glinski, R.L. 1998. The Raptors of Arizona. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona. 220 pp. Monson, G., and A.R. Phillips. 1981. Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Arizona. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona. 172 pp. SWCA, Inc. 1999. Archaeological Survey for the Proposed Agua Fria Recharge Project, Maricopa County, Arizona. 16 pp. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). 2002. Central Arizona Water Conservation District - Hieroglyphic Mountains Recharge Project - Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact. 24 pp. _____. 2000. Draft National Environmental Policy Act Handbook. Denver, Colorado. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 1995. Determination of critical habitat for the Mexican Spotted Owl; Final Rule. June 6, 1995. Federal Register 60(108):29914-29951. U.S. Geological Survey, 2003. NWISWeb Online Database (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/qw).
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doc_571706785.pdf
The purpose of the assessment is to ensure that decision makers consider the ensuing environmental impacts when deciding whether or not to proceed with a project.
Draft Environmental Assessment for
Assignment of Central Arizona Project Municipal & Industrial Priority Subcontract Water Entitlements from Four Water Companies to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District
U.S. Department of the Interior Bureau of Reclamation Phoenix Area Office
May 2007
DRAFT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT FOR ASSIGNMENT OF CENTRAL ARIZONA PROJECT MUNICIPAL & INDUSTRIAL PRIORITY SUBCONTRACT WATER ENTITLEMENTS FROM FOUR WATER COMPANIES TO THE CENTRAL ARIZONA WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICT
Prepared by
Central Arizona Water Conservation District 23636 North Seventh Street Phoenix, AZ 85024
(623) 869-2672
and Bureau of Reclamation 6154 W. Thunderbird Road Glendale, AZ 85306-4001 (623) 773-6254
May 2007
TABLE OF CONTENTS
I.
PURPOSE AND NEED ...................................................................................................................... 1 A. B. C. D. Background................................................................................................................................... 1 Purpose and Need ......................................................................................................................... 3 Project Location............................................................................................................................ 4 Summary of Scoping Process ....................................................................................................... 6
II.
PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES.............................................................................. 7 A. B. C. No Action Alternative................................................................................................................... 7 Proposed Action............................................................................................................................ 9 Alternatives Considered but Eliminated ..................................................................................... 10
III. AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES ...................... 12 A. Water Resources ......................................................................................................................... 12 1. Affected Environment.......................................................................................................... 12 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 13 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 15 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 16 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 16 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 17 B. Land Use..................................................................................................................................... 18 1. Affected Environment.......................................................................................................... 18 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 18 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 19 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 20 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 20 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 21 C. Socioeconomic Resources .......................................................................................................... 22 1. Affected Environment.......................................................................................................... 22 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 22 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 25 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 26 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 26 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 27 D. Biological Resources .................................................................................................................... 28 1. Affected Environment.......................................................................................................... 28 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 29 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 33
i
2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 33 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 33 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 36 E. Cultural Resources...................................................................................................................... 36 1. Affected Environment/Existing Conditions ......................................................................... 36 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 36 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 38 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 38 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 38 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 39 F. Indian Trust Assets ..................................................................................................................... 39 1. Affected Environment/Existing Conditions ......................................................................... 39 a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders ................................................................................... 39 b. CAGRD ......................................................................................................................... 40 2. Environmental Consequences .............................................................................................. 41 a. No Action ...................................................................................................................... 41 b. Proposed Action ............................................................................................................ 41 IV. SELECTED RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS/DIRECTIVES....................................... 43 A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K. L. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (P.L. 91-190) ..................... 43 Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (FWCA) (P.L. 85-624)...................................................... 43 Endangered Species Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-205) ......................................................................... 43 Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (P.L. 90-542).................................................................... 43 Wilderness Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-577, as amended) ................................................................... 43 Clean Water Act (P.L. 92-500, as amended) (CWA) ................................................................ 44 National Historic Preservation Act (P.L. 89-665) ...................................................................... 44 Farmland Protection Policy Act (P.L. 97-98) ............................................................................. 44 Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management) .................................................................... 45 Executive Order 12898 (Environmental Justice) ........................................................................ 45 Executive Order 11990 (Wetlands)............................................................................................. 45 Department of Interior, Secretarial Order, Indian Trust Assets (ITAs) ...................................... 45
LITERATURE CITED ............................................................................................................................ 46
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LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Alternative Water Sources Considered and Reasons For Their Elimination as Viable Options........................................................................................................................................ 11 Table 2. Projected Replenishment Obligations in Transferring Entities’ Service Areas (af) .................. .18 Table 3. Projected Number of Housing Units in Transferring Entities’ Service Areas............................ 21 Table 4. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics Maricopa County and Census Tract related to WEWC .............................................................................................................. 23 Table 5. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract related to Sunrise and Maricopa County .................................................................................................... 23 Table 6. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract Related to NRUC and Maricopa County ..................................................................................................... 24 Table 7. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract related to LPSCo and Maricopa County..................................................................................................... 25 Table 8. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Maricopa County and State of Arizona ................................................................................................................................... 26 Table 9. Summary of Federally Listed Species, Proposed Endangered Species, and Candidate Species and Their Habitat Needs ................................................................................................ 29
LIST OF FIGURES
(Following Page 47) Figure 1. Figure 2. Figure 3. Figure 4. Figure 5. Figure 6. Service Areas Of All Five Entities Involved In Proposed CAP Assignment West End Water Company Service Area. Sunrise Water Company Service Area. New River Utility Company Service Area. Litchfield Park Service Company Service Area. Phoenix AMA, Including CAGRD Members, HMRP and AFRP
LIST OF APPENDICES
Appendix A. Appendix B. Appendix C. Appendix D. ADWR Correspondence Related to Transfer Evaluations AGFD Correspondence Cultural Resource Site File Search Summary Biological Report Memoranda
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I.
PURPOSE AND NEED
This Environmental Assessment (EA) has been prepared to describe and assess the environmental consequences anticipated to result from the Bureau of Reclamation’s (Reclamation) termination of Central Arizona Project (CAP) water service subcontracts currently held by four water companies, and assignment of 7,746 acre feet annually (afa) of CAP municipal and industrial (M&I) priority water entitlements associated with those subcontracts to the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD). As proposed, all of the CAP M&I entitlements held by West End Water Company (WEWC) (157 afa), Sunrise Water Company (Sunrise) (944 afa), and New River Utility Company (NRUC) (1,885 afa), along with the remaining 4,760 afa of Litchfield Park Service Company’s (LPSCo) CAP water entitlement1 would be transferred to CAWCD exclusively for use in meeting the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District’s (CAGRD) replenishment obligations as defined by Arizona Revised Statutes (ARS), Title 48, Chapter 22, Article 4. CAWCD and Reclamation would execute the “Supplemental Contract Between the United States and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District for Delivery of Central Arizona Project Water” (Supplemental Contract) as an amendment to CAWCD’s master repayment contract with Reclamation (Contract No. 14-06-W-245, Amendment No. 1, Supplement No. 1). The Supplemental Contract would allow CAWCD to deliver the 7,746 afa to meet CAGRD’s statutory obligations. CAWCD's use of this water would not be subject to future Federal approvals or environmental reviews. The EA has been prepared in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), Council on Environmental Quality regulations implementing NEPA (40 CFR 1500-1508), and Reclamation's Draft NEPA Handbook (Reclamation 2000).
A. Background
CAWCD is a multi-county water conservation district formed under laws of the State of Arizona to serve Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima Counties. CAWCD’s primary responsibilities include: operating, maintaining, repaying and managing the CAP. In 1993, the Arizona Legislature provided CAWCD with additional responsibilities and authorities relating to groundwater replenishment within CAWCD’s three-county service area. These new replenishment authorities are commonly referred to as the CAGRD. Therefore, although the CAGRD is not a separate legal entity from CAWCD, for purposes of this EA, the term “CAGRD” shall mean CAWCD exercising its authority under ARS Title 48, Chapter 22, Article 4. The replenishment authorities assigned to the CAGRD establish a mechanism for landowners and water providers within the Phoenix, Pinal, and Tucson Active Management Areas (AMAs) to demonstrate they have an assured water supply, which is required under the regulations enforced by the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), termed the Assured Water Supply Rules (AWS Rules). The AWS Rules became effective in February 1995, and are designed to protect groundwater supplies within each AMA and to ensure that people purchasing or leasing subdivided land within an AMA have a
1
LPSCo’s original CAP M&I water allocation was 5,580 afa, for which an M&I subcontract was executed on January 10, 1985. Portions of LPSCo’s entitlement were subsequently transferred to the City of Avondale (670 afa) and the City of Goodyear (150 afa).
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water supply of adequate quality and quantity. There are five basic criteria for proving an assured water supply (AWS). An applicant for an AWS must prove: 1. Sufficient quantity of water is continuously available to satisfy the water demands of the development or service area for 100 years; 2. Water source meets water quality standards; 3. Proposed use of water is consistent with State water conservation standards; 4. Proposed use is consistent with the state water management goals, and
5.
Applicant is financially capable of installing the necessary water distribution and treatment facilities.
In each AMA, every new subdivision must demonstrate the availability of a 100-year assured water supply to the ADWR before sales of parcels within the subdivision can begin. An AWS can be demonstrated in two ways. First, the owner or developer of a proposed subdivision can prove an AWS for the subdivision and receive a Certificate of AWS (CAWS) from ADWR. The CAWS covers only the specific subdivision for which it is issued. Alternatively, a municipal water provider may prove an AWS for its entire service area and receive a Designation of AWS (DAWS) from ADWR. Any subdivisions that are served by the municipal provider are automatically deemed to have a proven AWS by virtue of the provider’s DAWS. Membership in the CAGRD provides a means by which an AWS applicant can satisfy criterion number 4 above, which requires that the proposed water use be consistent with the water management goals of the particular AMA. Because the management goals within an AMA limit the quantity of mined groundwater an applicant may use to demonstrate an AWS, new developments may not rely solely on mined groundwater to serve their water demands. However, if a water provider or a landowner has access to groundwater and desires to rely on groundwater to demonstrate a 100-year water supply, it may do so, provided it joins the CAGRD. As a member of the CAGRD, the landowner or provider must pay the CAGRD to replenish any groundwater pumped by the member that exceeds the pumping limitations imposed by the AWS Rules. There are two general types of CAGRD membership: member lands, and member service areas. Member lands are individual subdivisions enrolled in the CAGRD to obtain a CAWS. A member service area is the entire service area of a water provider that has enrolled in the CAGRD to obtain a DAWS. In general, the CAGRD operates in the following manner. First, a property owner or water provider electing to rely partially or completely on groundwater enrolls its land or service area as a member of the CAGRD. The landowner or water provider then demonstrates compliance with criterion 1, 2, 3 and 5, as listed above, to the satisfaction of the ADWR. Once this is complete, the ADWR will consider enrollment in the CAGRD as proof of consistency with the management goals of the AMA (criterion 4), and that proof of an AWS has been established. Each year after enrollment, the water provider must
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report to CAGRD the amount of “excess groundwater”2 delivered within the member land or member service area. This volume of excess groundwater (along with volumes of excess groundwater pumped that are reported for all other CAGRD members within the same AMA) becomes CAGRD’s replenishment obligation for that AMA, which must be replenished (recharged) within three years. CAGRD determines what it will cost to satisfy its replenishment obligations for an AMA and establishes appropriate assessment rates each year. The assessment rate must provide sufficient funding to acquire water supplies3 and replenish (or recharge) them within the AMA. The assessment rates are levied against each parcel of member land (collected in property tax bills) and against each service area (paid directly to CAGRD by the water provider). Once collected, the funds are used to buy the water and recharge it to offset CAGRD’s replenishment obligations. Each year, CAGRD must report to ADWR the replenishment obligations incurred and the replenishment completed in the previous year. The four water companies—WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo—have not developed the necessary infrastructure to take, treat, and serve CAP water to their customers. However, they have demonstrated to the ADWR the availability of a 100-year supply of water resources to serve their customers’ water needs. These four water companies intend to continue serving groundwater to their customers and do not intend to make direct delivery of their CAP entitlements. The four water companies have decided to not obtain DAWS for their service areas. Therefore, for new subdivisions that have been platted since 1995 (when the AWS Rules became effective) which are located within the service areas of WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, or LPSCo, developers are required to obtain a CAWS. All of those subdivisions have been enrolled as member lands of the CAGRD. Because the four water companies have not developed the infrastructure needed to take, treat, and serve CAP water, these member land subdivisions would not be served CAP water directly. Therefore, the four water companies have requested that their CAP water service subcontract entitlements be transferred to CAGRD for use in satisfying groundwater replenishment obligations incurred as a result of their continued groundwater use in excess of the pumping limits imposed by the AWS Rules, to serve CAGRD member lands within their service areas. In accordance with State policy, ADWR reviewed these requests, held public hearings, and recommended that all of the annual CAP M&I entitlements held by NRUC (1,885 af), Sunrise (944 af), and WEWC (157 af), along with the remaining 4,760 af of LPSCo’s entitlement, be transferred to the CAGRD. ADWR also recommended the water first be used to offset CAGRD replenishment obligations resulting from use of excess groundwater within the service areas of the transferring water companies; any remaining water could then be used to satisfy replenishment obligations for other member lands enrolled as of the effective date of the transfer.
