Tucson Chapter

Join us in learning from Julia Fonseca from Madrean Resources on Arizona Politics and the Colorado Compact

• Date: March10th, (registration closes at 3 pm on that day)
• Time: 6:00 PM -7:30pm
• Place: Montgomery & Associates, 1550 E Prince Rd  
• Cost: $5 In-person members, $10 in-person non-members, free for student members.
• This meeting will also be available via Zoom. If joining on Zoom, the presentation will start at 6:30pm.

Presentation: Arizona Politics and the Colorado Compact

Despite benefiting from early federal investments in dam building, between 1923 and 1944 the state of Arizona opposed approval of the Colorado Compact governing use of the Colorado River. The state largely relied on poorly informed boosters to inform its early plan’s for river uses. W. S. Norviel, the lawyer who represented Arizona in the Colorado Compact negotiations engaged two important studies of potential damsites and canals, but was forced to resign by Governor G. W. P. Hunt in 1923. Gutting Norviel’s office and ignoring inconvenient engineering facts impaired the ability of Arizona’s leaders to negotiate with other states and to adjudicate competing water claims within the state. Alternative plans were never investigated. Arizona’s misguided belief that the state could prevent the federal dam construction on the Colorado River bordering or within Arizona and build its own dams proved erroneous. Opposition to the Compact ultimately delayed delivery of additional federal reclamation assistance. This early history of missteps and misunderstandings helps explain why the users of the Central Arizona Project are so vulnerable to shortages on the river.

About Julia Fonesca:

Julia Fonseca is a hydrologist, lately consulting as Madrean Resources. This presentation is largely based on her archival research of primary materials since retiring.  While at Pima County Regional Flood Control District, she was the project manager for various recharge feasibility studies in the Tucson area, which culminated in the Lower Santa Cruz Replenishment Project for CAP recharge and the Marana High Plains effluent recharge project. Later, she helped to develop County programs for riparian protection and restoration, native plant use, and compliance with and monitoring for various environmental laws.

1922 meeting of the Colorado Commission on the banks of the Colorado River. US Bureau of Reclamation photograph”