Water in the Sonoran Desert is very complex, our almost complete reliance on the Central Arizona Project (CAP) with improvements like the Phoenix Interconnect Project provide a false sense of security. There is no single answer, we should be looking at alternatives to meet our future needs.
The CAP is 100% reliant on two dams, the Glen Canyon with Lake Powell and the Hoover with Lake Mead, Glen Canyon has ongoing issues per the news media (https://www.npr.org/2024/04/17/1245300155/damage-at-glen-canyon-dam). During a presentation by Amanda Monize at the Desert Foothills Library on May 28th (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yBPRs9D1Yao) she mentioned a major failure at either dam could cause a total loss in available water to CAP customers. She stressed that we should examine other opportunities to diversify our water sources to include aquifer replenishment and joining the Bartlett Dam Expansion Project (https://www.srpnet.com/grid-water-management/water-management/lakes/bartlett-dam-project).
According to the Arizona Department of Water Resources website, the Carefree/Cave Creek aquifer is depleting (https://azwatermaps.azwater.gov/gwsiweb/). To navigate the site, zoom in to Cave Creek, click a blue dot to open a summary. To see the details click “Hydrography” and a separate window opens showing water depth over time. We have not looked at alternatives, such as storm water recharge for new builds, to replenish our aquifer.
One final problem, Cave Creek is required to provide water to Desert Hills residents that are current customers. Desert Hills uses both groundwater wells along with a CAP allocation. To reduce their use of Cave Creek CAP water, we should purchase the Open Space zoned acres of State Land Trust holdings, as Apache Wash and Rogers Wash restock the Desert Hills aquifer. Additionally, we should also use a Bartlett Dam allocation to offset existing Cave Creek water going to Desert Hills.
We need alternatives to just the CAP!
Dusty Rhoades
CC Councilman