B. Purpose and Need
The purpose of this project is to approve the transfer of 7,746 afa of CAP water, currently allocated to four water companies whose water service areas are located in western Maricopa County, Arizona, to
2
Excess groundwater is that amount of groundwater pumped by a member service area or a member land that exceeds the amount allowed to be pumped under the AWS rules. CAGRD must use renewable water supplies (as defined in ARS 48-3771.C.) to meet its replenishment obligations.
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CAWCD for use by CAGRD. Reclamation would enter into a supplemental contract with CAWCD regarding the delivery of this CAP water to CAGRD. CAGRD would use this water to replenish excess groundwater used by its members. CAGRD’s need for the project is to secure a long-term, economically feasible, right to a renewable water supply that it can use to meet replenishment obligations incurred on behalf of its members. The CAP water entitlements proposed for transfer are currently not being utilized by their subcontract holders and have, to date, been considered to be Excess CAP water. Although CAGRD currently has the authority to purchase Excess CAP water, such water is not guaranteed to be available for the long-term, and cannot be relied upon as a permanent supply. The transfer of these CAP entitlements would create a dependable, committed replenishment water source for CAGRD. The Proposed Action would protect the groundwater within the geographic area initially envisioned to benefit from the original allocation.
C. Project Location
There are five distinct entities involved in this transfer: WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, LPSCo (the four water companies that propose to give up their respective CAP M&I water entitlements they are currently not using), and CAGRD, the entity that would receive these entitlements. The project areas for the water companies consist of the service areas identified in each of their “Certificate
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areas4 located within the boundaries of the transferring entities. For obligations incurred within the NRUC, Sunrise and WEWC service areas, the corresponding replenishment would have to occur within the area of hydrologic impact of the associated groundwater withdrawals. For obligations incurred within the LPSCo service area, the replenishment must occur within the Phoenix AMA. The CAGRD currently uses three groundwater recharge facilities that satisfy these provisions: the Agua Fria Recharge Project, the Hieroglyphic Mountains Recharge Project, and the Tonopah Desert Recharge Project. These facilities are briefly described below. • Agua Fria Recharge Project (AFRP) - This facility is composed of two components: an inchannel recharge component and a spreading basin component. The spreading basin component includes a conveyance canal and approximately 100 acres of infiltration ponds. The project is located near central Peoria, Arizona, in the northwest valley of the Phoenix metropolitan area in Maricopa County. The site extends from approximately four miles downstream of Waddell Dam on the Agua Fria River to a point just south of Jomax Road. It has a total permitted capacity of 100,000 af per year. It is the only recharge project in Arizona that utilizes streambed recharge and infiltration basins at a single facility (CAGRD 2003). Hieroglyphic Mountains Recharge Project (HMRP) - This facility consists of approximately 38 acres of spreading basins adjacent to the north side of the CAP canal. The facility is located in the northwest portion of the Phoenix metropolitan area near the northern boundary of Surprise, Arizona. It is located northwest of Phoenix, approximately one mile west of the intersection of 163rd Avenue and the CAP canal. The facility has been permitted to store up to 35,000 af of CAP water per year (CAGRD 2003). Tonopah Desert Recharge Project (TDRP) – This facility consists of approximately 207 acres of spreading basins immediately south of the CAP canal. The facility is located in the far west portion of the Phoenix Active Management Area, about 40 miles west of Phoenix and seven miles northwest of Tonopah. The facility has been permitted to store an average of 100,000 af of CAP water per year.
•
•
The restricting provisions proposed to be included in the Supplemental Contract, along with CAGRD’s operating policy to satisfy replenishment obligations using facilities that are located as close to its members’ pumping as possible, effectively dictate the use of the AFRP and HMRP for replenishment of the subject CAP water. Therefore, these two groundwater recharge facilities will be considered components of the project location (Figures 1 and 6).
There are currently no member service areas within the boundaries of the transferring entities; however, there is no prohibition against water providers enrolling their service areas as member service areas in the future.
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D. Summary of Scoping Process
Reclamation initiated a 30-day public scoping comment period, with distribution of a scoping mailer to over 100 entities, on October 29, 2003. The public was requested to provide input to Reclamation regarding issues and concerns that should be included in the EA. One letter of comment was received. One point raised in that letter was that Reclamation’s request for scoping comments failed to identify another ADWR recommendation that has been included in the proposed Supplemental Contract. This recommendation provides CAGRD with the ability to transfer a portion of the targeted entitlements in the event another entity relieves CAGRD of its replenishment obligations for member lands located within the water service areas of any of the four water companies involved. Another point raised in this letter expressed concern regarding the absence of restrictions on where the LPSCo portion of CAP water could be recharged. The issues raised in this letter have been addressed in the EA.
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II.
PROPOSED ACTION AND ALTERNATIVES
A. No Action Alternative
The No Action alternative describes the conditions that are assumed to exist into the future in the absence of the Federal action, and provides a basis for comparison with the Proposed Action. Under the No Action alternative, Reclamation would not approve the proposed assignment of CAP water from WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo, and would not execute the Supplemental Contract with CAWCD for 7,746 afa of CAP water. WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. None of the companies would develop the infrastructure necessary to take, treat and deliver CAP water to their customers, and all four water companies would continue to utilize groundwater to serve their customers. Developers of residential subdivisions within the water service area of these four water companies would continue to enroll their property as member lands of the CAGRD in order to meet the requirements of the AWS Rules (as outlined in Section I). Under the No Action Alternative, CAGRD would continue to be responsible for meeting replenishment obligations for groundwater delivered to all of its member service areas and member lands, including any new member lands enrolled within the WEWC, NRUC, Sunrise, and LPSCo water service areas. CAGRD would continue to purchase Excess CAP water to the degree it remains available, for use in satisfying its replenishment obligations. CAGRD would continue to pursue acquisition of other short and long-term rights to water supplies to broaden and diversify its water supply portfolio. The supplies acquired for the purpose of satisfying replenishment obligations incurred within the WEWC, NRUC, Sunrise and LPSCo service areas would be stored at the HMRP and AFRP, with the exception of effluent supplies, which would be stored at effluent recharge facilities. The potential water supplies available to the CAGRD as outlined in its 2004 plan of operation include: 1. Excess CAP water – Excess CAP water is CAP water that is contracted but not ordered. CAWCD estimates that Excess CAP water will be available at least through 2030. However, there are other CAP customers that rely on Excess CAP water, including non-Indian agricultural (NIA) customers, the Arizona Water Banking Authority (AWBA), municipal water providers, and others. CAWCD estimates that available Excess CAP water will average about 100,000 afa over the next 45 years, ranging from 400,000 af to 0 af in some years. 2. CAP Indian Leases – Past water rights settlements have authorized Indian communities, tribes, and nations to lease their CAP water for “off-reservation” uses. Indian communities with available CAP water authorized for lease “off-reservation” include: Ak-Chin Indian Community, Gila River Indian Community, San Carlos Apache Tribe, Tohono O’odham Nation, and Fort McDowell YavapaiApache Nation. CAWCD estimates approximately 158,000 afa will be available from CAP Indian leases.
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3. CAP NIA Priority Allocation – The Arizona Water Settlement Acts authorizes the reallocation of approximately 96,000 afa of NIA-priority CAP water to non-Indian municipal and industrial (M&I) purposes. The CAGRD is eligible to participate in the reallocation process, to be conducted by ADWR. The first phase of this reallocation process may begin in 2009. The NIA-priority water is the lowest priority within the CAP system and may suffer shortages such that the volume available may be 0 in some years. 4. Arizona non-CAP Colorado River Supplies – Existing non-CAP Colorado River contractors include irrigation districts, individual water users, and Indian communities. These water users could make water available to the CAGRD through sale, lease, forbearance/fallowing, and conservation savings. Use of water supplies held by Indian communities for use “off-reservation” requires Congressional authorization. CAWCD estimates up to 318,000 afa could be available to the CAGRD from nonCAP Colorado River supplies. 5. Imported Groundwater – Arizona law authorizes the exportation of groundwater from Butler Valley, Harquahala Valley, and McMullen Valley groundwater basins for use inside the Phoenix, Pinal, and Tucson AMAs. To develop imported groundwater resources, new groundwater well fields, conveyance pipelines, and inlet facilities would be required to deliver imported groundwater to the CAP system. The imported groundwater would then be delivered through the CAP system. At present, plans for such facilities are conceptual. Currently, Federal approval is required to utilize the CAP canal to transport (wheel) non-CAP water and should a specific proposal for wheeling non-CAP water be submitted to Reclamation, compliance with environmental regulations, including NEPA, would be required to develop imported groundwater resources for use by the CAGRD. CAWCD estimates up to 181,000 afa are available to the CAGRD from imported groundwater supplies. 6. Effluent – Numerous water providers generate effluent that exceeds the amount they can use for their own purposes. Although many of these providers eventually plan to use their effluent, in the near term such effluent could be made available to the CAGRD. CAWCD does not own or operate wastewater treatment plants or effluent underground storage facilities. Further, effluent would not be transported in the CAP system, but would likely be stored at effluent underground storage facilities adjacent to wastewater treatment plants. Rather than construct and operate effluent underground storage facilities itself, CAGRD would likely purchase storage credits developed by others through their operation of effluent treatment and recharge facilities. CAWCD estimates up to 205,000 afa may be available for use by the CAGRD. Effluent supplies are anticipated to be available for the next 15 to 30 years; however, after that point it is assumed water providers will fully utilize the effluent for their own uses.
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B. Proposed Action
Under the Proposed Action, the following CAP water service subcontractors would transfer their entire entitlements to CAGRD: WEWC (157 afa); Sunrise (944 afa); and NRUC (1,885 afa). LPSCo would transfer its remaining entitlement of 4,760 afa to CAGRD. All four water service subcontracts would be terminated. A Supplemental Contract between Reclamation and CAWCD would be executed for the delivery of 7,746 afa of CAP water to CAGRD. The proposed Supplemental Contract requires CAGRD to use the allocated CAP water to first meet replenishment obligations incurred as a result of excess groundwater delivered to CAGRD member lands by the transferring entities. After all annual replenishment obligations for these member lands have been satisfied, any remaining CAP water allocated to CAGRD under the proposed action would then be used to satisfy the replenishment obligations for member lands enrolled as of the date of the Supplemental Contract. According to CAGRD, the most likely scenario is that the remaining CAP water would be recharged within the Phoenix AMA (CAGRD 2006). Consistent with ADWR recommendations,5 the Supplemental Contract would require that replenishment of excess groundwater delivered to member lands located within the WEWC, Sunrise and NRUC water service areas occur within the area of hydrologic impact of the excess groundwater withdrawals. Also consistent with ADWR recommendations, for excess groundwater withdrawals associated with member lands located within the LPSCo water service area, replenishment would be required to occur within the Phoenix AMA. In addition, the proposed Supplemental Contract requires that, should another entity relieve CAGRD of its replenishment obligation for any portion of the member lands located within the WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC or LPSCo water service areas, CAGRD would transfer to that entity a prorated share of the transferred CAP water. CAGRD would take delivery of the transferred CAP water through existing infrastructure for recharge at either the AFRP or the HMRP. These existing facilities are of sufficient size and design to allow replenishment of the transferred CAP entitlement, in compliance with existing state laws and the permits issued for the facilities. The receipt and use of this water would not change the size or configuration of the transferring entities’ existing systems or service areas. The transferring entities would continue to utilize groundwater to serve their respective water service areas. Therefore, the proposed action would not require construction of additional facilities. Any CAP water left over after satisfying replenishment obligations of member lands located within the water service areas of the four water companies would be
In developing its recommendations regarding transfer of the entitlements, ADWR complied with the decision guidelines established in its August 23, 1996, Policy Regarding Process for Transfers of Central Arizona Project Municipal and Industrial Water Subcontracts. These decision guidelines determine the priority between competing applications for CAP transfers. Due to the location of the AFRP and HMRP with respect to the WEWC, SWC and NRUC service areas, CAGRD was able to commit to performing replenishment within the area of hydrologic impact (AOHI) of groundwater pumping within these service areas. With this commitment, CAGRD received priority consideration for ADWR’s recommended transfer of entitlements from these three subcontractors. The AFRP and HMRP are not located within the AOHI of LPSCo groundwater pumping, thus CAGRD could not make a similar commitment for water received under a transfer from LPSCo. However, CAGRD did commit to replenishing the LPSCo water in the Phoenix AMA to satisfy replenishment obligations resulting from groundwater pumping in the LPSCo service area. With this commitment, CAGRD received a somewhat elevated priority for the LPSCo transfer, resulting in an ADWR recommendation that a portion (4,760 afa) of LPSCo’s entitlement be transferred to CAGRD.
