What is the Big Chino Water Ranch Project?

It is a project to import groundwater from a ranch located in the Big Chino Sub-basin for use by the communities in the PrAMA, as authorized by the Arizona Legislature in ARS §45-555(E).  The Arizona Legislature provided this water 17 years ago as a substitute for the City of Prescott’s allocation of Central Arizona Project water which was too costly for Prescott to access.
 
Why are Prescott and Prescott Valley Involved in the Project?

Prescott agreed to partner with Prescott Valley on the Project for regional benefits... both communities could share the costs of the Project as well as the water.  Prescott Valley is a relatively new town that did not receive a Central Arizona Partnership allocation.  But, like Prescott, it needs an alternative water supply to achieve a balance between the annual amount of groundwater it withdraws within the PrAMA and the amount naturally and artificially replenished – i.e., to reach Safe-Yield.
 
Why Isn’t the Solution to Safe-Yield to Stop Growth in the PrAMA?

Two reasons:
First, the communities can’t stop growth in the PrAMA.  Planning and zoning requirements can slow growth but constitutional protections will ultimately allow owners to develop their property.  These development rights include the ability, under State law, to bypass municipal regulation and water systems altogether by drilling exempt wells and installing septic tanks.  This will have the cumulative effect of drawing down the aquifer and returning little or nothing back in the way of recharge.

Second, even if no growth occurred in the PrAMA from here forward, the experts acknowledge that there is not enough water to reach Safe-Yield based on the current demand of the existing population.
 
Why Isn’t the Solution to Safe-Yield Stricter Conservation Requirements?

Water conservation is a key component to good water management, not just in rural Arizona, but throughout the State.  To that end, Prescott and Prescott Valley have both implemented aggressive conservation programs.  This includes inverted water rate structures (where unit costs increase as water consumption rises), meter and line replacements, and community education programs.  The results have been dramatic.  For example, Prescott Valley’s per-capita water use ranks among the lowest 5 percent of regulated municipalities.  And, the average water use in the PrAMA is 180 gallons per person, per day (almost three times less than the Phoenix area’s 515 gallons per person, per day).  Still, even this aggressive conservation effort is not enough to reach Safe-Yield in the PrAMA without an alternative, long-term, assured water supply.

Won’t the Project Benefit the PrAMA at the Expense of the Verde River?

No.  The communities are committed to ensuring that the authorized pumping from the Big Chino Sub-basin will not adversely impact the upper Verde River or its habitat.  The communities have already invested millions of dollars to move the point of withdrawal 20 miles away from the headwaters of the upper Verde River. This location is beyond a natural geologic barrier between the groundwater pumped and any water that might be connected to surface flows in the river.  Not a single valid scientific study demonstrates that the groundwater pumped by the communities from this remote location will impact the flows of the upper Verde River.  Instead, there has been conjecture about potential impacts sometime in the future.  If things change and actual impacts from the communities’ groundwater pumping are demonstrated by existing or future monitoring programs, the communities have publicly committed to remedy such impacts.

Won’t the Project Reduce Water Supplies Available to Verde Valley Communities?

No.  The Project is located far enough from upper Verde River headwaters that it does not pose a threat to water supplies available to Verde Valley communities.  The Project will be monitored closely enough that it never will pose such a threat.  While the Project has been vilified by Salt River Project, the Center for Biological Diversity, and others, it is not the true threat to water supplies for Verde Valley communities.  The true threat to these water supplies, and to water supplies throughout the State, is the continued growth of water uses that are outside the assured water supply requirements and subject to little or no regulation of location, environmental impacts, or conservation.  The energy that has been directed against the Project would be better spent trying to find solutions to this dilemma in Yavapai County and throughout the State.

Why is Salt River Project Challenging the Project?

It is noteworthy that Salt River Project’s public challenge to the Project came shortly after other parties unveiled a separate project that would have pumped groundwater from a location close to the headwaters of the upper Verde River.  Even though Chino Valley, Prescott and Prescott Valley now consider approaches that would locate all pumping far from those headwaters, SRP continues to express concern about potential long-term impacts on upper Verde River flows from any groundwater pumping within the Big Chino Sub-basin.  SRP has presented no scientific evidence in support of this concern.  The communities will work to alleviate the stated concerns of any entities with interests in the upper Verde River.  The communities must also protect the legitimate interests of their citizens to avoid unfair limits and costs imposed by Phoenix area interests on these critical rural water supplies.  All rural communities in Arizona that rely on groundwater supplies to support their populations would be irreparably harmed if SRP succeeds in laying claim to virtually all groundwater in the State based on an assertion that it is connected to surface water rights.

Where Does the Project Go From Here?

The communities remain committed to seeing the Project through to completion.  It is essential to their long-term vitality.  The communities are also committed to being good neighbors and good stewards of the upper Verde River and its habitat.  These are not mutually-exclusive commitments.  They can and will be accomplished as the Project moves ahead over the coming months and years. 

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