Glendale has a plan to compensate if the last bit of negotiations ends among the states connected to the Colorado River ends with with Arizona’s water allocation is cut in half.
Arizona officials are awaiting final word from the federal government on an agreement that would reduce the state’s allocation of Colorado River water by 760,000 acre-feet for two years.
The proposed reduction would primarily affect Central Arizona Project water users. While seemingly daunting, many Valley cities and towns have been preparing for decades for just such an event.
“A CAP reduction of 25% would require no changes to customer delivery as the CAP water supplied to Glendale would meet current consumer demand. If cuts reach 50% or more, Glendale will draw on additional water supplies, including groundwater, stored water at Roosevelt Dam, and long-term storage credits,” stated Glendale Water Resource Program Manager Zac Richards in a press release. “The city will also ask customers to conserve water to reduce demand.”
Richards said the city’s long-term plans to secure additional water supplies include expanding Bartlett Dam on the Verde River to increase reservoir capacity and treating reclaimed water through an advanced purification process to produce quality, potable water.
The 760,000 acre-foot reduction is right around 50%.
“In a non-shortage year, CAP will convey roughly 1.5 million acre-feet, and a 760,000 acre-foot cut is around half of the water that would be conveyed in the CAP. It’s significant, but the good news is that we haven’t built out demand for all of the water in the CAP. So that cut doesn’t necessarily translate into a cut for every city in the way that you might imagine,” said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy.
The Kyl Center for Water Policy is part of the Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University. An acre-foot is enough water to cover 1 acre in 1 foot of water, or about 326,000 gallons.
In a June interview with the Glendale Independent, Porter said the most salient question for the city is, “Does Glendale have the infrastructure needed to treat and deliver groundwater or other supplies to meet tap water demand in the parts of town that currently rely on CAP?”
Richards stated the answer is yes.
“Glendale has the infrastructure necessary to pump, treat, and deliver groundwater and other supplies. The city has a diverse water resources portfolio consisting of surface water, groundwater, reclaimed water, and underground, long-term storage credits. The Glendale Water Services Department maintains an expansive network of local wells to pump groundwater and recover long-term storage credits,” Richards said.
Glendale owns and operates four potable water treatment plants, two water reclamation facilities and five active city wells, with five additional wells in the design or construction phase.
Seven wells owned by the Salt River Project add to the city’s operational capacity.
Two CAP water delivery zones are in the city, primarily serving the northern and southwestern portions of Glendale, specifically the area north of the Arizona Canal and the area between 115th Avenue and New River.
“The annexed portions of the city west of 115th Ave are served by various private water companies. In contrast, the region south of the Arizona Canal and east of New River is served by SRP,” Richards stated.
The Salt and Verde rivers, which are controlled by SRP, account for 55% of the city’s drinking water supply, while the Colorado River handles 41% and groundwater chips in 4%.
It was anticipated that the Bureau of Reclamation would issue a two-year plan of operations this week that would cement the details. But Porter said that now seems unlikely and the feds will probably only release a final environmental impact statement at this time.
“It’s going to say what the feds believe they have the authority to do over the next 10 years and it’s going to be designed to maximize their authority to respond to conditions on the river,” Porter said.
Janet Perez contributed to this story
Richard Smith
Senior News Editor | Glendale & West Valley Preps
rsmith@iniusa.org
Richard Smith has been with Independent Newsmedia since 2016, and worked at a Sun City-based news outfit covering the Northwest Valley for 22 consecutive years.
An NAU alum and lifelong Arizona resident, Richard began as a copy editor and page designer at Surprise Today and the Daily News-Sun, then rekindled his love of sports writing by taking the reins on West Valley Preps in 2008.
For most of the mid-2010s he was the Surprise editor and West Valley Preps reporter. Now he’s the West Valley Preps Editor and Surprise Associate Editor.
As COVID restrictions slowly lift, Richard is cautiously optimistic he will visit book stores, football fields and gyms again this fall.
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