By Roland Murphy for AZBEX
A planned project that would finish a connection between the Salt River Project and the Central Arizona Project, which together supply water to more than 80% of the Arizona population, has been awarded $154M in funding under the Inflation Reduction Act.
The SRP/CAP Interconnection Facility is being pursued by a partnership of central Arizona communities and water companies. Rep. Greg Stanton’s announcement explained the project will allow “for water deliveries from the Salt River Federal Reclamation project to upstream users along the Central Arizona Project and the Colorado River.”
The Arizona Republic reported local government officials say the project will leave them in a better position to manage future water needs.
The coalition partners began exploring the project in 2022. The stakeholders will cover the project costs beyond the $154M in IRA funding for the project. The total cost is estimated at $247M.
The project is planned to connect the systems of dams, underground water storage and canals feeding central Arizona. The project will link the physical infrastructure, while project administration and control of water supplies will remain separate. With some legal limitations, users will be able to source water from either SRP or CAP.
A connection was built in 1990 to move water from CAP to SRP, but it is not possible to transfer water in the other direction. The new connection will allow water movement in both directions using a pipe and pump to connect the CAP canal with the SRP south canal near the Granite Reef Dam.
SRP will agree to leave an average of 1,000 acre-feet in Lake Mead every year for the next 50 years in exchange for the funds.
As the Colorado River becomes less reliable as a source, the project looks to add resiliency for communities in central Arizona. The SCIF will enable better access to stored groundwater through SRP’s system and through new storage at a planned expansion of Bartlett Dam of the Verde River.
Last May, SRP announced it had received $8.5M from the U.S. Department of the Interior for a study that could lead to restored storage in Verde River reservoirs. According to the announcement, “The study will examine solutions to address sedimentation and restore lost capacity, including the feasibility of raising Bartlett Dam on the Verde River by up to 102 feet. The project could increase total water storage capacity on the Verde River by 350,000 acre-feet – more than doubling the ability to capture the highly variable flows of the Verde River and enough water to provide for about a million Arizona households.”
Multiple municipalities and other agencies have long-term funding in their capital improvement plans for the Barlett Dam expansion. The study is supposed to be finished and submitted to Congress in 2027, and SRP is estimating a 10-15 year project timeline.
The Republic article notes the SCIF, the Bartlett Dam expansion and several aquifer recharge projects are part of a greater overall effort to capture floodwaters during wet years for use in drier ones. In 2023, SRP had to release surplus water from its reservoirs after a wet winter due to a lack of storage capacity.
