Title
Intergovernmental Agreement for Storage, Recovery, and Exchange of Colorado River Water Between the Cities of Phoenix and Avondale (Ordinance S-44010)
Description
Request to authorize the City Manager, or his designee, to execute an Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) between the City of Phoenix and the City of Avondale for storage, recovery, and exchange of Colorado River water. Staff anticipates a total payment by Phoenix to Avondale not to exceed $1,350,000 for the 10-year term of the contract to store up to 95,000 acre-feet of Phoenix’s Colorado River water. Further request authorization for the City Controller to disburse all funds related to this item.
Report
Summary
Phoenix continues to pursue a water resource management strategy of storing Colorado River water available today for use during future shortages. This IGA replicates the successes of the Phoenix-Tucson water storage and exchange agreement on a local level. Phoenix will deliver a portion of its Colorado River water through Salt River Project (SRP) canals and laterals to Avondale's Wetlands Underground Storage Facility for long-term storage. Phoenix will earn long-term storage credits at the facility. During times of shortage, Phoenix can recover those credits (pump water) from Avondale's wells and exchange the pumped water with an equal amount of Avondale's Colorado River water delivered to Phoenix through the Central Arizona Project aqueduct.
The initial agreement will include the option to store up to 1,800 acre-feet in 2017 and up to 5,000 acre-feet of Phoenix's Colorado River water during 2018, with the potential to store additional annual volumes of up to 10,000 acre-feet in each subsequent year, based upon the agreement of the parties.
This agreement provides benefits of resilience and sustainability to both cities. Phoenix will secure a location to store additional volumes of water that can be retrieved through exchange, and Avondale, a water system that relies primarily on groundwater, benefits through increased volumes of water in its aquifer.
Contract Term
This IGA contract term is through Dec. 31, 2027, with an option to extend the term an additional 10 years, which may be exercised by the City Manager or designee.
Financial Impact
Phoenix will pay Avondale an initial storage fee of $12.25 per acre-foot of water stored in the Avondale facility, which represents Avondale’s operation, maintenance and repair costs for its Wetlands Underground Storage Facility. Staff anticipates a total payment by Phoenix to Avondale not to exceed $1,350,000 for the 10-year term of the contract to store up to 95,000 acre-feet of Phoenix’s Colorado River water. This does not include the cost of the water or transportation costs, which are covered by other contracts and not payable to Avondale. Funds are available as part of the Water Services Department’s Capital Improvement Program (CIP).
Location
Water subject to this agreement will be stored at the Avondale Wetlands Underground Storage Facility located in the area of 120th Avenue and McDowell Road in Avondale.
Department
Responsible Department
This item is submitted by Deputy City Manager Karen Peters and the Water Services Department.