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recharged at existing recharge facilities. It is anticipated this recharge would occur within the Phoenix AMA. The proposed entitlements to be transferred to CAGRD were originally intended to serve the water demands of the transferring entities’ service areas. The proposed action would preserve that intent by making the water available for replenishing excess groundwater delivered by the transferring entities’ within their respective service areas. While the Proposed Action provides for a long-term sustainable water supply6 for the CAGRD, it does not change or modify the need for the CAGRD to pursue and obtain sufficient other water supplies as identified in the No Action alternative. The Proposed Action does provide for the use of CAP water as a replenishment supply for excess groundwater uses for member lands within the service areas of the water providers assigning CAP water to the CAGRD.
C. Alternatives Considered but Eliminated
No other alternatives were considered in depth for WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo. These entities do not have existing means nor regulatory incentive for taking, treating and delivering CAP water to their customers. However, the potential for a financial incentive to build the necessary infrastructure to accept the CAP water was explored. This alternative, however, would not be economically feasible to any of the entitlement holders. There was also consideration of utilizing a neighboring service provider’s infrastructure to convey these entities’ entitlements to their respective service areas. Sunrise and NRUC’s neighbor, the City of Peoria, has a treatment plant that would be able to treat Sunrise and NRUC’s CAP entitlements and deliver the water to them. This alternative was explored but at present the City and the two water companies are unable to reach agreement. LPSCo and WEWC do not have any neighboring entities with water treatment plants that would be able to treat and convey their CAP entitlements. CAGRD has considered water sources other than those listed in its 2004 Plan of Operation (as described above), to increase its dependable, committed replenishment water supplies. Several reasons have restricted the use of other types of sources. The potential alternative supplies and reasons for elimination from consideration are listed in Table 1. Because the water sources identified in Table 1 are all non-viable from CAGRD’s perspective, they were not further considered as alternatives to the Proposed Action, nor were they considered likely to occur under the No-Action alternative.
Under the Arizona Water Settlements Act (2004) CAP M&I subcontracts are permanent service contracts. It should be noted that all or some portion of the CAP M&I water to be transferred under the Proposed Action may not be available in years of extreme shortage on the Colorado River. However, water supply firming activities of the Arizona Water Banking Authority are designed to reduce shortages to CAP M&I supplies. The CAP M&I water to be transferred under the Proposed Action could be considered to be a more reliable supply than some of those identified in the No Action alternative (e.g., Excess CAP water and CAP NIA Priority water), but it may be less reliable than others (e.g., higher priority non-CAP Colorado River supplies, imported groundwater and effluent). Regardless of the supplies, CAGRD has a statutory responsibility to meet all of its replenishment obligations. Therefore, CAGRD will develop a portfolio of water supplies necessary to comply with Arizona law under both the Proposed Action and No Action alternatives.
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Table 1. Alternative Water Sources Considered and Reasons For Their Elimination as Viable Options. Potential Water Source for CAGRD’s Recharge Use
Active Management Area (AMA) Groundwater Rights Non-Arizona Colorado River Supplies Excess Salt River Project (SRP), Roosevelt Water Conservation District, Maricopa County Municipal Water Conservation District No. 1, or Salt /Gila River Rights Additional Groundwater Basins other than Butler Valley, McMullen Valley and Harquahala Valley Bill Williams River Rights Unused Arizona On-River (Colorado River) Municipal & Industrial Rights Colorado River Reserve Water for Use at National Wildlife Refuge Colorado River Supplies less than 10,000 afa Water Supply Committed Under Existing Contracts or Leases Other Surface Water Rights not identified as potentially available in CAGRD’s Plan of Operation 1 2
Reason(s) for Inability of CAGRD to Utilize Water
Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD 1. Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD 2. Supply would not qualify for long term storage credits (ARS 45-851.01.B) Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD Rights held by Arizona municipal providers cannot be considered because those rights are already earmarked for future development by holder Mitigation costs to complete NEPA compliance would be too high Inefficient to negotiate a Colorado River lease or fallowing agreement for that small of an amount of water. Water is already committed to other users 1. Prohibited by law or current law does not provide for use of water by the CAGRD 2. Supply would not qualify for long-term storage credits (ARS 45-851.01.B)
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III.
AFFECTED ENVIRONMENT AND ENVIRONMENTAL CONSEQUENCES
This section describes the existing affected environment and likely environmental consequences of Reclamation's approval of the assignment of 7,746 afa of CAP water entitlements from WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo to CAGRD. A No Action scenario is also evaluated for the service areas and CAGRD to provide a basis for comparison with the Proposed Action. The analysis is focused on the resource areas that may be impacted. The following resource areas are not anticipated to be affected to any measurable degree, and are therefore not included in the analysis: Surface water resources, air resources, recreational resources, geology, and soils.
A. Water Resources
1. Affected Environment The four water companies are located within the Phoenix AMA, in the West Salt River Valley groundwater subbasin. The West Salt River Valley subbasin covers an area of approximately 1,330 square miles. The subbasin is a broad alluvial valley that is bounded on the west by the White Tank Mountains; to the south by the Buckeye Hills, Sierra Estrella, and South Mountains; to the east by the Union Hills, Phoenix Mountains, and Papago Buttes; and to the north by the Hieroglyphic Mountains and Hedgepeth Hills. The sediments in the West Salt River Valley subbasin are generally alluvial units that range in thickness from less than 100 feet near the basin margins to over 10,000 feet in the central portions of the basin in the vicinity of Luke Air Force Base. The sediments in the subbasin are composed primarily of unconsolidated sediments of sand, gravel, silt and clays. In general, the sediments form three broad units: the upper alluvial unit, the middle fine-grained unit, and the lower alluvial unit. Groundwater is found in each of the three units, forming a large heterogeneous alluvial aquifer. In general, most groundwater is pumped from the middle fine-grained unit. It is estimated that the West Salt River Valley subbasin aquifer includes more than 8 million acre-feet of groundwater (ADWR 1999). Groundwater development in the West Salt River Valley began in the late 1800s with the development of shallow groundwater wells along the Agua Fria, Salt, and Gila Rivers. Currently, groundwater uses include agricultural irrigation, municipal, and industrial water supply purposes. Municipal water providers include WEWC, NRUC, Sunrise, LPSCo, other private water companies, and the cities of Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria, Avondale, Goodyear, and Surprise. As a result of groundwater development, water levels in some portions of the subbasin have declined substantially, creating large cones of depression near Luke Air Force Base and Deer Valley. Groundwater pumping also has resulted in land subsidence and earth fissuring near Luke Air Force Base. Groundwater logging is occurring in the Buckeye and Goodyear areas due to effluent discharge from the 91st Avenue Waste Water Treatment Plant and irrigation practices (ADWR 1999).
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a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders (1) WEWC The WEWC’s service area encompasses approximately 5.81 square miles in the northwestern portion of the West Salt River Valley subbasin, primarily around the town of Wittmann. Depth to groundwater in the vicinity of WEWC ranges from approximately 400 to 500 feet below ground surface (bgs) (ADWR 2002). Water quality in the area is good, with concentrations of total dissolved solids (TDS) generally less than 300 milligrams per liter (mg/L), and low levels of nitrates and fluoride (ADWR 2002, USGS 2003). Several ephemeral washes are located within the service area, and are tributary to the Agua Fria River, which is located approximately 12 miles southeast of the WEWC. Surface water generally flows northwest to southeast; however, the CAP and Beardsley Canals impede surface flow from reaching the Agua Fria River. There are approximately 64 registered wells within the WEWC service area, ranging from approximately 300 to 800 feet in depth bgs. The majority of these wells are small-capacity domestic wells (ADWR 2003). WEWC owns and operates three of these wells. The WEWC wells range from 633 to 800 feet in depth bgs. The wells are used to meets all of its customers’ demands. WEWC served 98 af of groundwater to 236 customers in 2005. Water use is primarily for domestic residential purposes. (2) Sunrise Sunrise’s service area encompasses approximately 3.92 square miles in the northeastern portion of the West Salt River Valley subbasin, primarily within the City of Peoria corporate limits. Depth to groundwater in the vicinity of Sunrise ranges from approximately 400 to 600 feet bgs (ADWR 2002). Water quality in the area is good, with concentrations of TDS generally less than 500 mg/L, and low levels of fluoride, although there have been reports of elevated levels of nitrates and arsenic (ADWR 2002, USGS 2003). Several ephemeral washes are located within the service area that are tributary to New River, which forms the eastern boundary of the service area. Surface water generally flows north to south in the area. There are approximately 46 registered wells within the Sunrise service area, ranging from approximately 200 to 1,200 feet in depth bgs. The majority of these wells are small-capacity domestic wells (ADWR 2003). Sunrise owns and operates five of these wells. The Sunrise wells range in depth from 850 to 1,260 feet in depth bgs. The wells are used to meet all of Sunrise’s customer demands. Sunrise served 1,009 af of groundwater to 1,272 customers in 2005. Water use is primarily for domestic residential purposes.
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(3) NRUC NRUC’s service area encompasses approximately 1.68 square miles in the northeastern portion of the West Salt River Valley subbasin, primarily within the City of Peoria corporate limits and immediately south of the Sunrise Water Company. Depth to water and water quality are similar to that described above for Sunrise. Several ephemeral washes are also located within the NRUC service area, and are tributary to New River. Like Sunrise, New River forms the eastern boundary of the NRUC service area. There are approximately 13 registered wells within the NRUC service area, ranging from 600 to 2,000 feet in depth bgs. NRUC owns and operates six of these wells primarily for domestic residential purposes. The NRUC wells range from 1,200 to 1,977 feet in depth bgs and are used to meet all of its customers’ demands. NRUC served 1,877 af of groundwater to 2,653 customers in 2005. The majority of the remaining wells are large-capacity irrigation wells (ADWR 2003). (4) LPSCo LPSCo’s service area encompasses approximately 20.16 square miles in the western portion of the West Salt River Valley subbasin, near the cities of Litchfield Park, Goodyear, and Glendale. Depth to groundwater in the vicinity of LPSCo ranges from approximately 50 feet bgs on the east side of the service area near the Agua Fria River to approximately 300 feet bgs on the west side of the service area, near the regional cone of depression known as the Luke Sink (ADWR 2002). Water quality in the area varies widely. Concentrations of TDS can be as low as 200 mg/L; however, the presence of a massive salt body known as the Luke Salt has affected salinity levels in the area, and deeper wells can have concentrations of TDS in excess of 4,000 mg/L. Concentrations of fluoride are generally low, although there have been reports of elevated levels of nitrates and arsenic (ADWR 2002, USGS 2003). The Agua Fria River is located immediately east of the LPSCo service area. Surface water generally flows north to south within the service area. Portions of the Roosevelt Irrigation Canal, Colter Channel, and Airline Canal also pass through the service area. There are approximately 96 registered wells within the LPSCo service area, ranging from approximately 50 to 2,000 feet in depth bgs. LPSCo owns and operates nine of these wells. The LPSCo wells range from 503 to 2,000 feet in depth bgs and are used to serve all of its customers’ demands. In 2005, LPSCo served 9,304 af of groundwater to 12,978 customers. Water use is primarily for domestic residential purposes. Approximately one third of the 96 registered wells are monitoring wells, and over half are primarily large-capacity irrigation wells (ADWR 2003).
