LESSON 4: WATER STORY VIDEO Estimated Time for Lesson 1 hour State Standards Addressed Segment 1: Arizona History • Social Studies – S1C2PO1: Describe the legacy and cultures of prehistoric people in the Americas (development of agriculture). • Social Studies – S1C2PO2: Describe the cultures and contributions of the Hohokam people (e.g., location, agriculture, housing, arts and trade networks). • Social Studies – S1C5PO2: Describe the influence of American explorers and trappers on the development of the Southwest. • Social Studies – S1C5PO3: Describe events that led to Arizona becoming a possession of the United States: the Mexican-American War, the Mexican Cession (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo) and the Gadsden Purchase. • Social Studies – S4C4PO1: Describe the factors that have contributed to the settlement, economic development and growth of major Arizona cities. • Social Studies – S4C4PO2: Describe how Mexico and Arizona are connected by the movement of people, goods and ideas. • Social Studies – S1C7PO1: Describe the economic development of Arizona: mining, ranching, farming and . • Social Studies – S4C4PO5: Describe the major economic activities and land-use patterns (e.g., harvesting of natural resources) of regions studied.

Segments 2 and 3: SRP and (CAP) • Social Studies – S4C2PO1: Describe how the Southwest has distinct physical and cultural characteristics. • Social Studies – S4C2PO3: Locate the landform regions of Arizona (plateau, mountain and desert). • Social Studies – S4C2PO4: Compare the landform regions of Arizona according to their physical features, plants and animals. • Social Studies – S4C2PO5: Describe how regions and places (e.g., the Grand Canyon and the Colorado River) have distinct characteristics. • Science – S3C1: Describe how natural events and human activities impact environments. • Science – S4C3: Describe uses, types and conservation of natural resources. • Social Studies – S4C5PO1: Describe human dependence on the physical environment and natural resources to satisfy basic needs. • Social Studies – S4C5PO2: Describe the impact of extreme natural events (e.g., floods and droughts) on human and physical environments. • Social Studies – S4C5PO3: Describe the impact of human modifications (e.g., dams, irrigation and agriculture) on the physical environment and ecosystems.

Objectives

Content Objectives • Students will be able to describe the contributions of past people (Hohokam, American explorers, Mexican-Americans) on the land, settlement and development of the land we now call Arizona. • Students will be able to describe the process in which water is delivered to the Desert Region of Arizona.

Language Objective Students will use complete sentences to describe how water plays a part in the history of Arizona.

36 37 Materials • Arizona Water Story Video

• Segment handouts (1 per student) It is recommended that you blow up the handouts to 11-by- 17 inches. This will allow more room for students to write, and handouts can also be made into a large brochure of facts about Arizona. Allow students to illustrate the other faces of the brochure.

Procedures Pass out the video guide to students. Read through the questions with the class before watching the Arizona video. You may want to pause the video periodically Facts to allow students time to discuss and record their answers to the questions. At the end of each segment, review the questions with the students to reinforce their learning. To allow ample time for discussion, it is recommended that the segments be viewed on separate days.

Segment 1: Arizona History (run time: approx. 10 minutes)

Segment 2: SRP (run time: approx. 11 minutes)

Segment 3: Central Arizona Project (run time: approx. 7 minutes)

Evaluation Student video guide worksheets and class discussion about answers (answers can be found in the Appendix).

Lesson Closure As a conclusion to the lesson, have the students discuss the following items in pairs:

• Explain why and how we are able to have water in the Desert Region of Arizona.

• Explain where we get our water from in (your town).

36 37 Arizona Water Story Video Script

Introduction Arizona is a land of natural wonders, from the Grand Canyon carved by the mighty Colorado River, to the delicate and dry colors of the Painted Desert, to the dense green forests of the White Mountains. But we tend to forget that much of the Arizona we know today, with its growing cities and productive farms, was once a dry and desolate wilderness. What changed the landscape? The availability of water. Water has shaped Arizona’s history as well as its landscape.

Segment 1: Arizona History Hohokam and Canals Archaeologists have spent much time studying the Hohokam, a prehistoric culture who lived in southern Arizona before the Spanish and other settlers came. For about a thousand years, these peaceful farmers made their homes in central and southern Arizona river basins, places where the desert had a water supply. They lived in the Valley, the region (including what is now Pinal County) and the Santa Cruz River basin near what is now Tucson.

