James P. Lombard: Weblog Archives
August 04, 2004
Arizona Stream Adjudication: Closer to Conjunctive Management
Special Master Schade's report to the Maricopa County Superior Court appears to nudge Arizona closer to a technical basis for conjunctive management of groundwater pumping and surface water flows. The report recommends:
"Using the cone of depression test adopted by the Superior Court, ADWR will analyze wells located outside the lateral limits of the subflow zone to determine if the well’s cone of depression reaches an adjacent subflow zone, and if continuing pumping will cause a loss of such subflow as to affect the quantity of the stream."
Fast forward some years into the future, after the Arizona Department of Water Resources is directed by changes to Arizona's water law, and we could start to see court orders that look like this example from Idaho:
A news article from The Times, in Twin Falls, Idaho, describes the reaction to this order:
"Roughly 350 groundwater users in the Big Lost River Basin have been given a choice: Join a mitigation plan aimed at providing water to senior users or face a water shutdown. Many of them don't like it much."
Posted by: jlombard at 01:05 PM | Comments 1)
Category: Policies
