Scottsdale to maintain water levels despite upcoming cuts

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(The Center Square)- The city of Scottsdale is prepared to maintain its current level of water service for residents as it braces for upcoming cuts to its water supply from the Colorado River.

Last week, the U.S Department of the Interior released a final environmental impact statement that would require Arizona, California and Nevada to reduce their water usage from the Colorado River for the next decade.

These states could potentially be required to cut water usage by 3 million acre-feet yearly.

Other states that use the Colorado River, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming, will not have to undergo water usage reductions.

Both Republican and Democratic leaders in Arizona have criticized the federal government’s plan for cutting water for the state.

As a city, Scottsdale gets 70% of its water from the Colorado River.

Bryan Bouchard, the city’s water resources information officer, told The Center Square that what is happening to the Colorado River is not a surprise to Scottsdale.

As water levels in the river have decreased over the last few decades, Bouchard said the city has been planning ahead and looking for ways to maintain water service for its customers.

Scottsdale gets 81,000 acre-feet of water from the Colorado River, Bouchard explained, adding that the city does not use all of it every year. For the water the city doesn’t use, Scottsdale will put it in its aquifer to save for situations like these, he noted.

Bouchard said the water cuts are coming, so the city is focusing on reacting to whatever those cuts are and adjusting its system “to be able to continue to meet demand,” specifically in the summer.

Scottsdale’s water demand in the summer is 20% higher than in the winter, he said.

After the federal government announces its decision on what exact water cuts will be made to the Colorado River, Scottsdale will access its “additional groundwater resources to make up that difference,” Bouchard added.

Scottsdale has invested in groundwater resources to have access to “more groundwater by injecting more water into (the city’s aquifer) through (its) advanced water treatment facility,” Bouchard said.

The city has also purchased almost 15,000 long-term storage credits in 2026 to add to its “nearly 300,000 acre feet of long-term storage credits,” he said.

According to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, long-term storage credits are “earned in the process of storing water. These credits can be recovered in the future to be used for various reasons, including establishing an Assured Water Supply or fulfilling replenishment obligations.“

Scottsdale is investing in different ways to ensure its water source is not as dependent on the Colorado River, Bouchard said.

The city has a lot of resources available to it from the  Harquahala, which is a designated groundwater basin west of Phoenix, he said.

 Harquahala is an area where cities can extract groundwater after getting approval from the state.

According to Bouchard, Scottsdale is “building the infrastructure to access groundwater from that area and bring it” to the city.

The city is a few years away from being able to do this, Bouchard said.

Scottsdale will additionally have six new groundwater wells coming online, Bouchard noted.

These new groundwater wells will give the city access to new water by using some of its saved-up long-term storage credits, he explained.

Bouchard said Scottsdale is looking into “advanced water purification,” which would allow the city to take treated wastewater and have it go “through an advanced water purification process,” and raising the Bartlett Dam so it can have more water resources.

On top of all this, Bouchard said the city is also open to investing in new opportunities such as desalination projects.

While the city is finding ways to access more water sources, he noted Scottsdale is encouraging its residents, businesses and municipal operations to use less water in places where the city “can’t benefit from the wastewater flows it produces.”

The main area this applies to is outdoor water use, Bouchard explained.

He said 60% of the city’s residential customers reside in single-family homes, which see 65% of their water go toward outside usage, which can only be used once.