The Bureau of Reclamation has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact for a plan by the Town of Queen Creek to buy water from farmland in Cibola, an unincorporated community in La Paz County along the Colorado River.
The Town and the Bureau can now sign contracts and finalize agreements. Queen Creek will purchase perpetual rights to 2,033 acre-feet of water per year from GSC Farm LLC for approximately $21M. Delivery of the water could begin by January.
Water rights for agricultural land directly adjacent to the river are classed as high priority and are not subject to the recent cuts imposed on water from the Colorado.
Experts estimate that volume of water under the agreement could be used to supply roughly 6,000 homes.
The purchase plan has been controversial, with officials in several river-adjacent counties expressing opposition to the proposal and saying the deal could set a dangerous precedent.
The next steps will be to execute agreements between Queen Creek, GSC Farm, the Bureau of Reclamation and the Central Arizona Project. (Source)