AZ
ARIZONA DEPARTMENT OF WATER RESOURCES
The Colorado River is a critical resource for the long-term health and economic welfare of the State of Arizona and its citizens. The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) is charged with promoting, protecting, and managing Arizona’s annual apportionment of 2.8 million acre-feet of Colorado River water. ADWR represents all mainstem water users including the Central Arizona Project (CAP). Arizona’s apportionment is used for municipal, industrial, agricultural, Tribal, and wildlife refuges purposes. Annually, the mainstem Colorado River users utilize approximately 1.2 million acre-feet of Arizona’s apportionment. The CAP diverts the remaining 1.6 million acre-feet of Colorado River water for its customers in Central Arizona (Maricopa, Pinal, and Pima counties).
Arizona, in particular CAP and many mainstem users, is unique among the Basin States due to its vulnerability to the impacts of shortages from its junior priority status consistent with the Law of the River. In total, 6.2 million Arizonans, most of whom live within the CAP service area, and nearly 800,000 acres of irrigated agricultural land rely on Arizona’s Colorado River allocation. Therefore, Arizona, especially CAP and other mainstem entitlement holders, are initially interested in enhancing the current and future reliability of Colorado River system through augmentation and other means to meet current and future Arizona water needs.
