The u.S. Bureau of Reclamation has started examining the environmental impacts of a project designed to reduce sediment in Verde River reservoirs.
The Verde Reservoirs Sediment Mitigation Project aims to restore capacity at Bartlett and Horseshoe lakes.
As water travels down rivers, it picks up the sand and rock below and carries it downstream until the sediment starts to build up at reservoirs.
"When sediment takes up the space behind a dam, that means that water cannot be stored there. So what we see on the Verde is extreme variability of these wet cycles and these dry cycles. So you try to capture the water when it's available during the wet years," said Olivia Galvan with Salt River Project.
Galvan says the water lost from the two manmade lakes would be enough to supply 150,000 homes for a year.
"So what happens is when you get to those dry years, there's less water available to deliver," Galvan said.
While the Bureau of Reclamation is handling much of the project, SRP operates the Verde Watershed where the dams are located.
The federal agency will start holding public hearings on July 28.
-
The illness features symptoms like fever, joint aches and fluid in the lungs. Sickened river rafters and boaters are using social media to discover they're not alone in it. -
FEMA has awarded about $700,000 to Arizona and the Havasupai Tribe to fund hazard mitigation projects. The money came from a program the federal agency had nixed but was reinstated by the courts earlier this year. -
State environmental regulators have given the owner of a uranium mine near the Grand Canyon the green light for higher levels of arsenic in groundwater under the facility. -
City leaders disagree with the Arizona Water Banking Authority about how to dole out Colorado River water from underground storage. -
The credits are through Central Arizona Project Water. Municipalities have looked to Harquahala Valley to support their water systems in the last year.