The Hohokam built irrigation ditches using sticks, stone tools and their hands in order to bring water to their fields so they could grow corn, squash, beans and other crops. In the Phoenix area alone, their water delivery system contained nearly 500 miles of canals and over time may have served as many as 100,000 people.

The Hohokam lived in Arizona for 1,000 years but left about A.D. 1450. No one knows for sure why they left, but the cycle of drought and flood that still exists in Arizona may have been a major reason.

The Hohokam set the groundwork for today’s major canal system in the Phoenix area, which follows many of the same paths.

Tucson and Spanish History The Santa Cruz Valley, where modern Tucson is now located, was the first place in Arizona settled by Spanish missionaries and soldiers. The settlers farmed and tended their sheep and cattle, often having to fight off attacks from the Apache Indians.

A war between the new government of Mexico and the U.S. over the border between the two countries ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. A miscalculation set the boundary on the Gila River 80 miles north of Tucson. It wasn’t until 1853 when James Gadsden purchased additional land south of the river that Tucson became part of the U.S.

In early Tucson, residents first drew their water from small streams, but these streams, even the Santa Cruz River that flowed north out of the Santa Rita Mountains, tended to go dry in the hot summer months. Sanitary conditions were not good. Pioneer Phocion R. Way wrote upon his arrival in Tucson in 1858, “There is a small creek which runs through town. The water is alkaline and warm. The hogs wallow in the creek, the people water their donkeys and cattle, and wash themselves and their clothes and drink water out of the same creek.”

Tucson farmers and citizens also pumped water from under the surface of the ground, but soon this valuable resource was depleted. Groundwater pumping also dried up the Santa Cruz River, which now flows only after big storms.

38 39 Swilling and the Pioneers The adobe ruins of the Hohokam baked in the Arizona sun for 400 years. Then in the early 1860s, Arizona experienced an influx of new settlers, many searching for gold and other precious minerals. Prospector, explorer and former Confederate officer Jack Swilling gathered a group of associates in Wickenburg and formed a canal company in 1867 to irrigate the lands in the Salt River Valley. Perhaps Swilling noticed the ruined Hohokam canals and thought they could work again. In December 1867, he formed the Swilling Irrigation and Canal Company at the gold camp at Wickenburg. He and his partners planned to take water from the Salt River via a canal so he could grow crops to sell to miners at Wickenburg and the U.S. Calvary stationed at Fort McDowell. The waterway became known as the Swilling Ditch, later the Town Ditch, or the Salt River Valley Canal. By March 1868, Swilling and his partners had harvested their first crops on land near the present-day Arizona State Hospital. During that same month, a government survey party came to the Valley and noted that a small community calling itself “Phoenix” had appeared on the scene.

Soon groups of farmers up and down the river were digging canals and building crude rock and brush diversion dams (or headings) to force a flow of water into the canals. These little dams required constant maintenance, and the most successful projects were those of the private canal companies and associations, which charged members a fee for construction and maintenance. The farmers even reused some ancient Indian canals, cleaning them out and deepening them. Drought and Flood Farmers in Arizona in the late 1800s had the same problem the ancient Indians had. In a year with heavy rain and mountain snow, rivers were full of water, the farmers had an abundance of water for their crops and sometimes the heavy rains would even flood the area. And yet the next year might see little rain and thus very little water for farmers and their crops. Trying to be a farmer under such circumstances, or even trying to provide a city with water for drinking, bathing and cleaning, was very difficult.

Between 1890 and 1900, the population of Maricopa County grew by nearly 10,000, further heightening the need for a reliable source of water. The obvious solution was to build a water storage to capture seasonal runoff. But how would such a large project be paid for? In the 1880s, a private company built a small dam to divert water into a canal to bring water from the Salt River down to the homes and farms near Phoenix. The dam was destroyed by floods and rebuilt several times. The canal and dam were too expensive for one company and its customers to maintain.

Theodore Roosevelt Dam and Reclamation Finally in 1902, the National Reclamation Act was passed into law. The act provided for government loans to “reclaim” the West with irrigation projects, and the U.S. Reclamation Service (now called the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation) was organized to tackle the task. SRP was formed in 1903 as an association of landowners in the Phoenix area. SRP’s purpose was to work with the federal government to get Arizona’s first large dam built — Roosevelt Dam, named after the U.S. president at that time, Theodore Roosevelt.

