Central Arizona Project

File:Mark Wilmer Pumping Plant 1.jpg

The CAP delivers Colorado River water, either directly or by exchange, into central and Southern Arizona. The project was envisioned to provide water to nearly one million acres (405,000 hectares) of irrigated agricultural land areas in Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima counties, as well as municipal water for several Arizona communities, including the metropolitan areas of Phoenix and Tucson. Authorization also was included for development of facilities to deliver water to Catron, Hidalgo, and Grant counties in New Mexico, but these facilities have not been constructed because of cost considerations, a lack of demand for the water, lack of repayment capability by the users, and environmental constraints.

In addition to its water supply benefits, the project also provides substantial benefits from flood control, outdoor recreation, fish and wildlife conservation, and sediment control. It also produces an unintended swale, further increasing local biodiversity. The project was subdivided, for administration and construction purposes, into the Granite Reef, Orme, Salt-Gila, Gila River, Tucson, Indian Distribution, and Colorado River divisions. During project construction, the Orme Division was reformulated and renamed the Regulatory Storage Division. Upon completion, the Granite Reef Division was renamed the Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct, and the Salt-Gila Division was renamed the Fannin-McFarland Aqueduct.

The 456 billion gallons (1.4 million acre feet) of water is lifted by up to 2,900 feet by 14 pumps using 2.5 million MWh of electricity each year [285 MW], making CAP the largest power user in Arizona. Lake Pleasant is used as a buffer.{{cite web |title=CAP Power Fact Sheet |url=https://www.cap-az.com/documents/departments/power/2020-02-Power-Fact-Sheet.pdf |publisher=CAP |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201205020557/https://www.cap-az.com/documents/departments/power/2020-02-Power-Fact-Sheet.pdf |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=As summertime CAP water deliveries rise, power usage plummets – Central Arizona Project |url=https://knowyourwaternews.com/as-summertime-cap-water-deliveries-rise-power-usage-plummets/ |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20210123142922/https://knowyourwaternews.com/as-summertime-cap-water-deliveries-rise-power-usage-plummets/ |archive-date=January 23, 2021 |url-status=live |last1=Walter |first1=Nick |publisher=CAP |date=August 18, 2020}}

The canal loses approximately 16,000 acre-feet (5.2 billion gallons) of water each year to evaporation. It loses 9,000 acre-feet (2.9 billion gallons) annually from water seeping or leaking through the concrete.{{cite web|url=https://www.hcn.org/issues/52.4/infographic-water-as-temperatures-rise-arizona-sinks |title=As Temperatures Rise, Arizona Sinks|publisher=High Country News|access-date=2020-04-22}}

File:Arizona cap canal.jpg

The CAP was created by the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968, signed by US President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 30, 1968.{{Cite web | title = September (1968) | publisher = Lyndon B. Johnson Centennial Celebration | archive-url = https://archive.today/20100131211856/http://www.lbj100.org/otd/september/ | archive-date = 2010-01-31 | url = http://www.lbj100.org/otd/september/ | access-date = 2012-07-24}}{{Cite web| title =Morris Udall Papers – Central Arizona Project| publisher =University of Arizona Library – Special Collections| url =http://content.library.arizona.edu/collections/mo_cap/index.php| access-date =2010-05-12| url-status =dead| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20160401003326/http://content.library.arizona.edu/collections/mo_cap/index.php| archive-date =2016-04-01}} Senator Ernest McFarland, along with Senator Carl Hayden, lobbied for the Central Arizona Project (CAP) aimed at providing Arizona's share of the Colorado River to the state. McFarland's efforts failed as senator; however, they laid a critical foundation for the eventual passage of the CAP in the late 1960s.

According to the Arizona Republic, Senator Barry Goldwater, Senator Hayden, Representative Morris Udall, US Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall and other Arizona leaders teamed up on the successful passage of what was McFarland's intended legislation that became the CAP, "probably the state's most celebrated bipartisan achievement of the 20th century."{{Citation | last = Nowicki | first = Dan | title = What's happened to GOP since Goldwater | newspaper = Arizona Republic | date = 2009-01-01 | url = http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/01/01/20090101goldwater-centennial0101.html| access-date = 2010-05-12}} This act provided for the US Secretary of the Interior to enter into an agreement with non-federal interests, whereby the US federal government acquired the right to 24.3 percent of the power produced at the non-federal Navajo Generating Station, Navajo Project. The agreement also includes the delivery of power and energy over the transmission facilities to delivery points within the Central Arizona Project service area.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

