Water district to help fund SRP piping to CAP canal near Bartlett Dam
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We’d like to move water from SRP to CAP someday especially if we get new Verde River supplies that we’re working with SRP on. So they’re going to do a technical study on the alignment and how we’d actually do that, if we have to bore through a mountain, what size pipe and what size pump facility.”
The Apache Junction Water Utilities Community Facilities District is to join seven municipalities and two agencies in paying a portion of $750,000 to study what is needed to pipe water from Salt River Project reservoirs to the Central Arizona Project canal near Bartlett Dam.
Water can be moved from the CAP to SRP but cannot be moved the other way, which would be done with an interconnect facility project, District Director Michael Loggins said at the water district board’s April 18 meeting.
“We have an interconnect with SRP that gravity-flows down to it so we can move water in one direction currently,” he said to the water utilities community facilities district board, which is comprised of Apache Junction City Council members.
“We’d like to move water from SRP to CAP someday especially if we get new Verde River supplies that we’re working with SRP on. So they’re going to do a technical study on the alignment and how we’d actually do that, if we have to bore through a mountain, what size pipe and what size pump facility,” Loggins said.
The Apache Junction water district would pay along with Carefree, Gilbert, Mesa, Scottsdale, Chandler, Glendale, Phoenix, SRP and CAP, according to his presentation.
“Obviously CAP and SRP are going to be the big funders in this project because they are going to use the most of that water supply to move it both directions. Our portion for the technical evaluation would be about $45,000 and this is based on the size and the flow requirements that we would require if we had to move water from one facility to the next,” Loggins said.
The final agreement for the technical evaluation will be brought before the Apache Junction water district board in the next month or two. Next would be the design and then construction in three to four years, he said.
The ability to move water from SRP to the CAP canal will be critical in the future since the district will be purchasing Verde River water stored behind Bartlett Dam. The interconnect facility project started about two years ago but was put on hold because of a Bartlett Dam project, Loggins said at the board’s Feb. 21 meeting, according to the meeting’s minutes.
SRP and CAP in 2021 hired HDR to conduct a preliminary engineering feasibility study for the interconnection project that could allow water stored in SRP reservoirs to be pumped into the CAP canal and be delivered to customers, according to an SRP release.
“The feasibility study will help the two water utilities determine how a project of this type could be constructed. The SRP/CAP interconnection facility could increase the use of existing infrastructure and provide additional flexibility for coordinated operations between two of the largest providers of water in the state,” it states.
“If the (SRP/CAP interconnection facility) moves forward it could allow water stored in SRP reservoirs to be transported to customers that have water treatment plants outside of SRP’s water service territory. One example of this are the cities that have ownership of water within the conservation space behind Roosevelt Dam. SRP would be able to deliver water stored by Mesa, Chandler, Scottsdale, Phoenix and Glendale to municipal treatment plants through CAP, allowing them to better utilize this important water resource,” according to the SRP release.
Water district
The Apache Junction water district supplies well water (groundwater) pumped from the Eastern Salt River Sub-Basin Aquifer, which flows southwesterly under Apache Junction and its surrounding areas. The groundwater is treated for arsenic removal where necessary, disinfected with chlorine, pumped into storage tanks and blended with Colorado River (surface) water.
The surface water is transported through the Central Arizona Project canal system and filtered and purified at the Superstition Area Water Plant before being introduced into the distribution system.
The water district can also receive treated CAP water from the city of Mesa through an interconnect for a backup supply of water, if needed.
Richard H. Dyer can be reached at rdyer@iniusa.org, or on Twitter @rhdyer. To voice your opinion on this story, connect with us at AzOpinions@iniusa.org.
Richard Dyer Managing Editor | East Valley @RHDyer
Meet Richard Richard Dyer has worked at Independent Newsmedia Inc. USA since 1987, starting his career in Apache Junction as a copy editor and being promoted over the years to work as the editor of the Mesa Independent, news services editor for the East Valley office in Apache Junction, managing editor for the East Valley office, news services editor for the East Valley office and eventually also for the newspapers at INI’s then-Chandler office, managing editor again and as a news editor covering Apache Junction/Gold Canyon and Queen Creek. He helped start the Florence Independent while the news editor covering Apache Junction and Mesa news. In January 2023, he became associate managing editor for the East Valley newspapers and in August 2023 became managing editor for the East Valley newspapers of Chandler/Tempe, Gilbert, Queen Creek, Florence, Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon, while also reporting on Mesa and Apache Junction/Gold Canyon.
Community: Since 2009, he has worked as a volunteer to design The Blue Guitar Magazine, Blue Guitar Jr. magazine and Unstrung magazine, which are projects of The Arizona Consortium for the Arts; and since 2014, has been overseeing the art submissions.
Education: University of Arizona with a master of arts in journalism and a bachelor of science in agricultural communication. Also continuing education at Mesa Community College in welding in a metal art sculpture class.
Random fact: Saw his first tornado on May 31, 2010, which was classified as an EF-2, as part of a stormchasing tour group.
Hobbies: He is an artist of welded-steel sculptures, selling his artwork at juried and non-juried art shows.
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