The federal government hired stonemasons to cut blocks of stone out of the local mountains to build the dam. Huge amounts of lumber from trees cut in the Sierra Ancha were used in the construction. The equipment and supplies were hauled by mule-drawn wagons on the Apache Trail. This trail, built by teams of Apache Indian workers, connected the end of the railroad at Mesa to the Roosevelt Dam site. The town of Roosevelt sprang up near the construction site so workers could live near the dam. The workers faced many obstacles, from cold winter nights and hot summer days to a large flood in 1905, which seriously damaged the dam, undoing much of their hard work.

After seven years, the dam was finally completed in 1911.

38 39 Canals While Roosevelt Dam was being built, the federal government and the Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association were also busy widening the old canals and building new ones. They also built laterals or ditches to deliver water to farmers’ fields and orchards. These canals were opened using hand cranks by people called “zanjeros” (a deep ditch is called “zanja” in Spanish). The zanjeros kept track of how much water was used by the farmers, who were then charged for the water.

For nearly 50 years, teams of horses were used to drag the canals, keeping them free of moss and weeds. The banks of the canals, shady and cool thanks to the trees lining them, were also a place people came for a relaxing stroll or picnic.

(Segue:) Water shaped Arizona’s past. It also is a controlling factor in where and how we live in our desert state.

Segment 2: SRP Where Water Comes From Arizona is divided into three different geographic regions: the high-desert region in the northeastern part of the state, the Mountain Region, which stretches from the northwestern corner of the state diagonally across the middle, and the southwestern region of small mountains and desert valleys.

The northeastern high desert is called the Colorado Plateau. It is made of sandstone, which contains minerals that color the rocks pink, red and orange. The Painted Desert is in this region. In many places, the rocks have been eroded to form magnificent formations, which are famous all over the world. The southern edge of the region is called the Mogollon Rim. It is at an altitude of around 5,000 to 7,000 feet above sea level. Because the Colorado Plateau is at a higher altitude than the southern deserts, the average temperature is lower. The winters can be very cold, with periodic snow.

The middle region of Arizona is a band of mountains, including the Hualapai, San Francisco, Juniper, Mazatzal, Sierra Ancha, White, Gila, Bradshaw ranges and the steep ridges of the Mogollon Rim. Some of these peaks reach an elevation of over 11,000 feet. There is much more rain and snowfall in this region than anywhere else in the state. Some of the higher regions receive as much as 30 inches per year. The main rivers in Arizona, the Verde, Salt, Agua Fria and Gila, drain the watersheds of these mountains and bring water to the drier and lower valleys.

The southwestern part of Arizona is called the Sonoran Desert. The mountains in this region are called the “Sky Islands” and include the Pinaleno, Santa Catalina and Santa Rita ranges. The Sonoran Desert is very dry and hot. Summer lasts from May to October, but the spring and fall seasons offer perfect growing conditions for many vegetable crops. Because southern Arizona is frost-free, it has a year-round growing season for other crops like cotton and feed grasses. Farms in this dry region exist only because water is available from groundwater and from the canals that deliver water from the rivers flowing out of the mountains.

How Much Rainfall and When? Arizona lies at the heart of America’s dry Southwest region. Much of the state is desert. Nevada is the only state that receives less rain than Arizona, which has an annual rainfall of less than 10 inches per year. Mountain ranges to the west and high-pressure patterns over south-central Arizona prevent most Pacific storms from reaching the state.

The dry deserts, both north and south, receive little rainfall. Yuma, in the driest part of the state, receives less than 4 inches per year. The high northern desert receives 5 to 10 inches per year. Most of the rain and snowfall in Arizona occurs in the Mountain Region, which stretches diagonally across the state.

There are two wet seasons in Arizona. Summer storms tend to be sudden downpours with spectacular lightning and flash floods in low areas. Winter storms bring snow and rain to the mountains. The snow melts, mountain streams carry the runoff down to rivers, and the rivers bring the water to the valleys and the desert.

40 41 Dams and So how does the water in the mountains and rivers get to your home? If you live in the northern parts of Arizona in the Colorado Plateau or Mountain Region, you most likely drink water from the plentiful underground aquifers in your regions. If you live in the Phoenix metropolitan area, SRP and CAP are responsible for delivering water to cities and farms from both surface and groundwater sources. In the area southeast of Phoenix to Tucson, groundwater has been the only source until CAP began delivering water.

Where does the water come from? The water comes from several sources. SRP captures water from a 13,000-square-mile drainage area, called a watershed, for the Salt and Verde rivers. That’s larger than the states of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island combined. Melting snow and rainfall from the watershed drain into streams, which flow into the two rivers.

