Impact Of Water (Lake Havasu)

Impact Of Water (Lake Havasu)

The reservoir behind Parker Dam was originally named Parker Reservoir. As fate would have it, in January 1939 MWD officials took the local Mohave Indian Tribal Elder - Haranai and his wife, Ooach, on a tour of the new Parker Dam facility. Respectfully, they inquired about the white man's "magic" that had changed the color of the Colorado River from red to blue. To these old Indians (102 years and 97 years respectively), who had lived their entire lives on the banks of the Colorado since this "land of Cibola" was still a part of Mexico, there was only one name that could be given to this great body of blue water. That name was Havasu. Roughly translated Lake Havasu means "Lake of the Blue Water".

In the early 1940's water quality concerns were limited to hardness, i.e.: calcium and magnesium content. MWD did no water testing or treating at Lake Havasu itself. All testing was done at the termination point, Lake Mathews. Over the years, Federal water quality laws forced states to adopt more stringent testing. In 1994 California's Surface Water Treatment Rule (SWTR) - Title 22, California Code of Regulations (CCR) - required every public water system treating surface water conduct to a comprehensive sanitary survey of its watershed(s) every 5 years. The SWTR stems from the Federal Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA), enacted by Congress in 1974 and last amended in 1996. This act provides the "basis for safeguarding public drinking water systems from contaminants that pose a threat to public health", including protection against microbial pathogens such as Giardia and other viruses. For water traveling through the aqueduct, MWD has assumed the responsibility of conducting this sanitary survey. The latest survey was conducted between March and December 1995, and are summarized in this report. The drainage area of the Parker watershed (Lake Havasu) consists of about 9000 sq. miles, which include the population centers of Lake Havasu City, Kingman and Bullhead City, AZ; Laughlin, NV; and Needles, CA (see figure 1). The area's population during the 1990 U.S. Census was an estimated 106,500. By 2015, the area population is expected to double. The 1995 survey showed that the Parker watershed is subject to many potential contamination sources. Pathogens such as Giardia and Cryptosporidium are of special concerns because of their ability to survive in the environment for a very ...