Water Woes XLII No Water~New Water
- Mark L. Johnson
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
Two significant events occurred this month regarding the ongoing struggle to solve Arizona's water supply dilemma: (Part I) No Colorado River Water Sharing Deal, and (Part II) Arizona's Water Infrastructure Financing Authority (WIFA) New Water Proposals.
Part I-No Colorado River Water Sharing Deal
The United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) gave the Upper Basin States (Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) and the Lower Basin States (Arizona, California, and Nevada) until 11/11/25 to come to a consensus on a plan to share Colorado River Water after 2026. USBR threatened to impose its own plan if an agreement was not reached. Predictably, no agreement was reached by the deadline. What happens next?
The USBR Colorado River Post 2026 Operations Webpage contains no new information on this topic since January 2025. Therefore, it is difficult to determine what will happen next. However, there are some signals that the federal government may give the Basin States more time to negotiate an agreement with a possible new deadline of mid-February 2026. The new Colorado River Operation Plan must be in place by the end of 2026.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) issued the following press statement:
Observations
Colorado River Water allocation issues and related negotiations and lawsuits have been ubiquitous for the last 103 years, since the Colorado River Compact was signed in 1922.
It's really quite simple: the Colorado River is overallocated by 3.5 million acre-feet/year (MAF) (20%), and now is the time for the federal government to step in and cut all Colorado River water supply contracts by 20% across the Board. TA has consistently suggested the Colorado River System CUT-20 program.
References (end): (1), (2), (3) & (4)
Part II-Arizona's Water Infrastructure Financing Authority (WIFA) New Water Proposals
In June 2022, Governor Ducey signed Senate Bill 1740, which created the expanded Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) and proposed to appropriate $1.2 billion to fund New Water Projects. The Arizona legislature has only appropriated $523 million of the proposed $1.2 billion and has used a portion of that amount for other budget items. Only $376 million remains available to WIFA.
In late 2022, an Israeli company (IDE Technologies) submitted to WIFA a sole-source New Water proposal to build a 300,000 acre-feet per year (AFY) desalination plant in Mexico utilizing the Sea of Cortez as the source (5). Fortunately, at the urging of TA and many others, WIFA nixed this sole-source proposal and initiated a competitive New Water (aka Water Augmentation) proposal process.
WIFA solicited qualifications for Water Augmentation projects from 17 teams. WIFA's goal is to import up to 500,000 AFY of New Water in the next 10-15 years. After the qualification process, 6 teams submitted project proposals. These teams/proposals were vetted by the WIFA Board, and 2 teams (4 projects) were selected to go into the next phase for further evaluation. The following provides more specific information for each of the 2 teams and the project proposals (6).
Gulf of California Desalination and Binational Conveyance (Acciona-Fengate Water Augmentation Alliance)
Primary Team Members:
Acciona-Spanish infrastructure development company
Fengate-US/Canadian infrastructure investment capital firm
Carollo-US water/wastewater design firm
Pulice-Arizona heavy construction company
Proposed Project(s):
Base Project-Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) desalination facility
Location-Puerto Peñasco, Sonora, Mexico
Capacity-150,000 acre-feet/year (AFY) by 2035 and up to 350,000 AFY
Delivery-direct delivery via conveyance infrastructure to the Central Arizona Project or by water exchange (7) at Brock Reservoir or Imperial Dam.
Parallel Initiatives (to be evaluated and potentially advanced along with Base Project)
Pacific Coast Desalination-SWRO in California or Baja California, with delivery by direct connection or exchange
Reuse & Reclamation-reclaimed water from wastewater treatment in Mexicali, Mexico, and San Luis Rio Colorado, Mexico, delivered by exchange. Advanced potable water reuse in Tijuana, Mexico, and Denver, Colorado, delivered by exchange.
Irrigation Efficiency & Modernization-conserving irrigation water in Utah, California, and Mexicali Valley via on-farm irrigation system upgrades for delivery by direct conveyance or exchange.