SRP has built six dams, two on the system and four on the Salt River system, to capture the runoff for use in the Valley. Behind each dam, the stored water collects in a lake, called a .

Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River, completed in 1911, was the first storage dam in the system. The reservoir formed behind the dam, Roosevelt Lake, can store more than 1 million acre-feet of water. An acre-foot is about 326,000 gallons, the amount of water which would flood an area about the size of a football field to a depth of 1 foot. This is about the amount of water used by two families in a year. This reservoir is larger than SRP’s other five reservoirs combined.

As a component of CAP and the Safety of Dams Act following the floods between 1978 and 1980, SRP, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Valley cities worked together to enhance the storage reservoirs on the Salt and Verde rivers. Known as Plan 6 and completed in 1996, Roosevelt Dam was enlarged by adding 77 feet in height and covered with concrete to ensure its structural integrity. Additional storage capacity allows for new conservation storage space for Valley cities and, for the first time, accommodates a flood-control component to the dam.

In the early 1920s, C.C. Cragin, SRP General Superintendent, developed a plan to construct additional hydropower dams on the Salt River. Mormon Flat Dam (forming Canyon Lake), Horse Mesa Dam (forming Apache Lake) and (forming Saguaro Lake) provide an additional supply of both water and electricity.

The dams and reservoirs on the Verde River include Bartlett Dam and Bartlett Lake, and Horseshoe Dam and Horseshoe Lake.

The reservoirs not only store water for use in cities and for agriculture, but can be used for recreation as well — boating, watersports and fishing. The Salt and Verde rivers create habitat for certain kinds of fish and birds. In addition, reservoirs now create another habitat for other kinds of animals. SRP supports habitat conservation efforts in reservoirs and rivers in Arizona, including the Salt, Verde, Gila and San Pedro rivers.

Hydropower Water falling through a dam creates energy. This energy can be used to turn a turbine, which can generate electricity. SRP uses the water falling down through all four dams on the Salt River to create electrical energy for homes, farms and businesses in the Valley. Sometimes, when there is not a demand for water, SRP pumps water back up above the dams and lets it fall again to turn the turbines and generate more electricity.

40 41 Agriculture Agriculture uses less than 75% of the water resources in Arizona. When farmers first settled in Arizona, they used water from nearby rivers and pumped water from the ground when no surface water was available. Since the early 1900s, SRP canals have helped deliver water to farms in the greater Phoenix area.

Arizona has close to 1,280,000 irrigated acres. That means farmers water crops with water they pump from the ground or take out of surface streams and canals, rather than relying on natural rainfall. Arizona’s modern agriculture follows the long history of Native Americans who grew cotton and other crops. Farmers in Arizona now grow cotton, corn, wheat, barley, alfalfa hay, vegetables and fruits.

Water is delivered through about 1,300 miles of canals, laterals and ditches. Two large canals, the Arizona and South canals, carry water from the Granite Reef Diversion Dam below the point where the Salt and Verde rivers come together. This dam does not store water but is the beginning of the water distribution system. SRP’s two main canals deliver water to over 900 miles of laterals, or side canals, which deliver water to irrigated areas. Most of these canals are lined with concrete or pipe to help reduce water loss from seepage into the ground.

Growth of Cities Arizona cities have grown at an incredibly fast rate, especially in the period after World War II. Much of the Phoenix area used to be irrigated farmland. SRP now delivers the majority of the water to homes and businesses in the metropolitan Phoenix area each year.

SRP delivers water through canals to city water treatment plants. The treatment plants filter the water to remove dirt and algae, and disinfect it to remove naturally occurring bacteria. Then the cities pump the water through pipes to homes, schools and businesses. Cities charge a delivery and treatment fee for the water.

The banks of the canals are open to hikers, joggers, bicycle riders and horse riders. Fishing from the banks is permitted. However, no cars, trucks or motorcycles are allowed on the banks.

Wading and swimming are forbidden. The canals can be dangerous. The water is often cold and murky, and currents are strong. If you see someone fall in a canal, tell an adult immediately or call for help. Do not jump in to help!

Each year portions of the major canals are dried up for about a month so the canals can be cleaned and repaired. These dry-ups usually occur in the fall and winter, when demand for water is lowest.