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b. CAGRD The affected environment for the CAGRD for purposes of this EA includes the member lands and member service areas for which the CAGRD could fulfill replenishment obligations by recharging the 7,746 afa of CAP water that would be transferred to CAGRD by the four water companies. This includes the water service areas of the four water companies, which are described above, and the Phoenix AMA. The Phoenix AMA covers approximately 5,646 square miles and includes seven groundwater subbasins: East Salt River Valley, West Salt River Valley, Rainbow Valley, Hassayampa, Lake Pleasant, Carefree, and Fountain Hills subbasins. Groundwater in the Phoenix AMA generally occurs in broad alluvial aquifers composed of unconsolidated sands, silts, clays and gravels. Groundwater development in the Phoenix AMA began in the late 1800’s when shallow groundwater wells were drilled adjacent to streams to supplement surface water supplies for irrigation. Currently, ADWR estimates approximately 2.3 million acre-feet are used annually in the Phoenix AMA with 1.4 million acre-feet provided from renewable supplies (CAP and SRP water) and approximately 900,000 acre-feet from groundwater (ADWR 2004). Additionally, ADWR estimates approximately 250,000 acre-feet of effluent are reused in the Phoenix AMA. At present, groundwater levels are generally stable or rising in the East Salt River Valley subbasin due to reduction in agricultural uses, increases in artificial recharge, and increased natural recharge from recent floods along the Salt River stream bed. Depth to groundwater ranges from 150’ to 600’ bgs. In the western subbasins (West Salt River, Hassayampa, and Rainbow Valley) groundwater levels are generally stable, with some areas suffering from water logging conditions. In general, depth to groundwater ranges from 10 feet (water logged areas near Buckeye) to 600 feet bgs. However, several large cones of depression do occur including: the Luke cone and Palo Verde cone. The remaining subbasins (Lake Pleasant, Carefree, and Fountain Hills) are isolated alluvial pockets with relatively thin alluvial aquifers. Groundwater levels are generally stable due to limited development and importation of renewable supplies (ADWR 2004). The CAGRD currently uses two groundwater recharge facilities that are located in the West Salt River Valley subbasin (where the four water companies’ service areas are located): the Agua Fria Recharge Project and the Hieroglyphic Mountains Recharge Project (Figure 7). Prior to initiating recharge operations, depth to water in the vicinity of the HMRP and AFRP were approximately 460 feet and 300 feet bgs, respectively. Currently, depth to groundwater is approximately 300 feet bgs at the HMRP and approximately 250 feet bgs at the AFRP. Water quality in these areas is good, with concentrations of TDS generally being less than 500 mg/L, and generally having low levels of arsenic, fluoride, and nitrate7 (ADWR 2002, USGS 2003).
On October 26, 2006, after nearly four years of operating the HMRP, a water quality sample taken from a monitor well located south of the facility exceeded the drinking water standard for nitrate. A subsequent sample also exceeded the nitrate standard. CAWCD has ascertained that the exceedance was likely associated with the dissolving of in-situ salts as water
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2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action Under the No Action alternative, the transfers would not occur and WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would continue to pump groundwater to meet their supply needs. It is anticipated by 2035, approximately 15,000 afa of groundwater would be pumped to supply the water demands within the service areas of the four water companies (CAGRD 2004). They would not be expected to utilize any portion of their CAP entitlements. Under this alternative, WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. As long as the water remains in the Excess CAP pool and is not used by higher priority users,8 it could be purchased and recharged by CAGRD to fulfill the replenishment obligations associated with member lands located within the water service areas of the four water companies. The availability of Excess CAP water will generally decline as contractors and subcontractors increase the use of their entitlements. To the extent that Excess CAP water is not available, CAGRD would use another source of water to meet its replenishment obligations, as described in Section II above. Because subdivisions within the service areas of the four water providers have already obtained CAWS, whether the proposed action is approved or not has no bearing on the anticipated volume of replenishment obligations that CAGRD will incur as a result of excess groundwater pumping by the transferring entities. However the mix of water supplies used to meet the obligations, as described previously, must approximate the reliability of CAP M&I priority water supplies in order that CAGRD may meet its replenishment obligations within the three-year time frame defined by Arizona statute. Arizona statutes require CAGRD to satisfy replenishment obligations incurred from these four services areas by recharging in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA “to the extent reasonably feasible” (ARS § 48-3772.I). Therefore, CAGRD could meet its obligations by replenishing anywhere in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA. Because CAWCD currently operates two recharge projects within the West Salt River Subbasin (AFRP and HMRP), it is likely that CAGRD would maximize the amount of water that it replenishes in these two projects regardless of whether or not the proposed action is approved. However, it is possible that CAGRD’s water supply portfolio under the No Action alternative could include a larger volume of effluent supplies. If this occurs, a portion of the replenishment associated with these four service areas
that had been recharged at the HMRP flushed out the vadose zone. CAWCD has developed an action plan to increase area groundwater monitoring activities and to protect nearby landowners until nitrate levels come back within compliance. CAWCD believes that aggressive operation of the project to facilitate the flushing of nitrates through the aquifer system will rectify the problem and will do so with approval and oversight from ADWR and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. As part of the settlement of Indian water rights claims and CAP repayment negotiations with the United States, CAWCD has adopted a policy providing NIA users with first priority for use of excess CAP water through 2030. Under the policy, NIA users have priority to 400,000 AF/year of excess CAP water through 2016; 300,000 af /year from 2017 through 2023; and 225,000 AF/year from 2024 through 2030.
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may not occur within the West Salt River Subbasin. This is because effluent cannot be stored at the AFRP or HMRP and there may be a limit on the capacity available in effluent recharge projects located within the West Salt River Subbasin. b. Proposed Action Under the Proposed Action, entitlement to 7,746 afa of CAP M&I water, currently allocated to the four water companies, would be transferred to CAGRD, thus providing CAGRD with a permanent supply that is extremely reliable. CAGRD would incur the same replenishment obligation for the four water companies’ service areas and would replenish the same volume of water under both alternatives. As with the No Action Alternative, groundwater would be used to supply future water demands within the water service areas associated with these four water companies, and CAGRD would be responsible for replenishing the excess groundwater used by the member lands located within the water service areas of the four water companies. Under the Proposed Action, the Supplemental Contract would require that replenishment on behalf of member lands in the NRUC, Sunrise and WEWC service areas be accomplished within the area of hydrologic impact of the associated groundwater withdrawals. To satisfy the replenishment obligations incurred as a result of groundwater pumping within the WEWC water service area, CAP water obtained by CAGRD under the proposed action would be replenished at the HMRP. For obligations incurred as a result of groundwater pumping within the Sunrise and NRUC water service areas, CAP water would be recharged into the AFRP. The Supplemental Contract would require that replenishment on behalf of member lands in the LPSCo service area be accomplished within the Phoenix AMA. It is CAGRD’s intent that CAP water transferred from the LPSCo water service subcontract to CAGRD would be replenished at the AFRP. While this facility is not within the area of hydrologic impact of groundwater pumping in the LPSCo service area, it is located in the western portion of the Phoenix AMA and therefore complies with the State’s AWS rules as well as the provisions of the proposed Supplemental Contract. In accordance with the proposed Supplemental Contract, any transferred CAP water that is “leftover” after fulfilling the replenishment obligations of the member lands located within the water service areas of the four water companies may be used to satisfy annual replenishment obligations for member lands enrolled as of the effective date of Exhibit A of the Supplemental Contract. More than 85% of CAGRD’s total replenishment obligations for member lands is projected to be incurred in the Phoenix AMA (CAGRD, 2004), translating to large volumes of water needed to meet replenishment obligations for member lands in the Phoenix AMA. Therefore, CAGRD would, in all likelihood, replenish any of the left-over CAP water within the Phoenix AMA, and probably at the AFRP or HMRP. However, CAGRD estimates that the total annual replenishment obligations for member lands within the four water companies’ service areas will exceed 7,746 AF by 2020 (CAGRD 2004), so left-over water would not be a long-term issue (Table 2).
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Table 2. Projected Replenishment Obligations in Transferring Entities’ Service Areas (afa) Service Area (annual amount to be transferred) WEWC (157) Sunrise (944) NRUC (1,885) LPSCo (4,760) Total (7,746)
2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25
2008 10 244 1,333 3,989 5,576
2009 11 268 1,407 4,317 6,003
2010 13 292 1,481 4,644 6,430
2015 322 347 811 4,252 5,732
2020 626 682 2,219 10,166 13,693
CAGRD may replenish more water at these two facilities under the Proposed Action, as compared to what may occur under the No Action alternative. This possibility exists because, as discussed above, CAGRD may increase its reliance on effluent under the No Action alternative, thereby reducing the volume of water available to CAGRD for replenishment at the AFRP and HMRP. However, this possible increase in use of the facilities by CAGRD would not result in changes to the operating procedures at these two facilities.
B. Land Use
1. Affected Environment a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders (1) WEWC WEWC’s service area encompasses approximately 3,720 acres of land. Approximately 2540% is developed, consisting mainly of sparsely distributed residential developments with some commercial businesses. The town of Wittmann is located within the service area; the remainder falls within an unincorporated area of Maricopa County. Much of the service area consists of native desert, particularly in the northern, southern, and eastern portions. (2) Sunrise Sunrise’s service area is approximately 2,506 acres in size, and includes unincorporated Maricopa County land, a portion of the city of Peoria, and about 160 acres of State land. About 25% of the service area, including the State land, is native desert. The remainder of the service area consists of medium- to high-density residential neighborhood clusters that have been constructed or are planned for construction. There are also several commercial areas.
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(3) NRUC NRUC’s water service area is approximately 1,077 acres in size and is entirely located within the limits of the city of Peoria. Although there may be some small vacant parcels scattered within the service area, the entire service area is essentially fully developed with the exception of the New River corridor. (4) LPSCo The LPSCo service area is the largest of the four water service areas involved in the proposed transfer, encompassing approximately 13,214 acres. Portions of the service area fall within Litchfield Park, Goodyear, and Avondale city limits. The service area also includes unincorporated Maricopa County land. The area has been experiencing rapid conversion from agriculture to high-density residential development over the past several years. Approximately 70% of the LPSCo service area is already developed or planned for development. Several golf courses are also located within the service area boundaries. Approximately 3,000 acres consist of irrigated agricultural fields. These are located in the extreme western portion of the service area. About half of these acres are located within Luke Air Force Base’s outermost noise contour. There are also about 1,350 acres of undeveloped desert in two distinct parcels within the service area. One parcel is located in the extreme northeast portion of the service area that extends east of El Mirage Road. The other is just southeast of Luke Air Force Base. Both parcels are located in unincorporated Maricopa County.
b. CAGRD Member Lands - As of December 31, 2005, a total of 647 subdivisions have enrolled as member lands of the CAGRD in the Phoenix AMA. These 647 subdivisions represent approximately 115,600 homes. Of these 647 subdivisions, 420 are located in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA (representing about 84,200 homes) and 227 are located in the east portion of the Phoenix AMA (representing about 31,400 homes).9 Member Service Areas – As of December 31, 2005, a total of nine municipal water providers have enrolled their water service areas as member service areas of the CAGRD in the Phoenix AMA. Of these, five are in the west portion of the AMA and four are in the east portion, as indicated below.
CAGRD will not incur parcel replenishment obligations for thirteen of these member land subdivisions (ten in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA and three in the east portion) because the municipal water providers serving the subdivisions (City of El Mirage, City of Surprise and Johnson Utilities, LLC) enrolled their service areas as member service areas of the CAGRD after the member lands were enrolled. Therefore, the 3,876 homes within these thirteen subdivisions are not included in the figures provided herein.