Northern Gulf of California Desalination Facility (EPCOR Water Innovation Partners)
Primary Team Members:
EPCOR NR Holdings (subsidiary of EPCOR Utilities-US/Canadian)
SACYR-Spanish infrastructure developer and contractor
Plenary-International infrastructure investment capital firm
Stantec-Canadian/US water/wastewater design firm
Arcadis-Dutch/US infrastructure design firm
Proposed Project(s):
Base Project-Seawater Reverse Osmosis (SWRO) desalination facility
Location-Baja California, Mexico
Seawater Intake-San Felipe
Desalination Plant-San Felipe or Cerro Prieto
Capacity-167,000 acre-feet/year (AFY) by 2035 and up to 500,000 AFY
Delivery-direct delivery to Morelos Dam at the US/Mexico Border and delivery to Arizona via Colorado River water exchange.
South Bay Potable Water Reuse (EPCOR Water Innovation Partners)
Primary Team Members: same as above
Proposed Project:
Expand and Upgrade: South Bay International Wastewater Plant (SBIWP) to include Direct Potable Reuse or Indirect Potable Reuse.
Location: San Diego at the Mexican Border. SBIWP treats wastewater from Tijuana, Mexico, and discharges effluent to the Pacific Ocean.
Capacity: 14,000-95,000 AFY (2031-2043)
Delivery: direct delivery to Mexico and delivery to Arizona via exchange of Colorado River Water and/or San Diego desalinated ocean water.
California Groundwater Storage and Recovery (EPCOR Water Innovation Partners)
Primary Team Members: same as above
Proposed Project:
Groundwater Recharge & Storage Facilities-utilize excess California State Water Project (SWP) supplies, excess Sacramento River & San Joquin River flows, and stormwater flows for storage in groundwater basins during wet years and extraction during dry years
Location: Groundwater basins throughout California and especially in the Central Valley
Capacity: 10,000-100,000 AFY (2030 and beyond)
Delivery: direct delivery to California via groundwater storage and delivery to Arizona via exchange of SWP and Colorado River Water
Observations
The Long-Term Water Augmentation Fund Solicitation process was very robust
Two final teams (Acciona-Fengate Water Augmentation Alliance and EPCOR Water Innovation Partners) have well-qualified and experienced partners
Four (4) base projects and three (3) parallel initiative projects are worth further evaluation
Water agency collaboration and environmental hurdles are huge, and those projects with insurmountable hurdles should be quickly eliminated from serious consideration
The Salton Sea is one of the worst environmental disasters in the US, and it is only 300 miles from Tucson. Whether we like it or not, the Salton Sea was created by and is part of the Colorado River system, and should be included as part of the regional Water Augmentation solution(s). The associated costs are not Arizona's responsibility.
Who pays?
WIFA has budgeted up to $115 million to pay the teams to complete the next phase studies and to engage a consultant to review the studies
At this stage, there are no cost estimates for these projects, but we know from prior studies that a 200,000 AFY desalination facility and conveyance will cost about $4.3 million, and the end-user cost could be about $2,350/AF or 10 times the current cost of CAP water ($228/AF). Reminder: WIFA's goal is to import 500,000 AFY of New Water in the next 10-15 years. That could put the capital costs at $10 billion or more.
The cost of New Water should only be borne by new users who place incremental water demands beyond that of the existing water supply capacity
For water agencies without surplus non-groundwater water supplies, any new growth requiring New Water would compel developers and/or the New Water users to pay the incremental cost of New Water
TA will review the studies for the four (4) base projects and three (3) parallel initiative projects as they come in and monitor the big question: Who pays?
References:
(7) Delivery of Water By Exchange-Water Agency A and Water Agency B are located many, many miles apart, yet they both currently obtain water supply from the same source, e.g., the Colorado River. Water Agency A needs additional water supply, and Water Agency B is willing to transfer some of its Colorado River supply to Water Agency A, but it is impractical to construct a pipeline or canal to connect the two agencies. Solution: Water Agency A develops a New Water source near Water Agency B and delivers the New Water directly to Water Agency B. In EXCHANGE for that New Water Source, Water Agency B transfers an equal amount of water from its existing Colorado River allocation to Water Agency A, as the Colorado River connection already exists. This is the basic concept, but water exchange agreements can get quite complicated.