SRP also uses fish to help keep its canals weed-free. The white amur can eat nearly three-fourths of its own weight daily in plants. This means SRP operators can reduce the use of chemicals and mechanical labor to rid waterways of aquatic weeds, saving money. By eating weeds, the amur also help control water loss. Fewer water weeds means better water flow through the canals and less loss of water through plant use. If you catch a white amur when you are fishing in a canal, throw it back. It is illegal to remove these fish from SRP canals.

(Segue:) SRP is one part of the water supply system for central Arizona. There is another system that brings water to central and southern Arizona farms and cities — CAP.

42 43 Segment 3: Central Arizona Project Our Mission The Central Arizona Water Conservation District runs the Central Arizona Project, or CAP. The CAP canal carries important freshwater supplies to millions of people. It serves an area that includes Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties. Created in 1971 by our state government, CAP is Arizona’s largest provider of renewable Colorado River water.

CAP Board of Directors The CAP Board of Directors is elected from the counties it provides water to. There are 15 total Board members. Five are elected every other year. They serve six-year terms and are not paid. The Board meets once a month. It makes rules, sets taxes and water rates, and OKs budgets. It also deals with other important matters affecting CAP and its customers.

Delivery System The CAP canal begins on the Bill Williams River near Lake Havasu, Arizona. This is close to the Arizona/ California border. The canal is 335 miles long and runs east and then south, ending just past Tucson. The CAP system includes 15 pumping plants, 12 tunnels and siphons, and 42 turnouts. CAP delivers 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water every year. One acre-foot is about the amount of water used by a family of four in one year. Water is lifted almost 3,000 feet as it moves along the canal.

New Waddell Dam and Lake Pleasant One of the major parts of the CAP system is the New Waddell Dam and the Lake Pleasant storage reservoir. It is used to store Colorado River water and runoff from the . This 15.5-square-mile lake provides water based on customer demand.

Customers CAP’s large service area includes about 5 million people. This is about four out of five people in the state. It covers 24,000 square miles and nearly 50 cities and towns like Phoenix, Tucson, Mesa, Glendale and Scottsdale. CAP is headquartered in Phoenix.

It is a big part of CAP’s job to help make sure people in central and southern Arizona have enough water. This makes the growing number of people in Arizona important to CAP. We are serving a state that has grown by 23% since 2000 and is expected to be twice as big by 2035.

Today about one-third of CAP’s water is used by cities and industry. Farmers use about one-fourth of the water, and one-tenth goes to Indian tribes. The rest of the water — about one-third of the total — is placed underground for the future by using a process called “recharge.”

Recharge Central Arizona Project “recharges” water to store it underground for future use. The process involves flooding a site and letting the water drain down through the soil. Recharge helps to replace underground water supplies. This water may then be pumped out and used at a later date. CAP operates more than half a dozen recharge projects that can store millions of gallons of surplus water underground every year.

42 43 A little less than half of the water being recharged today is being delivered to groundwater savings operations. These are irrigation areas that pump less water from underground. They agree to use CAP water instead. When all of the water that is sent to farmers is added together, it comes to almost two-fifths of the total water delivered by CAP.

Replenishment CAP’s duties continue to grow. At CAP we not only run the canal, we also replace groundwater. The part of CAP that does this is called the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, or CAGRD. Its main job is to replace groundwater used by its members. These are groups that are unable to directly take CAP water or other surface-water supplies. Arizona continues to grow at a fast pace, and CAGRD membership is growing too. This means that CAP’s underground-water replacement duties will also continue to grow.

Power CAP uses a great deal of electrical power. Most of it comes from three power facilities. These are the Navajo Generating Station, Hoover Dam and the New Waddell Pump Generating Plant. The power plants that CAP uses create about 5 million megawatt-hours of electricity every year. That’s enough to power more than half a million homes!

Revenues CAP collects money from its customers to pay for its operations and expenses. Some of this money goes to pay back the U.S. government for part of the costs of building the canal. CAP has three main sources for this money. They include the sale of water, the sale of extra electricity and certain taxes that CAP is allowed to charge.

The Future Today CAP’s leaders are taking a fresh look at business priorities. In the past, special attention has been placed on:

• Leadership

• Public trust

• Water supply

• Project reliability

• Electrical power

• Replenishment

CAP will secure, protect and deliver important Colorado River water for many years to come. We will do this by working closely with our customers, stakeholders and elected officials.

To learn more about Central Arizona Project and what you’ve seen in this video, please visit us at www.centralarizonaproject.com.

44 45