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MSAs in the West Portion of the Phoenix AMA · City of Avondale · City of El Mirage · City of Goodyear · City of Peoria · City of Surprise
MSAs in the East Portion of the Phoenix AMA · City of Scottsdale · Johnson Utilities, LLC · Water Utilities Community Facilities District (Apache Junction) · Chaparral City Water Company
CAGRD will be using two existing recharge facilities within the Phoenix AMA (the AFRP and the HMRP) to fulfill its replenishment obligations for member lands and member service areas located in the west portion of the Phoenix AMA. These facilities are used exclusively for groundwater recharge. The AFRP encompasses approximately 100 acres with a permitted capacity of approximately 100,000 af per year. It is the only recharge project in Arizona to combine streambed recharge and spreading basins at a single facility. The HMRP utilizes 38 acres and has a permitted capacity of 35,000 af per year. HMRP consists of spreading basins adjacent to the north side of the CAP canal. 2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action Under the No Action alternative, it is anticipated that urbanization within the WEWC water service area would continue at about the same rate as, or more rapidly than, it has over the past several years. This would also be expected to occur within the Sunrise service area, with the possible exception of the State land, which might not be developed as rapidly as the neighboring private land. Development of the remaining land within the NRUC service area would not change, as at present it is essentially fully developed. Within the LPSCo service area, it is anticipated that agricultural areas and areas of native desert that lie outside the established noise contours of Luke Air Force Base would be developed within the next few years, based upon current development trends. However, it is anticipated that development of the remaining agricultural land within the noise contours would occur more slowly and would consist of development that is more compatible with the noise generated from Base activities, rather than conversion to high-density residential areas. Prior to constructing a subdivision of six or more dwellings, developers are required to acquire certificates of assured water supply from ADWR. All currently undeveloped land within the service areas of the four water companies would be eligible to enroll as member lands of the CAGRD. As indicated in Section I, membership in CAGRD proves consistency with the State’s water management goals, thereby allowing new subdivisions to obtain certificates of assured water supply. Therefore, as long as undeveloped land is still available, it is assumed that land development within the defined project area would continue to occur
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at its current rate. Table 3 provides a summary of the projected growth in the number of housing units within each of the four service areas through 2030 (CAP & MAG 2004).
Table 3. Projected Number of Housing Units in Transferring Entities’ Service Areas Service Area Name WEWC Sunrise NRUC LPSCo Total
4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28
2007 395 1,299 2,972 13,242 17,908
2010 413 1,446 3,521 15,294 20,674
2015 1,476 1,701 3,522 19,960 26,659
2020 2,535 1,952 3,522 24,602 32,611
2025 3,379 2,165 3,523 25,867 34,934
2030 4,264 2,394 3,523 27,496 37,677
WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. However, a possible occurrence under the No Action alternative is that the entitlements held by the four water companies could be transferred to one or more other water providers that are not members of the CAGRD, thereby increasing those providers’ portfolios of renewable water supplies. With an increase of available renewable supplies, State law would allow additional development (i.e., construction and land disturbance) to occur on lands located within those water providers’ service areas. b. Proposed Action Under the Proposed Action, CAGRD would receive a CAP water entitlement of 7,746 af annually. This water would be used to fulfill replenishment obligations of member lands located within the water service areas of WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo. Transferred water entitlements from Sunrise and New River would be used for recharge at the AFRP and WEWC’s entitlement would be recharged at the HMRP. LPSCo’s transferred entitlement would likely be used for recharge at AFRP, although legally it could be recharged at various recharge locations within the Phoenix AMA. The Proposed Action would potentially increase the volume of storage at HMRP and AFRP over that contemplated in the No Action alternative, if the No Action alternative includes the use of effluent storage. Because all currently undeveloped land within the service areas of the four water companies are eligible to be enrolled in CAGRD, it is assumed that land development under the Proposed Action would occur as it would be anticipated to occur under the No Action Alternative. There would be no difference in the impacts to land ownership or land development within the defined Project area between the two alternatives. However, the
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Proposed Action could result in less development on lands located outside of the defined Project. This would occur because, under the Proposed Action, the CAP entitlements proposed for transfer would not be available to other water providers that are not members of the CAGRD, thereby limiting the ability for additional lands to be developed in those service areas.
C. Socioeconomic Resources
1. Affected Environment a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders These water providers’ service areas fall within the political boundaries of several entities, including the cities of Peoria, Litchfield Park, Goodyear, and Avondale, smaller towns like Wittmann, and unincorporated Maricopa County land. Analysis was conducted through the evaluation of Census tracts. A Census tract is a geographically smaller area that documents the same type of demographic, racial, and economic statistics as larger areas such as counties and states. Service areas were compared with Maricopa County data to determine whether or not service areas were demonstrating the same trends as the county as a whole. (1) WEWC The entire WEWC service area is located in one census tract, Tract 405.09. This tract is actually larger than WEWC’s water service area. According to the Census 2000, Census Tract 405.09 consists of a smaller percentage of a non-white population, unemployment rate, and a lower 1999 Median Household Income when compared to Maricopa County, Arizona (Table 4). Also shown in Table 4, the occupational category with the greatest number of jobs in Census Tract 405.09 was the Sales and Office category while the majority of employees in Maricopa County were in the Management and Professional employment fields. (2) Sunrise The Sunrise service area is located in portions of three census tracts, Tract 303.71, 303.73, and 303.75. According to the Census 2000, these three census tracts consist of smaller percentages of non-white populations when compared to Maricopa County, Arizona. These census tracts also consisted of higher 1999 Median Household Incomes. Two of the three tracts had lower unemployment rates (2000) than the County (Table 5). When occupation types were compared, the largest job category in these three census tracts was the same as the County; most employees were categorized as working in Management and Professional fields.
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Table 4. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics Maricopa County and Census Tract related to WEWC WEWC Census Maricopa County Tract Census Tract 405.09
Population Characteristics Population %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income % Unemployment (2000) Employment No. Employed (over Age of 16) Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 2 3 15,675 88% 12% $32,254 1.9% 4,474 (29% of population) 21.5% 21.7% 25.5% 2.7% 14.7% 13.9% 3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3.0% 1,427,292 (46%) 33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
Table 5. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract related to Sunrise and Maricopa County Sunrise Census Tracts Maricopa County 303.75 303.71 303.73
Population Characteristics Population (persons) %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income % Unemployed (2000) Employment No. Employed (over Age of 16) Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 4 2,258 95.3% 4.7% $81,976 1% 1,188 (53%) 32.7% 10% 32.5% 0.7% 14.1% 9.9% 12,306 92.8% 7.2% $57,103 1.6% 5,459 (44%) 37.6% 12.7% 32.4% 0% 9.8% 7.5% 2,942 90.9% 9.1% $74,073 5% 1,491 (51%) 45.8% 12% 29.5% 0% 8.5% 4.2% 3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3% 1,427,292 (46%) 33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
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(3) NRUC The NRUC service area is located in portions of three census tracts, Tract 303.68, 303.71, and 303.73. Two of these tracts, 303.71 and 303.73, also contain portions of the Sunrise service area. According to the Census 2000, all three census tracts consist of smaller percentages of non-white populations when compared to Maricopa County, Arizona. These census tracts also consisted of higher 1999 Median Household Incomes. Two of the three tracts consisted of lower unemployment rates (2000) than the County (Table 6). When occupation types were compared, the greatest amount of jobs for people living within the census tracts was the same type as the County; most employees were categorized as working in Management and Professional fields.
Table 6. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract Related to NRUC and Maricopa County New River Census Tracts Maricopa County 303.71 303.73 303.68
Population Characteristics Population (persons) %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income Unemployment (2000) Employment No. Employed (over Age of 16) Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 12,306 92.8% 7.2% $57,103 1.6% 5,459 (44%) 37.6% 12.7% 32.4% 0% 9.8% 7.5% 2,942 90.9% 9.1% $74,073 5% 1,491 (51%) 45.8% 12% 29.5% 0% 8.5% 4.2% 2,738 98.4% 1.6% $54,559 2.1% 751 (27%) 53.3% 2.8% 34% 0% 3.5% 6.4% 3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3.0% 1,427,292 (46%) 33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
(4) LPSCo The LPSCo service area is located in portions of five census tracts, Tract 610.05, 610.09, 610.02, 610.03, and 610.06. According to the Census 2000, all five census tracts consisted of about the same or smaller percentages of non-white populations when compared to Maricopa County, Arizona. All five census tracts consisted of higher 1999 Median Household Incomes and lower unemployment rates (2000) than the County (Table 7). When occupation types were compared, in four of the five census tracts most employees were categorized as working in Management and Professional fields, which is the same as for the County. In the fifth
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census tract, the greatest number of employees fell into the sales and office industries category.
Table 7. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Census Tract related to LPSCo and Maricopa County Litchfield Park Service Co. Census Tracts Maricopa County 610.05 610.09 610.02 610.03 610.06
Population Characteristics Population %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income Unemployment (2000) Employment No. Employed Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 6,458 79.4% 20.6% 50,861 0.9% 1,536 (24%) 29.6% 16.1% 28.4% 2.1% 9.5% 14.3% 87 100% 0% 51,250 0% 45 (52%) 31.1% 0% 42.2% 0% 11.1% 15.6% 4,104 91.7% 8.3% 74,125 2.6% 1,805 (44%) 47.5% 12.7% 23.4% 0.2% 6% 10% 10,395 77% 23% 62,698 1.8% 5,260 (51%) 36.9% 10.4% 32.3% 0.4% 8.3% 11.8% 8,072 79.2% 20.8% 46,210 1.9% 3,689 (46%) 27.9% 19.1% 24.2% 3.7% 12.1% 13% 3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3.0% 1,427,292 (46%) 33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
b. CAGRD Those portions of CAGRD’s service area that are most directly impacted by the Proposed Action are the member lands located within the four water companies’ service areas. The demographic, racial, and economic statistics for these areas are provided in Tables 4-7 above. Due to the expansive and non-contiguous nature of CAGRD’s remaining membership in the Phoenix AMA (which makes up the project area), such statistics are not readily available. Therefore, the Maricopa County data provided in Tables 4-7 above are assumed to be representative of the remaining CAGRD membership in the Phoenix AMA as a whole. Maricopa County data as compared to the entire state of Arizona are provided below in Table 8.
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Table 8. Population, Economic, and Employment Characteristics for Maricopa County and State of Arizona (U.S. Census Bureau) Maricopa County
Population Characteristics Population %White of population % Non-White of population Economic Characteristics Median Household 1999 Income % Unemployment (2000) Employment No. Employed (over Age of 16) Occupation Management, Professional Service Sales and Office Farming, Fishing, Forestry Construction and Maintenance Production and Transportation 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18
10
Arizona
5,130,632 75% 25% $40,558 3.4% 2,233,004 (43.5%) 32.7% 16.2% 28.5% 0.6% 11.0% 10.9%
3,072,149 77.4% 22.6% $45,358 3.0% 1,427,292 (46%)
33.9% 14.6% 29.7% 0.4% 10.5% 11.0%
2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders Under the No Action alternative, all four water companies would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water and the four water companies would continue to be responsible for the annual capital payments associated with the entitlements.10 The providers would continue to serve water to their respective service area. Lands served by these providers would continue to be developed under the No Action alternative. These water providers would continue to pump groundwater to serve both existing and future customers. Future customers would be enrolled as member lands of the CAGRD in order to comply with Arizona’s Assured Water Supply Rules. Those customers whose lands are enrolled as member lands would pay annual replenishment assessments based on the amount of excess groundwater delivered to their property. Since these four water companies have never utilized the water proposed to be transferred, there would be no
Under existing CAP M&I subcontracts, the subcontractor is responsible for paying an annual capital charge to CAWCD regardless of whether the CAP water is ordered or not.