Construction of the project began in 1973 with the award of a contract for the Havasu Intake Channel Dike and excavation for the Havasu Pumping Plant (later renamed as the Mark Wilmer Pumping Plant) on the shores of Lake Havasu. Construction of the other project features, such as the New Waddell Dam, followed. The backbone aqueduct system, which runs about {{convert|336|mi}} from Lake Havasu to a terminus {{convert|14|mi}} southwest of Tucson, was declared substantially complete in 1993. The new and modified dams constructed as part of the project were declared substantially complete in 1994. All of the non-Native American agricultural water distribution systems were completed in the late 1980s, as were most of the municipal water delivery systems. Several Native American distribution systems remain to be built; it is estimated that full development of these systems could require another 10 to 20 years.{{when|reason=10 to 20 years from when?|date=November 2019}}

The Hayden-Rhodes Aqueduct, which carries water from Lake Havasu to the Phoenix area, includes three tunnels totaling 8.2 miles.{{cite web |title=Central Arizona Project |url=https://www.usbr.gov/projects/index.php?id=504 |website=Bureau Of Reclamation |publisher=Bureau Of Reclamation |access-date=5 May 2020}}

The CAP partly funded the Brock Reservoir project with $28.6 million. In return for its contribution, Arizona has been awarded {{convert|100000|acre.ft|m3}} of water per year since 2016.{{Citation needed|date=November 2019}}

The CAP project brought river water to Tucson successfully, but the initial implementation was called a "debacle" by the Tucson Weekly.{{Cite web | last = Vanderpool | first = Tim | title = Hard Water Decision (October 2006) | publisher = Tucson Weekly | url = http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tucson/hard-water-decision/Content?oid=1085726 | access-date = 2012-09-10}} The river water had a different mineral mixture and flow pattern from the aquifer water, stirring up and dislodging rust and biofilm{{Cite web | last = McGuire | first = Michael | title = The Role of Water Treatment in the Tucson Colored Water Crisis (September 2018) | publisher = American Water Works Association | url = https://www.researchgate.net/publication/327349792_The_Role_of_Water_Treatment_in_the_Tucson_Colored_Water_Crisis | access-date = 2024-08-15}} in municipal water mains and house pipes.{{Cite news | title = Panel judges CAP water harmless, despite controversy | author = Marj Pettis | newspaper= The Arizona Daily Star | date = December 28, 1993 }}

By the end of 1993, the city of Tucson paid about $145,000 to install filters in 925 homes, lost about $200,000 in revenues by adjusting water bills, and paid about $450,000 in damages claimed by homeowners for ruined pipes, water heaters, and other appliances.{{Cite news | title = City may offer grants to fix CAP damage; Officials propose $1 million for repairs to older homes | author = Enric Volante | newspaper= The Arizona Daily Star | date = December 20, 1993 }} The city returned some houses to groundwater, but problems remained. Zinc orthophosphate was added to coat the pipes and prevent the rust from dislodging, but the return to groundwater removed the zinc orthophosphate.{{Cite news | title = Switch from CAP hasn't yet solved problem with rust | author = Enric Volante | newspaper= The Arizona Daily Star | date = November 11, 1993 }} The solution was a US Environmental Protection Agency-funded "blended" water system, including automatically monitoring water quality throughout Tucson, and a website to report the water quality to the public without intervention by the Tucson Water Department.{{Cite web| title =Tucson's EMPACT Grant| publisher =City of Tucson| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20111105142843/http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/water/empact| archive-date =2011-11-05| url =http://cms3.tucsonaz.gov/water/empact| access-date =2012-09-10| url-status =dead}}{{Cite web| title =What is My Water Quality?| publisher =City of Tucson Water Department| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20150505090851/http://www.tucsonaz.gov/mw/| archive-date =2015-05-05| url =http://www.tucsonaz.gov/mw/| access-date =2012-09-10| url-status =dead}}

{{Portal|Arizona|Water}}

• List of canals in the United States

{{Reflist}}

• August Jr., Jack L. "Water, Politics, and the Arizona Dream: Carl Hayden and the Modern Origins of the Central Arizona Project, 1922–1963", Journal of Arizona History (1999) 40#4 pp. 391–414

{{Commons category|Central Arizona Project}}

• [http://www.cap-az.com/ CAP: Central Arizona Project]
• [http://www.cap-az.com/about-us/system-map Overview map]
• [http://www.geo.cornell.edu/geology/classes/Geo101/graphics/CAP.gif Alternate photo of the canal]
• [https://www.senate.gov/artandhistory/history/oral_history/Elson_Roy.htm Roy Elson Oral History Interviews]

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Category:Aqueducts in the United States

Category:Buildings and structures in Maricopa County, Arizona

Category:Canals in Arizona

Category:Colorado River

Category:Buildings and structures in La Paz County, Arizona

Category:Buildings and structures in Pinal County, Arizona

Category:Buildings and structures in Pima County, Arizona

Category:Buildings and structures in Mohave County, Arizona

Category:1968 establishments in Arizona

Category:Interbasin transfer