Central Arizona Project - History

History

The CAP was created by the Colorado River Basin Project Act of 1968, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson on September 30, 1968. Senator Ernest McFarland, along with Senator Carl T. 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 while he was a senator; however, they laid a critical foundation for the eventual passage of the CAP in the late 1960s.

According to the Arizona Republic, Senator Goldwater, Senator Hayden, the Udalls Representative Morris Udall and Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall and other Arizona leaders teamed up on the successful passage of what was McFarland's visionary and intended legislation that became the CAP, "probably the state's most celebrated bipartisan achievement of the 20th century." This act provided for the Secretary of the Interior to enter into an agreement with non-federal interests, whereby the 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.

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 (now 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 336 miles (541 km) from Lake Havasu to a terminus 14 mi (22.5 km) 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-Indian agricultural water distribution systems were completed in the late 1980s, as were most of the municipal water delivery systems. Several Indian distribution systems remain to be built; it is estimated that full development of these systems could require another 10 to 20 years.

The final extension to Tucson required a borehole through the mountains.

The CAP partly funded the Brock Reservoir project with $28.6 million. In return for its contribution, Arizona can use 100,000 acre feet (120,000,000 m3) of water per year starting in 2016.

The CAP project brought river water to Tucson successfully, but the initial implementation was a "debacle." The river water "wreaked havoc" on the city's plumbing, causing widespread loss of confidence in the public water supply. The solution was an EPA-funded 'blended' water system, including automatically monitoring water quality throughout the city, and a website to report the water quality to the public without intervention by the City Water Department.