Firming, wheeling and exchanges have each been the subject of extensive planning, discussion and stakeholder engagement. Recently,  CAP and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, with input from the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Arizona Water Banking Authority, have worked intensively to refine and unify these key concepts into a comprehensive framework.  Key elements of this framework have been incorporated into a draft “CAP System Use Agreement.”  

The Agreement authorizes the use of the CAP system to implement the final, critical, pieces of the innovative water banking program the State of Arizona has been engaged in since the mid-1990s. The Agreement provides CAP with the necessary operational flexibility for the cost-effective recovery of stored water, including  over four million acre-feet of CAP water stored by the AWBA in the aquifers of Central and Southern Arizona.

The Agreement also resolves legal, financial and operational issues related to wheeling. The Agreement allows CAP to wheel non-project water supplies through the CAP system pursuant to standard form wheeling agreements and expanded system capacity.   Wheeling by the Bureau of Reclamation is also authorized.  And finally, the Agreement helps maximize the beneficial use of the CAP system by expanding the ability of long-term contract holders to exchange portions of the allocation with another party. 

To ensure efficient operation of the system for both new and existing uses, the Agreement adopts a scheduling priority system that reconciles any conflicts over delivery capacity.