by Fred Breedlove Less than two weeks ago, we wrote that the Department of Interior proposed reducing Colorado River deliveries in 2022 by 480,000 acre-feet and that Assistant Secretary Trujillo had asked the Basin States for comments on this proposal. Wasting no time at all, the Basin States responded last week. In a letter dated […]
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by Fred Breedlove In an April 8, 2022 letter to each of the seven Colorado River basin states, the Interior Department asked for comments by April 22 about its plan to reduce releases from Glen Canyon Dam to 7.0 million acre-feet (maf) this year, a reduction of 480,000 acre-feet. In the letter, Assistant Secretary for […]
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by Fred Breedlove The Arizona Department of Water Resources (“ADWR”) announced on September 18, 2021 that it had initiated a rulemaking for three subject areas: licensing timeframes, well construction and licensing, and dam safety. Overall, the proposed changes are mostly non-substantive in nature; however, new additions to ADWR’s licensing timeframes (“LTFs”) are welcome changes for […]
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by Fred Breedlove The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation (“Reclamation”) published its August 2021 24-Month Study on Monday, effectively declaring a shortage on the Colorado River for the Lower Colorado River Basin. The August study predicts that the elevation of Lake Mead at Hoover Dam will continue to be below 1,075 feet (the level that triggers […]
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by Fred Breedlove The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s April 24-Month Study, published this week, as expected, signals a significant likelihood of reduced water deliveries in the Lower Basin of the Colorado River to Arizona, California, and Nevada. Not only does it suggest a high likelihood of Tier 1 reductions for 2022 and 2023, but it […]
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by Fred Breedlove On Thursday, June 25, 2020, Arizona’s Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan (“LBDCP”) Steering Committee (aka the “Drought Contingency Plan Committee”) is scheduled to reconvene and take on a new name and a new task. The LBDCP will become the Arizona Reconsultation Committee (the “ARC”) to develop a consensus among Arizona’s Colorado River […]
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by Fred Breedlove The demands on government and private water providers to address the declining availability of water resources in the southwest did not get a reprieve, unfortunately, when the COVID-19 virus emerged in February. Last August, I wrote that even though the snowpack that feeds the Colorado River was 145% of normal for 2018-2019, […]
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by Fred Breedlove We posted very recently about the public’s opportunity to shape water conservation policy in Arizona Active Management Areas (“AMAs”), but there are presently two other opportunities to develop Arizona water policy that the public can get involved in. In the Pinal AMA, efforts are ongoing to address a shortfall of groundwater supplies […]
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by Fred Breedlove Arizona’s 1980 Groundwater Code offers a unique opportunity for the public to get involved in shaping water policy through the process of adopting management plans for the Active Management Areas (“AMAs”). The process is playing out now and there are still opportunities to make your voice heard. There are five AMAs, generally […]
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by Fred Breedlove Most businesses that work in a natural resource industry in Arizona are familiar with the requirements of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 (“NHPA”), and Arizona’s State Historic Preservation Act (“SHPA”). There are two reasons for that. First, the responsibility of landowners to protect cultural or archaeological resources applies on both […]
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