§ 1524 — Water Furnished From Central Arizona Project

(a) Unless and until otherwise provided by Congress, water from the Central Arizona Project shall not be made available directly or indirectly for the irrigation of lands not having a recent irrigation history as determined by the Secretary, except in the case of Indian lands, national wildlife refuges, and, with the approval of the Secretary, State-administered wildlife management areas. (1) Irrigation and municipal and industrial water supply under the Central Arizona Project within the State of Arizona may, in the event the Secretary determines that it is necessary to effect repayment, be pursuant to master contracts with organizations which have power to levy assessments against all taxable real property within their boundaries. The terms and conditions of contracts or other arrangements whereby each such organization makes water from the Central Arizona Project available to users within its boundaries shall be subject to the Secretary’s approval, and the United States shall, if the Secretary determines such action is desirable to facilitate carrying out the provisions of this chapter, have the right to require that it be a party to such contracts or that contracts subsidiary to the master contracts be entered into between the United States and any user. The provisions of this clause (1) shall not apply to the supplying of water to an Indian tribe for use within the boundaries of an Indian reservation. (2) Any obligation assumed pursuant to section 485h(d) of this title with respect to any project contract unit or irrigation block shall be repaid over a basic period of not more than fifty years; any water service provided pursuant to section 485h(e) of this title may be on the basis of delivery of water for a period of fifty years and for the delivery of such water at an identical price per acre-foot for water of the same class at the several points of delivery from the main canals and conduits and from such other points of delivery as the Secretary may designate; and long-term contracts relating to irrigation water supply shall provide that water made available thereunder may be made available by the Secretary for municipal or industrial purposes if and to the extent that such water is not required by the contractor for irrigation purposes. (3) Contracts relating to municipal and industrial water supply under the Central Arizona Project may be made without regard to the limitations of the last sentence of section 485h(c) of this title; may provide for the delivery of such water at an identical price per acre-foot for water of the same class at the several points of delivery from the main canals and conduits; and may provide for repayment over a period of fifty years if made pursuant to clause (1) of said section and for the delivery of water over a period of fifty years if made pursuant to clause (2) thereof. (c) Each contract under which water is provided under the Central Arizona Project shall require that (1) there be in effect measures, adequate in the judgment of the Secretary, to control expansion of irrigation from aquifers affected by the irrigation in the contract service area; (2) the canals and distribution systems through which water is conveyed after its delivery by the United States to the contractors shall be provided and maintained with linings adequate in his judgment to prevent excessive conveyance losses; and (3) [Repealed. Pub. L. 102–575, title XXXVII, § 3710(k), Oct. 30, 1992, 106 Stat. 4751]. Such contracts shall be subordinate at all times to the satisfaction of all existing contracts between the Secretary and users in Arizona heretofore made pursuant to the Boulder Canyon Project Act (45 Stat. 1057) [43 U.S.C. 617 et seq.]. (d) The Secretary may require in any contract under which water is provided from the Central Arizona Project that the contractor agree to accept main stream water in exchange for or in replacement of existing supplies from sources other than the main stream. The Secretary shall so require in the case of users in Arizona who also use water from the Gila River system to the extent necessary to make available to users of water from the Gila River system in New Mexico additional quantities of water as provided in and under the conditions specified in subsection (f) of this section: Provided, That such exchanges and replacements shall be accomplished without economic injury or cost to such Arizona contractors. (e) In times of shortage or reduction of main stream Colorado River water for the Central Arizona Project, as determined by the Secretary, users which have yielded water from other sources in exchange for main stream water supplied by that project shall have a first priority to receive main stream water, as against other users supplied by that project which have not so yielded water from other sources, but only in quantities adequate to replace the water so yielded. (1) In the operation of the Central Arizona Project, the Secretary shall offer to contract with water users in the State of New Mexico, with the approval of its Interstate Stream Commission, or with the State of New Mexico, through its Interstate Stream Commission, for water from the Gila River, its tributaries and underground water sources in amounts that will permit consumptive use of water in New Mexico of not to exceed an annual average in any period of 10 consecutive years of 14,000 acre-feet, including reservoir evaporation, over and above the consumptive uses provided for by article IV of the decree of the Supreme Court of the United States in Arizona v. California (376 U.S. 340). Such increased consumptive uses shall continue only so long as delivery of Colorado River water to downstream Gila River users in Arizona is being accomplished in accordance with this chapter, in quantities sufficient to replace any diminution of their supply resulting from such diversion from the Gila River, its tributaries and underground water sources. In determining the amount required for this purpose, full consideration shall be given to any differences in the quality of the water involved. (2) of this subsection shall be subject to all rights in New Mexico and Arizona as established by the decree entered by the United States District Court for the District of Arizona on June 29, 1935, in United States against Gila Valley Irrigation District and others (Globe Equity Numbered 59) and to all other rights existing on September 30, 1968, in New Mexico and Arizona to water from the Gila River, its tributaries, and underground water sources, and shall be junior thereto and shall be made only to the extent possible without economic injury or cost to the holders of such rights.