How Phoenix is preparing for Colorado River water cuts
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Phoenix has spent decades preparing for the type of Colorado River cutbacks it will face starting next year, but making up for them will still require lots of sacrifice and investment.
Why it matters: The city doesn't yet know exactly how much water it will lose from the dwindling river, and Phoenix is pursuing several avenues to make up the difference from other sources.
- "We will do whatever is necessary to balance supply and demand and keep the city running on water," city Water Services Department director Max Wilson told Axios late last month.
Catch up quick: In August, the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation cemented its two-year plan for the river, with Arizona taking the largest cut — 760,000 acre-feet, enough to serve more than 1.5 million single-family homes.
- The Central Arizona Project (CAP), which provides Colorado River water to Phoenix and other Valley cities, will see a 50% cut in its allocation.
- That came after years of stalled negotiations between states in the river's Upper Basin (Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico and Utah) and the Lower Basin states of Arizona, California and Nevada.
Zoom in: Phoenix may not know how much CAP water it will lose until early October, Wilson says, though Phoenix relies less on CAP than may other Valley cities.
- 58% of the city's water comes from the Salt and Verde rivers, while the Colorado River accounts for 40%.
- The final 2% comes from groundwater pumping.
Losing any chunk of its Colorado River water will force Phoenix to fill in the gaps.
- Phoenix has about 700,000 acre-feet of water stored underground, which can make up for immediate shortages.
- However, groundwater is not particularly renewable, and the city wants to limit it to a single-digit percentage of its water portfolio.
- So, the city is pursuing several projects to make the most of its other water supplies.
State of play: In 2023, the city finished a $300 million drought pipeline to pump Salt and Verde water to roughly 400,000 North Phoenix residents primarily served by CAP.
- Next year, the city will open a water purification plant to recycle 7 million gallons of drinking water daily. Two more are slated to come online by 2033.
- Phoenix is also part of an effort to expand Bartlett Dam to capture more Verde river water that is otherwise lost during heavy rains and flooding.
Yes, but: That project, which is currently undergoing environmental review, wouldn't be completed until the mid-2030s.
- It'll also cost around $3 billion. There's no federal funding currently attached.
- "The federal government has an opportunity, and perhaps an obligation, to step up if they're going to take away this amount of water from us," he says.
Friction point: Conservation is also a part of the equation — the city is expected to enter Stage 2 of its Drought Management Plan when the river cuts take effect next year.
- That may include drought surcharges on water bills, the amount of which has yet to be determined.
- Forced water-use reductions wouldn't be triggered until Stage 3 of the plan, dubbed a "water emergency."
The bottom line: Phoenix can't conserve its way out of the approaching crisis, putting more importance on its (costly) efforts to find new supplies.
- "Should we be panicking?" Wilson asks. "The answer is no, because we will solve these problems."