SOUTHWEST STRATEGY DROUGHT AND WATER ISSUES:

BLM, ARIZONA STATE OFFICE

JANUARY 30, 2003

 

Drought

 

BLM has just released a drought management policy that addresses assessment and management strategies in response to several years of extended drought.  Successful long-term management of Southwest rangeland watersheds depends on cooperation among a wide variety of individual and agency resource users and land managers.  Likewise, effective management of drought impacts depends on consultation, communication and cooperation among affected land managers.  The Southwest Strategy REC could facilitate drought conservation practices in the following ways:

 

(1)         Promote communications on the need for effective drought management practices among state and federal agencies, particularly those managing land with mixed ownership that creates interactions among adjacent landowners.

 

(2)         Work to increase communication and understanding of the drought management actions as necessary with our external partners, stake holders, other users of the public lands, Resource Advisory Councils (RACs), industry and conservation organizations, other federal agencies and local, Tribal and state governments, including Governors’ Drought Task Forces.

 

(3)         Encourage Southwest Strategy members to participate with BLM in responding to the continuing drought with actions such as:

 

·        Reduce the impact of the drought on special status species by providing temporary water under categorical exclusions when possible;

 

·        Work with permittees, state and federal wildlife managers to evaluate the need for modifications in livestock use, wildlife management, etc.

 

·        Support voluntary non-use where appropriate;

 

·        Consider both economic impacts on permittees and long-term effects on watershed conditions.

 

General Water Issues

 

Most of the following issues have been submitted to the Southwest Strategy Water Work Group.  They are issues that have been identified as important to BLM and Forest Service, particularly in Arizona.  Many of the water quantity issues could involve modifications of state law, where Southwest Strategy influence may be limited or sensitive.

 

(1)   Water Quantity Issues   

 

·        Effects of increased water demand and groundwater pumping by municipalities, mines, power generating plants, etc. on surface water managed by BLM, other federal land managers, tribes, etc.;  conflict persists between good conjunctive management of groundwater and surface water and state laws on water appropriation.

 

·        The prohibition against converting existing water rights for consumptive uses to instream flow rights.

 

·        Assisting communities develop institutions for local administration of water management (including participation in partnerships such as those in Sierra Vista, the Verde Watershed, the Upper Gila, Little Colorado River – MOM, etc.).

 

·        Protecting an adequate supply of Colorado River water for future use as demand for all uses increases.

 

·        Protecting federal rights to appropriate water (particularly stock water) in increasingly hostile state water rights environment, an issue that is sometimes compounded when the source of the hostility includes some of our Southwest Strategy partners.

 

·        The difficulty for Arizona (and other states) to complete a general stream adjudication due to a variety of legal actions.

 

·        Providing support as needed in Indian water rights settlements, while protecting affected BLM-managed resources at the same time.

 

(2)   Water Quality Issues

 

·        Protecting water quality by cleaning up abandoned mines, an activity that is sometimes complicated mixed abandoned mine land ownership.

 

·        Completing grazing allotment evaluations and permit renewals in a manner that protects surface cover and watershed condition.

 

·        Identifying and working with landowners (sometimes Southwest Strategy partners) whose management is contributing to water quality degradation in watersheds with mixed ownership; implementing best management practices on those lands.

 

·        Distinguishing between naturally occurring sources of water quality degradation and management-caused sources.

 

·        Establishing and maintaining suitable monitoring methods for water quality; identifying appropriate surrogates for direct measurement of water column parameters, including qualitative and quantitative methods that meet standards of Arizona Department of Environmental Quality and BLM; providing support as needed for ADEQ efforts to develop a water quality standard for turbidity or sediment, the pollutant of greatest concern most BLM and USFS-managed lands.

 

·        Accommodating the Credible Data law in Arizona to assure that sufficient water quality data is collected to identify water bodies that are not meeting state water quality standards;

 

·        Problems (and costs) in developing and implementing TMDLs in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, particularly considering issues listed under the  3rd, 4th,  5th  and 6th  bullets above.

 

·        Assuring adequate aquifer protection as applications for power generating plants, waste water disposal, and other land uses proliferate.

 

·        Timely and practical acquisition of 404 permits, and establishing appropriate grounds for acquiring nationwide permits as alternatives to 404 permits

 

·        Increasing the opportunities for federal land management agencies to fund watershed improvement projects with ADEQ watershed improvement grants (319h grants) in watersheds with mixed ownerships by adjusting the required non-federal matching funds.  This was addressed in a white paper by the water issues group in 1998 (attached).

 

 

                       

General Water Resource Data Management Issue:

 

Improving and maintaining appropriate data bases that enhance the organization and accessibility of water rights, water quality, and riparian condition data.