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change in the water service provided. Future rates for water supplied by CAGRD to offset groundwater pumping by the water companies is discussed under “CAGRD” below. No change in the lifestyle or social well-being of the populations serviced by any of these water companies is anticipated as a result of their continued reliance on these sources. (2) CAGRD Under the No Action alternative, CAGRD would continue to enroll member lands within the four water companies’ service areas as provided by State law. CAGRD would be required to continue to satisfy all of its replenishment obligations through recharge in the Phoenix AMA. CAGRD would continue using available excess CAP water for replenishment and would continue to use the AFRP and HMRP. Under the No Action alternative, if there is insufficient excess CAP water available, CAGRD would secure additional water supplies from the sources described in Section II above and CAGRD rates would be set based on the cost of securing and replenishing whatever water supplies CAGRD obtains. CAGRD rates are calculated on an AMA-wide basis; therefore, the costs associated with securing and replenishing water to meet replenishment obligations in the Phoenix AMA would be “spread” over CAGRD’s entire Phoenix AMA membership. There are no residences located within the AFRP and HMRP. CAWCD operates the facilities to maximize hydrologic and economic efficiency regarding recharge. CAGRD uses the facilities to meet replenishment obligations in the Phoenix AMA using its available water supplies. To the maximum extent possible, CAGRD would use these facilities to offset replenishment obligations incurred as a result of pumping within the WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo service areas.
b. Proposed Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders Many conditions under this alternative would be identical to those under the No Action alternative. All four water companies would transfer their unused CAP water entitlements and would no longer be responsible for the entitlements’ annual capital payments. Lands served by these providers would continue to be developed and the providers would continue to serve their respective service areas through groundwater pumping. Future customers within the water companies’ service areas would be enrolled as member lands of the CAGRD in order to comply with Arizona’s Assured Water Supply Rules and those customers would pay annual replenishment assessments based on the amount of excess groundwater delivered to their property. These four water companies have never utilized the water that is proposed to be transferred, and there is no infrastructure in place for them to do so; therefore, under the Proposed Action there would be no change in the water service provided to the residents served by WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, or LPSCo.
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The only anticipated impact to socioeconomic conditions within the four water companies’ service areas relates to the difference in CAGRD assessment rates paid by members under the Proposed Action compared to the No Action alternative. As discussed above, the Proposed Action provides CAGRD with a reliable water supply that can be used to meet replenishment obligations. Under the No Action alternative, CAGRD would need to secure an equally reliable supply to meet its replenishment obligations and any difference in the costs (higher or lower) of securing and replenishing such supplies would be borne by CAGRD members. Further discussion of CAGRD rates is provided in the next paragraph. (2) CAGRD Under the Proposed Action alternative, CAGRD would incur essentially the same replenishment obligations as it would under the No Action alternative. CAGRD would have the ability to use the transferred 7,746 af of CAP subcontract water to meet its replenishment obligations in the Phoenix AMA. As indicated above, there could be some impact on CAGRD members’ assessment rates depending on the cost of the CAP water to be transferred when compared to an alternative supply; however, the impact would likely be insignificant. This is because CAGRD rates are calculated on an AMA-wide basis and the volume of water to be transferred under the Proposed Action is relatively small compared to CAGRD’s projected overall replenishment obligations for the Phoenix AMA.11 Based on these projected replenishment obligations, it is anticipated that every $10/af incremental change (higher or lower) in CAGRD’s cost of purchasing and replenishing water would result in a corresponding change of about $0.20 in the average member land homeowner’s annual replenishment assessment over the long-term. Thus, it would take a large difference between the cost of the Proposed Action and the No Action alternative to have any significant economic effect on CAGRD members.
D. Biological Resources
1. Affected Environment Table 9 lists the federally listed and candidate species identified by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) as potentially occurring in Maricopa County, Arizona.
11
CAGRD’s annual replenishment obligations for the Phoenix AMA are projected to reach 138,200 AF by 2020 and 186,700 AF by 2035 (CAGRD 2004).
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Table 9. Summary of federally listed and candidate species and their habitat needs
Species Status Known Distribution and Habitat Needs Arizona agave E Transition zone of oak-juniper woodland and mountain mahogany-oak scrub, Agave arizonica usually steep rocky slopes from 3,000 to 6,000 feet (AGFD 1997) Arizona cliffrose E Rolling limestone hills within Sonoran desertscrub from 2,500 to 4,000 feet Purshia subintegra (AGFD 2001a) Bald eagle T Large trees or cliffs near creeks, lakes, and rivers with abundant prey, i.e., fish Haliaeetus leucocephalus (AGFD 1996) California brown pelican E Shore bird usually found near sandy beaches and lagoons. Nests along coastal Pelecanus occidentalis islands with shrubby vegetation and small trees. In AZ, this species can be californicus found at large inland lakes (Monson, G., and A.R. Phillips 1981) Desert pupfish E Permanent water in shallow springs, streams, and marshes (AGFD 2001b) Cyprinodon macularius macularius and eremus Gila topminnow E Permanent water in small streams, springs, and cienegas (AGFD 2001c) Poeciliopsis occidentalis occidentalis Lesser long-nosed bat E Desert scrub with agave and columnar cacti. Caves or abandoned tunnels for Leptonycteris curasoae roosts at elevations of 6,000 feet or less (AGFD 1998) yerbabuenae Mexican spotted owl T Canyons and dense forests above 4,100 feet in elevation (USFWS 1995) Strix occidentalis lucida Razorback sucker E Slow backwaters of medium and large streams and rivers (AGFD 2001d) Xyrauchen texanus Southwestern willow E Dense cottonwood/willow & tamarisk vegetation communities along rivers & flycatcher streams (AGFD 1996) Empidonax traillii extimus Sonoran pronghorn E Sonoran desert plains with wide alluvial basins and desert grassland (AGFD Antilocapra americana 1996) sonoriensis Yuma clapper rail E Freshwater or brackish stream-sides and marshes with dense vegetation, Rallus longirostris especially cattail/bulrush (AGFD 2001e) yumanensis Western yellow-billed C Broadleaf deciduous riparian forest habitats and tamarisk woodlands adjacent cuckoo to surface water (AGFD 1996) Coccyzus americanus occidentalis Gila chub E Small headwater streams, springs, cienegas, and marshes of the Gila River Gila intermedia basin (AGFD 2001f) USFWS categories: Endangered (E) – Taxa in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range; Threatened (T) - Taxa likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future throughout all or a significant portion of its range; Candidate (C) - Taxa whose protection under the Endangered Species Act has been found to be warranted, but precluded by higher priority listing activities at this time. 1 2 3 4 5 6
a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders The biological resource observations described in this section are based largely on field reconnaissance investigations conducted by SWCA, Inc. on September 26, 2003. SWCA’s findings are documented in biological report memoranda provided in Appendix D.
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(1) WEWC This 3,720-acre service area is located in the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Approximately 25-40% of the service area is developed. The vegetation present in the natural undisturbed portions of the project area consist mainly of native desert vegetation typical of the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of the Sonoran desertscrub biotic community. The dominant vegetation species present within the project area include the following: creosotebush (Larrea tridentata), blue paloverde (Parkinsonia florida), saguaro (Carnegiea gigantea), velvet mesquite (Prosopis velutina), triangle-leaf bursage (Ambrosia deltoidea), canyon ragweed (Ambrosia ambrosioides), desert ironwood (Olneya tesota), and grasses. Protected native plants classified under the Arizona Native Plant Law (ARS §3-904) are also present in the project area. Federally Endangered and Threatened Species. All 14 federally listed and candidate species were eliminated from further consideration because their known geographic ranges are distant from the project area and/or the project area does not contain habitat known to be necessary to support these species (Table 9). State Special Status Species. The Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD) also maintains a statewide database, known as the Heritage Data Management System (HDMS), which tracks records for federally listed species or other species of special concern. AGFD searched this database for occurrence records of special status species within a five-mile radius of the WEWC service area. The AGFD response letter indicated that there are no records of any special status species within five miles of the project area (Appendix B). (2) Sunrise This 2,506-acre service area is located in the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Approximately 25% of the service area is native desert, with the remainder consisting of residential neighborhood clusters that have been constructed or are planned for construction, and several commercial areas. The vegetation present in the natural undisturbed areas includes the following: creosotebush, blue paloverde, saguaro, triangle-leaf bursage, chainfruit cholla (Opuntia fulgida), and desert ironwood. New River is also located within the project area and the following vegetation was observed along the river: catclaw acacia (Acacia greggii), desert broom (Baccharis sarothroides), blue paloverde, desert willow (Chilopsis linearis), and burrobrush (Hymenoclea salsola). New River Dam is located about 1 mile upstream of the water service area. The New River is ephemeral within the project area, and about ¼ mile of the river has been channelized in the southernmost portion of the water service area. Protected native plants classified under the Arizona Native Plant Law (ARS §3-904) are also present in the project area.
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Federally Endangered and Threatened Species. All 14 federally listed and candidate species were eliminated from further consideration because their known geographic ranges are distant from the project area and/or the project area does not contain habitat known to be necessary to support these species (Table 9). State Special Status Species. AGFD searched the HDMS database for occurrence records of special status species within a three-mile radius of the Sunrise service area These species are the desert tortoise (Gopherus agassisii), California leaf-nosed bat (Macrotus californicus), and the cave myotis (Myotis velifer). No known occurrences are from within the service area proper. Although these species have status listings, these listings do not afford the species any statutory protection under the Endangered Species Act. A copy of the request letter and the AGFD response letter is included in Appendix B. The Sonoran desert population of the desert tortoise is listed as a Wildlife of Special Concern in Arizona (WSCA) by the AGFD. They are found above the flats on rocky bajadas and hillsides. Because of the flat topography of the Sunrise service area and the fragmented nature of the remaining undisturbed desert, it is unlikely that this species is present. The California leaf-nosed bat is listed as a WSCA by the AGFD. This bat is found primarily south of the Mogollon Plateau in Sonoran and Mohave desertscrub and occasionally in Chihuahuan and Great Basin desertscrub. Roost sites include mines, caves, and rock shelters. Foraging could occur over remnant desertscrub within the project area, but it is more likely that the species would be transient from roosting sites to larger patches of undisturbed desert habitat. The cave myotis can be found south of the Mogollon Plateau from Lake Mohave, Burro Creek, Montezuma Well, the San Carlos Apache Reservation and the Chiricahua Mountains south to Mexico. It is predominantly found in desertscrub of creosote, brittlebush, paloverde and cacti, but sometimes up to pine-oak communities. Roosts include mines, caves, or rock shelters. As with the California leaf-nosed bat above, foraging could occur over remnant desertscrub within the project area, but it is more likely that the species would be transient from roosting sites to larger patches of undisturbed desert habitat. (3) NRUC This 1,077-acre service area is located in the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Although there are some small vacant parcels scattered within the service area, the entire service area is essentially fully developed with the exception of a small portion of the New River corridor, which is located within the southern part of the water service area. The New River is ephemeral in the project area and has been channelized. The dominant vegetation species
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present within natural undisturbed portions of the project area include the following: creosotebush, blue paloverde, desert broom, and velvet mesquite. The following vegetation was observed along New River: desert broom, blue paloverde, and singlewhorl burrobrush (Hymenoclea monogyra). Protected native plants classified under the Arizona Native Plant Law (ARS §3-904) are also present in the project area. Federally Endangered and Threatened Species. All federally listed species and candidate endangered species (a total of 14 species) were eliminated from further consideration because their known geographic ranges are distant from the project area and/or the project area does not contain conditions similar to those known to be necessary to support these species (Table 9). State Special Status Species. AGFD searched the HDMS database for occurrence records of the following special status species within a three-mile radius of the Sunrise service area: the Western burrowing owl (Athene cunicularia hypugaea), California leaf-nosed bat, and the cave myotis. No known occurrences are from within the service area proper. Burrowing owls are associated with very sparse vegetation that allows long vistas over which danger can be detected. The best areas to observe these owls in Maricopa County are in the creosotebush-bursage associations adjacent to agricultural lands (Glinski 1998). Although we know of no records of the burrowing owl from the service area, it is possible that small, isolated populations may exist within the vicinity of the New River where habitat requirements are met and the soil substrate supports animal burrows suitable for nesting. The two bats species are most likely transient over the service area, moving from roosts to suitable foraging areas and back. (4) LPSCo This 13,214-acre service area is located in the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Only about 10% of the service area is undeveloped or undisturbed. The remaining portion consists of constructed (or planned) residential and commercial developments, golf courses and irrigated agriculture. The vegetation present in the undisturbed natural portions of the project area consists mainly of native desert vegetation typical of the Lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of the Sonoran desertscrub biotic community. The dominant vegetation species present within the project area include the following: Creosotebush, velvet mesquite, and saltbush (Atriplex spp.). Protected native plants classified under the Arizona Native Plant Law (ARS §3-904) are also present in the project area.
