The Central Arizona Project was designed and constructed as a multi-purpose project to address a wide range of objectives: water supply, flood control, fish and wildlife, commercial power, recreation, safety of dams, etc. Generally speaking, those purposes are categorized as either “federal” or “non-federal.”

The Central Arizona Water Conservation District was created to contract with the United States for repayment of the “non-federal” share of CAP construction costs—specifically, the costs related to non-federal water supply and commercial power, plus interest during construction. The sum of those non-federal costs is what we refer to as the CAP Repayment Obligation. The costs associated with supplying water to Indian tribes are considered federal costs and are not included in the CAP Repayment Obligation.

See a summary explaining CAP’s federal repayment.

Read the white paper for a complete explanation of CAP’s repayment to the federal government.