Water leader: Bills can only go up

This is a busy time to chair the CAP board. What is your top priority?

If I had to single out just one, I'd have to say it's ensuring the continued reliability of our Colorado River water supply in the face of extended drought. It is imperative the public understand the measures we've already taken, such as storing water underground for times of shortage, and the measures that will be required to conserve and augment Arizona's water supply.

CAP was recently a party to negotiating the closure of one unit of the Navajo Generating Station. Are you happy with the resolution?

It is a great outcome for CAP and for Arizona. CAP is the biggest user of power in Arizona as we move the Colorado River water throughout the 336-mile-long CAP distribution system. Navajo is the least expensive source of power for us to do so at this time.

Long-term, coal appears to be on the way out. What will power the pumps that move Colorado River water to the Valley?

There will always be energy available, whether from natural gas, solar, wind, geothermal or nuclear. The issue is more likely to be one of cost. CAP needs power around the clock. That is why solar energy at this time is not a great fit for CAP. Solar energy also costs at least two to three times what we pay for energy from the Navajo Generating Station today.

What is that likely to do to water bills?

Increase them. We will continue to look for the lowest power costs we can find, but right now it is coal and the Navajo Generating Station. Again, as technological advances come along, we're hoping for reliable and less expensive alternative sources of power.

Experts say Arizona faces a water shortage down the road. What is CAP doing to prepare?

CAP operates six underground storage (recharge) facilities in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties and has partnered with the Arizona Water Banking Authority to store more than 3 million acre-feet of water in central Arizona aquifers. When future Colorado River shortages would otherwise reduce the water available to our municipal users, CAP will recover that stored water and deliver it to our customers.

We are also working with other water users to augment the flow of the river, such as by cloud seeding to enhance snowpack.

Will it take a big project, like desalinating Gulf of California water, or lots of smaller measures?

Ultimately, both. Large-scale projects, like ocean desalination or importing water from another basin, will likely be needed down the road to meet the demands of projected growth.

But projects like that will take time. That's why CAP has pushed so hard for the past decade or more to get the Yuma Desalting Plant back into operation, which would save about 100,000 acre-feet every year. We are also supporting tamarisk (salt cedar) removal and other augmentation strategies.

Does the Colorado River Compact need to be renegotiated?

No. The compact is the foundation for the Law of the River, which has served the seven Basin States very well for nearly a century. It has proven to be resilient and flexible. It is important for the states to focus on cooperation to develop real-world solutions to the collective problems we face.