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Federally Endangered and Threatened Species. All federally listed and candidate species (a total of 14 species) were eliminated from further consideration because their known geographic ranges are distant from the project area and/or the project area does not contain conditions similar to those known to be necessary to support these species (Table 9). State Special Status Species. TAGFD searched the HDMS database for occurrence records of special status species within a four-mile radius of the WEWC service area. The AGFD response letter indicated that there are no records of any special status species within four miles of the project area (Appendix B). b. CAGRD As discussed in section I.C., for purposes of this EA, CAGRD’s project area includes those member service areas and member lands that are located within the Phoenix AMA. This area includes several ecological communities, but most of this region is within the Sonoran Desertscrub Biome as defined by Brown (1994). The majority of the lands within CAGRD’s project area are, or will be, fully urbanized. The AFRP is located within the Arizona upland subdivision of the Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). This portion of the Agua Fria River and its floodplain contain xeroriparian vegetation. Hills and mountains are located to the west of the area. The HMRP is located within the lower Colorado River Valley subdivision of the Sonoran desertscrub biotic community, as defined by Brown (1994). Most of the native desert vegetation has been disturbed in this area, but undisturbed portions contain upland and xeroriparian vegetation. The areas utilized by both recharge facilities (at each location) were surveyed for biological resources prior to the time of construction and use. Local and federal organizations were also consulted to determine how these replenishment facilities would affect the environment and what could be done to minimize those effects. Through planning and mitigation, AFRP and HMRP were permitted and developed with appropriate mitigation completed for each project.
2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (a) WEWC Continued groundwater pumping in the WEWC service area is not anticipated to affect local biological resources. There are no perennial streams, wetlands, riparian areas, or other special aquatic habitats in the service area that provide wildlife values which could
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be impacted by a continued use of groundwater. Through eventual development in the area, there is a potential that the entire service area would be developed, resulting in the removal of between approximately 2,200 to 2,800 acres of Sonoran Desertscrub vegetation. The service area, however, does not contain any habitat for federally listed or candidate species, or any State special status species; therefore, none would be adversely affected under the No Action alternative. There would, however, be local loss of small mammals, reptiles, and avian habitat from more common species typically associated with Sonoran desertscrub vegetation. Arizona Department of Agriculture (ADA) protected native plants are located within the project area. (b) Sunrise Continued groundwater pumping in the Sunrise service area is not anticipated to affect local biological resources. There are no perennial streams, wetlands, riparian areas, or other special aquatic habitats in the service area that provide wildlife values that could be impacted by a continued use of groundwater. Through eventual development in the area, there is a potential that the entire service area would be developed, disturbing approximately 750 to 1,000 acres of undeveloped land indirectly under the No Action alternative, and vegetation removal would occur. The service area, however, does not contain any habitat for federally listed or candidate species, or any State special status species; therefore, none would be adversely affected under the No Action alternative. With regard to WSCA including the desert tortoise, California leaf-nosed bat, and the cave myotis, vegetation removal is not expected to significantly effect the foraging, breeding, or roosting activities of these species. There would, however, be local loss of small mammals, reptiles, and avian habitat from more common species typically associated with Sonoran desertscrub vegetation. ADA protected native plants are located within the project area. (c) NRUC Continued groundwater pumping in the NRUC service area is not anticipated to affect local biological resources. Although there is a small portion of the New River within the service area, this portion is ephemeral. Except for this small portion of the New River corridor, this entire service area has been developed (or construction is underway). The service area does not contain any habitat for federally listed or candidate, species; therefore, none would be adversely affected under the No Action alternative. ADAprotected native plants are located within the project area. (d) LPSCo Continued groundwater pumping in the LPSCo service area is not anticipated to affect local biological resources. There are no perennial streams, wetlands, riparian areas, or other special aquatic habitats in the service area that provide wildlife values that could be
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12
impacted by a continued use of groundwater. Through eventual growth in the area, there is a potential that the entire service area would be developed, resulting in the removal of between approximately 1,300 to 3,300 acres of Sonoran Desertscrub vegetation under the No Action alternative. The service area, however, does not contain any habitat for federally listed or candidate species, or any WSCA. There would, however, be local loss of small mammals, reptiles, and avian habitat from more common species typically associated with Sonoran desertscrub vegetation. ADA-protected native plants are located within the project area. (2) CAGRD As provided under current Arizona statutes, CAGRD will continue to enroll new members under the No Action alternative.12 Although CAGRD will not initiate any construction itself, new developments within new and existing member lands and member service areas will result in additional construction and ground disturbance in locations scattered throughout CAGRD’s three-county service area. Under the No Action alternative, the four water companies would continue to seek to transfer their CAP water entitlements to other entities; unless and until this occurred, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. However, a possible occurrence under the No Action alternative is that the entitlements held by the four water companies could be transferred to one or more other water providers that are not members of the CAGRD, thereby increasing those providers’ portfolios of renewable water supplies. With an increase of available renewable supplies, state law would allow additional development (i.e., construction and land disturbance) to occur within those water providers’ service areas. Operations of the AFRP and the HMRP recharge facilities would continue to occur under the No Action alternative. The facilities would not require any additional infrastructure or facilities to accommodate the water it receives or recharges under the No Action alternative. Therefore, no ground disturbance would occur. There would be no adverse effect to any species utilizing the area, including federally listed, candidate, or proposed endangered species.
Current statutes do not allow CAGRD to deny enrollment of a member land or member service area if the applicant meets all of the qualifications listed in Arizona Revised Statutes Title 48, Chapter 22, Article 4.
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b. Proposed Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo) Impacts to local biological resources or their water resources in each of the service areas from implementation of the Proposed Action would be the same as is described and anticipated to occur under the No Action alternative. There would be no additional environmental consequences to biological resources under the Proposed Action as compared to the No Action alternative. Each of the four water companies’ CAP entitlements would be transferred to CAGRD and CAGRD would take possession of the water through the existing infrastructure. The proposed water transfers, therefore, would not result in any additional, transfer-related land disturbing or vegetation removal activities (2) CAGRD Impacts to local biological resources or their water resources from implementation of the Proposed Action would be the same as is described and anticipated to occur under the No Action alternative within the defined project area. There would be no additional environmental consequences to biological resources under the Proposed Action as compared to the No Action alternative. The Proposed Action would not result in the enrollment of more members in the CAGRD than would occur under the No Action alternative. CAP entitlements would be transferred to CAGRD and CAGRD would take possession of the water through existing infrastructure. Therefore the proposed water transfer would not result in any additional transfer-related land disturbing activities. In fact, the Proposed Action could result in less land-disturbing development on lands located outside of the defined project area. This would occur because, under the No Action alternative, the CAP entitlements proposed for transfer could be transferred to other water providers that do not serve member lands or member service areas of the CAGRD. With the increased availability of renewable water supplies, these water providers could prove an increased ability to serve new growth in their service areas under Arizona’s existing AWS regulations.
E. Cultural Resources
1. Affected Environment/Existing Conditions a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders For each service area, SWCA Environmental Consultants, Inc. (SWCA) conducted a site file search in October 2003 (Appendix C). This search consisted of review of the AZSite online database that contains archaeological survey and site information from previous studies. Additionally, archaeological site files were examined at the Arizona State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), the Arizona State Museum (ASM), Arizona State University (ASU), and the BLM Phoenix Area Office. The General Land Office (GLO) survey plat maps of the region,
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which show historic roads and buildings, were examined at the BLM office in Phoenix. National, state, and local Register
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(4) LPSCo The Class I site file search of this service area indicates seven archaeological sites have been previously identified within the service area: Four of these sites are considered eligible for inclusion on the NRHP; one site is considered to be not eligible for inclusion on the NRHP; and the eligibility of two sites is unknown. Two sites have been identified as “prehistoric” and one site has been identified as both prehistoric and historic. Records also indicate that 23 archaeological surveys have been conducted. b. CAGRD Member Lands and Service Areas. CAGRD’s project area (the member lands and member service areas within the Phoenix AMA) contains a variety of landscapes from highly urbanized to native desert. In spite of more than 100 years of often-intensive development, intact cultural resources are present beneath the veneer of twentieth-century urbanization. In rural areas where development has been less intrusive and perhaps more localized, the chances for finding intact, relatively undisturbed cultural resources are obviously greater. 2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, LPSCo) Under the No Action alternative, each water service company would continue to seek to transfer its CAP water entitlements to other entities and would continue to use its existing wells and distribution system to serve its respective water service area. It is anticipated undeveloped areas within each service area would be developed subject to the local jurisdiction’s future planning and zoning decisions, and market conditions for private development. If cultural sites do exist, they may be impacted by such future development. Mitigation of cultural resources due to urban expansion would be determined by local jurisdictions and development of applicable permit requirements. (2) CAGRD Member Lands and Member Service Areas. There would be no new construction required in order for CAGRD to recharge the transferred CAP water entitlements. CAGRD would continue to enroll new member lands and member service areas throughout its three-county service area as provided by State law. Development within existing member lands and member service areas would occur subject to the local jurisdiction’s future planning and zoning decisions and market conditions for private development. If cultural sites do exist, they may be impacted by such future development. Mitigation of cultural resources due to urban expansion would be determined by local jurisdictions and compliance with applicable permit requirements. The 160 acres of State land located within the Sunrise water service area would need to be surveyed for cultural resources prior to sale for development.
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Recharge Facilities. AFRP and HMRP operations into the future would not change and no additional infrastructure or facilities would be needed under the No Action alternative; therefore, no ground disturbance would occur. It is therefore expected that cultural resources, if present, would not be impacted. There would be no adverse effect to any archaeological or historic resources within the recharge areas. b. Proposed Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo) Under the Proposed Action, currently undeveloped properties would be developed consistent with what is expected to occur under the No Action alternative. There would be no additional effect to archaeological sites or historic properties directly attributable to implementation of the Proposed Action. (2) CAGRD Under the Proposed Action, currently undeveloped properties within the three-county area would be developed consistent with what is expected to occur under the No Action alternative. There would be no additional effect to archaeological sites or historic properties directly attributable to implementation of the Proposed Action. The transferred CAP water would be delivered and used by CAGRD utilizing existing facilities; no new facilities would need to be constructed. Currently undeveloped properties that become members of CAGRD would be developed consistent with what is expected to occur under the No Action alternative and impacts to cultural resources would be the same as described under the No Action alternative.
F. Indian Trust Assets
1. Affected Environment/Existing Conditions Indian Trust Assets (ITAs) are legal assets associated with rights or property held in trust by the United States for the benefit of federally recognized Indian Tribes or individuals. The United States is responsible for protecting and maintaining rights reserved by, or granted to, Indian Tribes or individuals by treaties, statutes, and executive orders. ITAs include property in which a Tribe has legal interest. While most ITAs are located on a reservation, they can also be located off-reservation. Examples of ITAs include lands, minerals, water rights, and hunting and fishing rights. Tribal lands within the general project area include the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) and the Gila River Indian Community. a. M&I Water Entitlement Holders (1) WEWC There are no tribal lands within several miles of this service area; however, two tribal lands are located within a reasonably close proximity; they are the SRPMIC and the Gila River
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Indian Community. The Gila River Indian Community is the closest reservation located approximately 28 miles southeast of the WEWC service area boundary. The SRPMIC is located approximately 37.5 miles east of the service area. No ITAs have been identified during the cultural resource site file search conducted on this service area as being located within the WEWC service area. (2) Sunrise There are no tribal lands within several miles of this service area however, two tribal lands are located within a reasonably close proximity to the metropolitan Phoenix area; they are the SRPMIC and the Gila River Indian Community. The Gila River Indian Community and SRPMIC are both located approximately 21 miles from the Sunrise service area. No ITAs have been identified as being located within the Sunrise service area. (3) NRUC There are no tribal lands within several miles of this service area, however two tribal lands are located within a reasonably close proximity to the metropolitan Phoenix area; they are the SRPMIC and the Gila River Indian Community. The Gila River Indian Community is the closest reservation located approximately 18 miles southwest of the NRUC service area boundary. The SRPMIC is located approximately 20.5 miles east of this service area. No ITAs have been identified as being located within the NRUC service area during the site file search conducted on this service area. (4) LPSCo There are no tribal lands within several miles of this service area. However, two tribal lands are located within a reasonably close proximity to the metropolitan Phoenix area. They are the SRPMIC and the Gila River Indian Community. The Gila River Indian Community is the closest reservation located approximately 6 miles south of the LPSCo service area boundary. The SRPMIC is located approximately 24 miles east of this service area. No ITAs were identified as being located within the LPSCo service area during the cultural resource work conducted for this service area. b. CAGRD By law, CAGRD member lands and member service areas cannot be located on tribal lands; however, there are portions of three tribal communities located within the boundaries of the Phoenix AMA. These are the SRPMIC, the Gila River Indian Community and the Fort McDowell Indian Community. There are no tribal lands within several miles of the two recharge facilities, however, two tribal communities are located within a reasonable distance. These are the SRPMIC and the Gila River Indian Community. The SRPMIC is located approximately 28 and 34 miles away from the
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AFRP and HMRP, respectively. The Gila River Indian Community is located approximately 29 and 27 miles away from the AFRP and HMRP, respectively. These recharge facilities are already constructed. ITAs were considered prior to the construction of the HMRP as part of Reclamation’s NEPA process; however, there was no Federal nexus to the construction of AFRP, thus impacts to ITAs were not required to be considered. 2. Environmental Consequences a. No Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders (WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo) Under the No Action alternative, WEWC, Sunrise, NRUC, and LPSCo would not utilize their CAP entitlements and would continue to seek to transfer them to other entities. Since there are undeveloped areas within each of their service areas, future development and ground disturbance could occur. Due to the fact that there are no known ITAs identified and the two Tribes closest to these service areas have not raised any ITA issues, it is unlikely that ITAs would be impacted or that the No Action alternative would affect any known resources that could potentially be related to ITAs. (2) CAGRD Under the No Action alternative, CAGRD would not receive any of the four water companies’ CAP entitlements. However, prior to the date when the water companies successfully transfer their entitlements to other entities, the 7,746 afa of CAP water would be available for purchase as Excess CAP water. Both recharge areas, AFRP and HMRP, would continue to operate within their existing footprint with no new land disturbance. These areas will have no further development, therefore, it is not expected that ITAs would be impacted. As discussed in Section II above, CAGRD will pursue acquisition of short and long-term rights to water supplies to broaden and diversify its water supply portfolio in order to meet its replenishment obligations. One potential water supply that CAGRD may seek to acquire is CAP Indian priority water through one or more lease arrangements with tribal communities that hold such entitlements. CAP water made available through such a lease arrangement would be considered use of an ITA, but it would be used only with the approval and concurrence of the impacted tribe(s), which would result in a financial benefit to the tribe(s). b. Proposed Action (1) M&I Water Entitlement Holders No land disturbing activities would occur with implementation of the Proposed Action. Impacts to ITAs from implementation of the Proposed Action would be the same as is described and anticipated to occur under the No Action alternative. There would be no additional effect to ITAs directly attributable to implementation of the Proposed Action.
