KTAR News: Water Watch

Arizona's first Advanced Water Purification plant is about three years out from taking wastewater and making it drinkable. The City of Phoenix celebrated being halfway done with construction at the Cave Creek facility by filling up a treatment basin with one million gallons of water last week. It's part of the Pure Water Phoenix program. 

The Community Water Project Acceleration Act would speed up the time it takes cities and towns to receive federal funding for smaller water projects. U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Civil Works projects with limited federal funding would be allowed a categorical exclusion to bypass the environmental assessment, which can face years long delays, in order to receive money more quickly. 

The Northern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement is asking for $5 billion in federal funding to be implement. Arizona U.S. Senator Mark Kelly pleaded with Congressional members to fund the measure that guarantees water sources for the Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes. 

Arizona Congressman Greg Stanton hopes any Colorado River water rights deal will be split equally among the upper and lower basins. He says disproportionate water cuts for Arizona would be unfair because we lead the way in terms of water conservation. 

February's snowstorm in the high country hopes to produce ample snowmelt runoff for the watersheds. Salt River Project was out on the Verde River watershed last week to measure the snowpack and calculate how much water it will produce. SRP Senior Hydrologist Stephen Flora says they went to Happy Jack to measure the snow water equivalent in the Verde River watershed. 

The U.S. Department of Interior is working on a Colorado River water rights settlement after the seven basin states failed to come to an agreement by the February 14th deadline. Arizona U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego believes a federal settlement will be more favorable for Arizona as opposed to a seven-state agreement. 

The Feb. 14 deadline has passed, and the basin states still don't have a new Colorado River operating agreement amid historic drought. Central Arizona Project President Terry Goddard tells Arizona's Morning News it's the longest, continuous reduction in precipitation in roughly 1,000 years. Lakes Powell and Mead are dangerously close to dead pool. The basin states have until the end of the year to finalize a new operating agreement into state and federal law. 

A new experimental technology called cloud seeding is being used in Arizona to produce more rain. About 30 cloud seeding tests were done in Pinal County last summer. The project cost nearly $220,000 to execute and produced about 34,000-acre feet of rain, for a water cost of roughly $6.50 an acre foot.  

Proposed legislation would allow New York City hedge fund Water Asset Management to sell water from the McMullen Valley aquifer, in Western Arizona, to municipalities in the Valley. Wenden residents worry this will further deplete the aquifer, while WAM maintains they can help extend the life of the aquifer. 

Salt River Project has teamed up with ASU and Airborne Snow Observatories to measure the snowpack in the Salt River Basin. ASO uses aircraft outfitted with lidar technology to measure the snowpack. ASU grad students then put the data into hydrological models to help inform how much water comes into the Salt River Basin. 

The Town of Cave Creek paid $50k in October to buy one acre of land from Harquahala Valley Landowners LLC that would have given them 500 acre feet of groundwater a year for the next 100 years. 

Rio Verde Foothills residents now have access to hauled water thanks to a year’s long project from EPCOR. Scottsdale stopped brining water to the unincorporated community in 2023. EPCOR Senior Vice President of Regulated U.S. Water Shawn Bradford explains this is when EPCOR stepped in and started working with Maricopa County, the City of Scottsdale and the Arizona Corporation Commission on a solution. 

The Center for Biological Diversity has accused federal appraisers of ignoring water concerns in Southern Arizona. The environmental nonprofit received documents showing appraisers for Housing and Urban Development, as well as the Federal Housing Administration are not including water scarcity in their reports for homes in Sierra Vista and Fort Hauchuca. 

Glendale Community College students were awarded grants for their projects creating sustainable solutions to affordable housing and water scarcity. Third-place winner Farah Manasir received $1,000 for her NanoLoop project - Affordable Water Recycling for Arizona Homes and Communities. 

A water study conducted in-part by Northern Arizona University found the Rio Grande River in New Mexico and Texas is potentially at risk of a water shortage due to overuse. By measuring the amount of water coming into the river and subtracting what is being taken out, it found about 50% overuse of the river from what’s available.

The Arizona Board of Regents has awarded $3 million to the Arizona Hub for Agriculture Innovation Research, which will work on solutions to make the industry more sustainable given water challenges. The tri-university initiative will take place in Yuma where they grow high value crops year-round. 

The Arizona and Utah Governors made their cases for their share of Colorado River water at the Western Governors Association winter meeting. The basin states are now up against a February 14th deadline to come to an agreement.

SRP is conducting regular maintenance on a portion of the canal system, but first they must drain some of the water and round up the fish. The fish are transported downstream so crews can move silt, remove trash and complete concrete repairs. 

The Yavapai-Apache Nation near Middle Verde is building a water reclamation facility to replace open sewage lagoons, which will help protect the Verde River. Chairman Buddy Rocha Jr. says the tribal land is on a floodplain. He calls the sewage lagoons irresponsible planning. The reclamation plant will help conserve Verde River water by repurposing it as wastewater. 

SRP is helping to reduce water use at Chandler parks by about 10% each year. It's through their landscape water efficiency assessment program. An independent contractor will conduct 15 assessments over the next five years and kick in $10,000 per project for improvements. 

The town of Camp Verde has recently implemented two water projects to help protect the Verde River. The first involves harvesting rainwater for gardening or farming. And they've also replaced fixtures around town with low water use ones.

A roughly $250 million dollar project called a SCIF will allow the Salt River Project to make water deliveries to Central Arizona Project. CAP Assistant General Manager Darrin Francom says it will allow for more flexibility in years when the Colorado River is under a Tier I shortage, but the Salt and Verde River reservoir systems are full. 

ASU's Arizona Water for All had researchers go door to door in Yuma County to talk about issues community members might be having with their water. Testing and interviews found residents had hard water with high levels of minerals. Research scientist on the project Patrick Thompson said high mineral content doesn't make water unsafe to drink, but it can impact the taste. 

The unincorporated town of Wenden in La Paz County is sinking due to industrial groundwater pumping. La Paz County Supervisor Holly Irwin says there are two solutions. To pass a state law that places restrictions on groundwater pumping or for the governor to create an active management area. 

Veolia's Hubgrade Center in Scottsdale helps over 300 municipalities in North America mange water. As the world's largest water company, Veolia uses artificial intelligence and virtual reality to improve operations at wastewater treatment plants.