Arizona Administrative Code › Title 12 - NATURAL RESOURCES › Chapter 15 - Department of Water Resources › Article 10 - REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR ANNUAL REPORTS, ANNUAL ACCOUNTS, OPERATING FLEXIBILITY ACCOUNTS, AND CONVEYANCES OF GROUNDWATER RIGHTS › Section R12-15-1001 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 30, No. 28, July 12, 2024
In addition to the definitions in A.R.S. §§
									45-101 and
				  45-402,
				  the following words and phrases in this Article have the following meanings,
				  unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Annual account" means an accounting of water required to
				  be filed pursuant to A.R.S. §
									45-468.
2. "Annual report" means an annual report of water withdrawn,
				  delivered, received, transported, recharged, stored, recovered, replenished or
				  used as required by A.R.S. §§
									45-437,
				  45-467,
				  45-632,
				  45-875.01,
				  45-876.01,
				  45-877.01,
				  45-878.01
				  or
				  45-1004.
3. "Central Arizona project water" means Colorado River water
				  delivered through the facilities of the central Arizona project, and surface
				  water from any other source conserved and developed by dams and reservoirs in
				  the central Arizona project and lawfully delivered by the United States or a
				  multi-county conservation district.
4. "Decreed or appropriative surface water" means surface
				  water which is delivered or used pursuant to a decreed or appropriative water
				  right, except any such water which is included in central Arizona project
				  water.
5. "Farm" means an area of irrigated land under the same
				  ownership as defined in A.R.S. §
									45-402,
				  including the area of land described in a certificate of irrigation
				  grandfathered right, as well as contiguous land that the owner is legally
				  entitled to irrigate only with decreed or appropriative surface water.
6. "Maximum annual groundwater allotment" means the quantity
				  of water in acre-feet obtained by multiplying the number of water duty acres
				  for a farm by the current irrigation water duty for the farm unit.
7. "Normal flow" means water delivered or used pursuant to a
				  right to appropriate an unstored, natural flow of surface water.
8. "Operating flexibility account" means an accounting of
				  water use pursuant to an irrigation grandfathered right as provided in A.R.S.
				  §
									45-467.
9. "Responsible party" means a person required by law to file
				  an annual account or annual report.
10. "Spillwater" means surface water, other than Colorado
				  River water, released for beneficial use from storage, diversion, or
				  distribution facilities to avoid spilling that would otherwise occur due to
				  uncontrolled surface water inflows that exceed facility capacity and to which
				  one of the following applies:
a. The water is released from the facility under written
				  criteria for releasing water to avoid spilling that have been approved in
				  writing by the Director.
b. The water is released from the facility because an
				  unreasonable risk exists that the storage capacity of the facility will be
				  exceeded within the next 30 days because the facility is near capacity and
				  either the inflow to the facility or the forecast runoff into the facility is
				  equal to or greater than the quantity of water ordered from the
				  facility.
c. The water is released from the facility because an
				  unreasonable risk exists that the storage capacity of the facility will be
				  exceeded more than 30 days in the future because the forecast runoff into the
				  facility exceeds current unused storage capacity and projected water demand
				  during the forecast period, provided that the Director has made a written
				  finding before the release that the forecast is reasonable.
11. "Surface water right acre" means land to which the owner
				  is legally entitled to apply decreed or appropriative surface water.
12. "Tailwater" means water which, after having been applied
				  to a farm for irrigation purposes,
a. Is subsequently used for the irrigation of a different
				  farm, without having entered the distribution system of a city, town, private
				  water company or irrigation district, or
b. Is delivered to an irrigation district in accordance with
				  R12-15-1010.
				  Such water, once having entered the distribution system of the irrigation
				  district, loses its characterization as tailwater.
13. "Water deliverer" means a city, town, private water
				  company or irrigation district delivering a combination of groundwater and any
				  other type of water for irrigation purposes.