In order to combat drought in Arizona, a partnership between the state’s publicly owned supplier of Colorado River water and private water company Liberty Utilities has been utilized to replenish Groundwater.
With financial aid from the Central Arizona Project, Liberty Utilities will construct an $8 million recharge facility near Luke Air Force Base.
The CAP will pay $6 million of that cost in exchange for getting credit under the Groundwater Management Act for replenishing water extracted by its members in active management areas.
This partnership helps both the public and private entities to meet their legal obligations to preserve groundwater.
AZ Central reports:
“Arizona has hundreds of private water companies, including many that operate in the active-management areas of the state’s urbanized regions, that are required to abide by Arizona’s Groundwater Management code.
One of those is Liberty, which serves about 17,500 water and wastewater customers in the Goodyear and Litchfield Park area, mostly with groundwater. Besides helping Liberty meet its recharge obligations, the deal has the added benefit of helping control groundwater subsidence in an area of the Valley near Luke AFB.
The key here is innovation. Last year, Arizona, Nevada and California agreed to an unprecedented deal to “bank” water in Lake Mead, a move that potentially could stave off the harshest effects of long-term drought for all three states. While infinitely smaller in scale, this deal similarly represents innovative thinking.”
It is always very encouraging to see parties from different sectors collaborating and solving infrastructure management issues in innovative ways.
Inframanage.com notes that this innovative solution has resulted from both the requirement to meet State legislative requirements (a level of service obligation) and ‘out of the box’ thinking with the recharge facility, funding, and cooperation agreements (a demand management solution).
Implementing innovative solutions and different ways of doing business going forward is an integral part of infrastructure management, and it is also a component of ensuring that holistic, sustainable delivery of required services is achieved.
Leave a Reply