Gila River Tribe May Get Aqueduct System at Feds’ Expense

Thursday, March 7, 1996 | 11:59 a.m.

In an agreement concluded Feb.14, The Arizona Republic reported today, the Bureau of Reclamation promised to provide the Gila River Indian Community with funding for a water delivery system for the reservation.

The agreement gives the tribe the authority to plan and construct an aqueduct system, with funding provided by the federal government in an amount to be negotiated annually, Bob Walsh, a spokesman in the bureau office in Boulder City, Nev., told the Republic.

On Wednesday, tribal Gov. Mary Thomas asked the House Appropriations subcommittee on energy and water to add $30.6 million to the bureau's next annual budget for initial construction of the aqueduct system.

"I don't know what chance we have of getting that much," said Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz., a member of the House Appropriations Committee. "But they have a commitment on this, and they (the Bureau of Reclamation) should be including that in their budget."

About $9 million remaining in the 1996 fiscal budget for Gila water projects also would be used to help plan the irrigation system.

Thomas told the subcommittee the federal government might pay about $200 million over 15 years to complete the project.

Thomas said construction is to begin next year.

The Central Arizona Project's canals bring water from the Colorado to central and southern Arizona, though not to the reservation. Arizona must repay the federal government for a major portion of the project's cost, though the amount to be repaid remains in dispute. The tribe would not have to repay the cost of its canal system unless it sold its land, authorities said.

The tribe had claimed more than 600,000 acre-feet of water. An acre foot equals 325,851 gallons - enough to cover an acre to the depth of one foot. It would meet the needs of a family of four for a year.

The new aqueduct would bring the community its current allotment of 173,000, but no more.

"It's not the entire thing. We're looking at 680,000 acre-feet, and we're getting close, very close," Thomas said.

"I think the major force behind it (the agreement) is to keep the water in Arizona," Thomas added, apparently referring to attempts to California and Nevada to obtain a portion of Arizona's allotment of the river's water.

Arizona does not use its full allotment but is trying to maintain its claim to meet future needs.

"We're fighting to get every bit of that CAP allocation in Arizona," said Jim Klinker, spokesman for the Arizona Farm Bureau. "If we can get them (Gila Indians) in there, let's get 'em in there."