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(2) CAGRD Under the Proposed Action alternative, CAGRD would receive the four water providers’ CAP entitlements. Both recharge areas, AFRP and HMRP, would continue to operate within their existing footprint with no new land disturbance. These areas would not have any further development. Impacts to ITAs from implementation of the Proposed Action would be the same as is described and anticipated to occur under the No Action alternative, except possibly with respect to leases of tribal CAP water. It is possible that the annual volume leased from the tribes by CAGRD would be less under the Proposed Action than it would under the No Action alternative. Therefore, the magnitude of the impacts to ITAs could be less under the Proposed Action. However, under both alternatives, ITAs would only be used with the approval and concurrence of the impacted tribe(s), which would benefit financially.
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IV.
SELECTED RELATED ENVIRONMENTAL LAWS/DIRECTIVES
The following is a summary of selected Federal laws, regulations and Executive Orders that provide information relevant to this EA.
A. National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, as amended (NEPA) (P.L. 91-190)
This law requires Federal agencies to evaluate the potential environmental consequences of major Federal actions. NEPA also requires full public disclosure about the proposed action, accompanying alternatives, impacts, and mitigation. This EA was prepared in accordance with the requirements of NEPA. Reclamation initiated a 30-day public scoping comment period with distribution of a scoping mailer on October 29, 2003, to over 100 entities. One comment letter was received; relevant issues identified in that letter have been addressed in this EA. Although a substantial amount of time has elapsed between the scoping period and issuance of this draft EA, the relevant conditions and policies have not changed; therefore, Reclamation believes another scoping period is not necessary.
B. Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act (FWCA) (P.L. 85-624)
This Act requires coordination with Federal and state wildlife agencies (FWS and AGFD) for the purpose of mitigating project-caused losses to wildlife resources from water development projects. This proposed project would not impound or divert surface waters in any of the service areas. Reclamation believes the consultation requirements of NEPA and the ESA are sufficient to also meet the requirements for consultation under the Fish and Wildlife Coordination Act. The FWS will receive a copy of the draft EA for review and comment.
C. Endangered Species Act of 1973 (P.L. 93-205)
Section 7 of the ESA requires Federal agencies to consult with the FWS to ensure that undertaking, funding, permitting, or authorizing an action is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of listed species or destroy or adversely modify designated critical habitat. There are no federally listed or candidate species or critical habitat that would be adversely affected by the proposed project.
D. Wild and Scenic Rivers Act of 1968 (P.L. 90-542)
This Act designated the initial components of the National Wild and Scenic River System, and established procedures for including other rivers or reaches of rivers that possess outstandingly remarkable scenic, recreational, geologic, fish and wildlife, historic, cultural, or other similar values and preserving them in a free-flowing condition. There are no rivers designated or proposed for designation as wild or scenic within or near the project area.
E. Wilderness Act of 1964 (P.L. 88-577, as amended)
This Act established the National Wilderness Preservation System to preserve certain Federal lands for the public purposes of recreation, scenic, scientific, educational, conservation, and historical use
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by current and future generations of Americans. There are no areas designated or proposed for designation as wilderness areas within or near the project area.
F. Clean Water Act (P.L. 92-500, as amended) (CWA)
The CWA strives to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and biological integrity of the nation's waters by controlling discharge of pollutants. The basic means to achieve the goals of the CWA is through a system of water quality standards, discharge limitations, and permits. Section 404 of the CWA identifies conditions under which a permit is required for actions that result in placement of fill or dredged material into waters of the United States (U.S.). In addition, a 401 water certification and 402 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit are required for activities that discharge pollutants to waters of the U.S. There would be no construction directly related to the proposed action that would require either a Clean Water Act 402 or 404 permit. Since these permits are not limited to Federal projects, private developers would be required to obtain any applicable permits under the Clean Water Act for their projects.
G. National Historic Preservation Act (P.L. 89-665)
This Act establishes as Federal policy the protection of historic sites and values in cooperation with States, tribes, and local governments. Because the proposed project does not involve land disturbing activities, it does not have the potential to cause effects to historic properties. The State Historic Preservation Office concurs with this determination (personal communication, Ms. Joanne Medley, March 21, 2007). The following tribes were each sent a copy of the scoping mailer regarding the proposed action on October 29, 2003: Hopi Tribe, Yavapai Prescott Indian Tribe, Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, Ak-Chin Indian Community, Tohono O’odham Nation, Gila River Indian Community, Fort McDowell Yavapai Nation, and Yavapai Apache Community Council. No comments were received from any of these tribes. Each tribe is also being provided a copy of the draft EA. Consultation with appropriate tribes and the Bureau of Indian Affairs would be undertaken should any of the tribes indicate a concern regarding effects to traditional cultural properties.
H. Farmland Protection Policy Act (P.L. 97-98)
This Act requires identification of proposed actions that would adversely affect any lands classified as prime and unique farmlands, to minimize the unnecessary and irreversible conversion of farmland to nonagricultural uses. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources and Conservation Service administers this Act. The proposed action would not directly impact any lands classified as prime and unique farmlands. Agricultural land within the water service areas, some of which is classified as prime and unique, would continue to be developed based upon the demand for residential and commercial development and market conditions. It is anticipated the development patterns would be the same under either the No Action alternative or Proposed Action.
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I. Executive Order 11988 (Floodplain Management)
This Presidential directive encourages Federal agencies to avoid, where practicable alternatives exist, the short- and long-term adverse impacts associated with floodplain development. Federal agencies are required to reduce the risk of flood loss, minimize the impacts of floods on human safety, health and welfare, and restore and preserve the natural and beneficial values served by floodplains in carrying out agency responsibility. The Sunrise and NRUC water service areas contain small portions of the New River floodplain, and the eastern boundary of the LPSCo water service area abuts the Agua Fria River floodplain. The Proposed Action does not directly affect any floodplains.
J. Executive Order 12898 (Environmental Justice)
Executive Order 12898 requires Federal agencies to identify and address, as appropriate, disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects of Federal actions on minority populations and low-income populations. Low-income populations include communities or individuals living in close geographic proximity to one another, identified by U.S. Census Bureau statistical thresholds for poverty. Minority populations are identified where the percentage of minorities in the affected area exceeds 50 percent, or where the minority population percentage of the affected area is meaningfully greater than the minority population percentage of a much broader area. Neither of these conditions exists within either Maricopa County or the water service areas of the four water companies. No disproportionately high and adverse human health or environmental effects on minority populations and low-income populations would result from the proposed project.
K. Executive Order 11990 (Wetlands)
Executive Order 11990 requires Federal agencies, in carrying out their land management responsibilities, to take action that will minimize the destruction, loss, or degradation of wetlands, and take action to preserve and enhance the natural and beneficial values of wetlands. There are no wetlands in the project area that would be affected.
L. Department of Interior, Secretarial Order, Indian Trust Assets (ITAs)
ITAs are legal interests in assets held in trust by the U.S. Government for Indian tribes or individual Indians. These assets can be real property or intangible rights, including lands, minerals, water rights, hunting rights, money, and other natural resources. The trust responsibility requires that all Federal agencies take actions reasonably necessary to protect ITAs. No ITAs are currently known to be present within the project area or that could be affected by implementation of the proposed action.
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LITERATURE CITED
Arizona Department of Water Resources, 2004. Phoenix Active Management Area, AMA Description. _____, 2003. Well Registry (55-files) Database, Updated February 2003. _____, 2002. Groundwater Site Inventory (GWSI) Database, Updated November 13, 2002. _____, 1999. Phoenix Active Management Area, Third Management Plan. _____, 1994. Arizona Water Resources Assessment, Volume II, Hydrologic Summary, August 1994. Arizona Game and Fish Department. 2001a. Purshia subintegra. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 6 pp. _____, 2001b. Cyprinodon macularius macularius. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 3 pp. _____, 2001c. Poeciliopsis occidentalis occidentalis. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 5 pp. _____, 2001d. Xyrauchen texanus. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 4 pp. _____, 2001e. Rallus longirostris yumanensis. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 7 pp. _____, 2001f. Gila intermedia. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 6 pp. _____, 1998. Leptonycteris curasoae yerbabuenae. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 6 pp. _____, 1997. Agave arizonica. Unpublished abstract compiled and edited by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 4 pp. _____, 1996. Wildlife of special concern in Arizona. Nongame and Endangered Wildlife Program, Arizona Game and Fish Department, Phoenix, AZ. 40 pp. Brown, D.E. (ed.). 1994. Biotic Communities: Southwestern United States and Northwestern Mexico. University of Utah Press, Salt Lake City. 342 pp. CAGRD, 2006. Personal communication with Cliff Neal, Manager, Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, January 10, 2006. _____, 2004. Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District Plan of Operation, Submitted Draft, November 8, 2004. 71 pp. _____, 2003. Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District website. http://www.cagrd.com/Obligations/index.cfm?action=Facilities. Accessed October 23, 2003.
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Central Arizona Project and Maricopa Association of Governments Information Center (CAP & MAG). 2004. OUTLOOK 2003 – Municipal Demand Projections for CAWCD’s Service Area Assuming Historic Data through January 2003, Volume Two, Appendix, November 2004. Glinski, R.L. 1998. The Raptors of Arizona. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona. 220 pp. Monson, G., and A.R. Phillips. 1981. Annotated Checklist of the Birds of Arizona. The University of Arizona Press, Tucson, Arizona. 172 pp. SWCA, Inc. 1999. Archaeological Survey for the Proposed Agua Fria Recharge Project, Maricopa County, Arizona. 16 pp. U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (USBR). 2002. Central Arizona Water Conservation District - Hieroglyphic Mountains Recharge Project - Final Environmental Assessment and Finding of No Significant Impact. 24 pp. _____. 2000. Draft National Environmental Policy Act Handbook. Denver, Colorado. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS). 1995. Determination of critical habitat for the Mexican Spotted Owl; Final Rule. June 6, 1995. Federal Register 60(108):29914-29951. U.S. Geological Survey, 2003. NWISWeb Online Database (http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/qw).
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