Glendale will discuss water plan specifics at workshop

By Richard Smith
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For years, the city of Glendale has prepared for a reduction in its water allocation from its Colorado River basin allocation.

Now city officials have a specific number to attach to the cutbacks discuss with the Glendale City Council at its Oct. 13 workshop.

This summer, the Federal  Bureau of Reclamation set new guidelines for Lake Powell and Lake Mead operations include operating rules, emergency action parameters, and modeled shortage protections. Glendale is required to reduce its CAP order by 4,000 acre-feet in 2027, according to the new guidelines.

"The city is prepared for a 20% cut to our CAP supplies (or about 4,000 acre-feet) in 2027.  The City’s water customers will not be impacted by a 20% CAP cut." stated Glendale Deputy Director of Water Services Megan Sheldon in an email.

An acre-foot is enough water to cover 1 acre in 1 foot of water, or about 326,000 gallons.

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%. That is good news.

The area of Glendale north of Arizona Canal primarily receives Central Arizona Project-delivered drinking water from the Colorado River, while south of the canal is mostly SRP.

Tthe presentation will explain that the city has options (use more groundwater, use additional surface water supplies stored in Roosevelt Lake’s New Conservation Space, recover long-term storage credits) if there are more severe cuts to our CAP supplies," Sheldon stated.

Glendale has been in stage one of its drought management plan since June 2022. The city’s 5% reduction in use means saving about $30 million a year.

The city owns and operates four potable water treatment plants, two water reclamation facilities and five active city wells, with five more wells in the design or construction phase.

Seven wells owned by the Salt River Project add to Glendale’s operational capacity.

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.