With all the talk these days about impending water wars, it’s heartening to hear about how three states are working together to solve their water supply and demand issues. As reported by the Yuma Sun, the Central Arizona Project, the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, and the Southern Nevada Water Authority are all splitting the $172 million cost associated with the a new storage reservoir located 25 miles west of Yuma that is being constructed as part of the rehabilitation of the All American Canal. This new reservoir will be able to capture about 70,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water, water that—until now—has been lost to runoff. The project—which will be completed by September 2010—depends upon gravity (no pumps needed) created by its location to funnel water into the “six-and-a-half mile concrete-lined inlet clean that feeds the reservoir.” This inlet can transfer up to 1,800 cubic feet of water per second to the fill reservoir, and the outlet canal can then lead that water back into the All American Canal—all within three days time.
What makes this project interesting is the participation of three water purveyors who usually find themselves at odds over the water flowing through the Colorado River. With this new reservoir in place, the stored water (which will be used as needed by the Imperial Irrigation District) will free up water from Lake Mead—water that will then be allocated to the three funding agencies. This additional water from Lake Mead will go a long way towards helping those funding agencies meet ever increasing demand in the face of lingering drought on local scarcity.
So what do you think? Can this type of cooperation be duplicated in other parts of the country? Could a similar strategy work for regions like the South, where Georgia has found itself at odds with its neighbors over water allocations? And does this “interstate water-commerce” promote efficiency or does it provide yet another stopgap solution that will deter communities from making the tough conservation calls?