Scottsdale buys $8.25M in Harquahala water credits—what residents should know
Scottsdale AZ – City Council approved buying 15,000 acre-feet of Harquahala long-term storage credits for $8.25M. The question: how that “stored” water becomes usable.
Scottsdale City Council approved the purchase of 15,000 acre-feet of Harquahala Valley Long-Term Storage Credits for $8.25 million, increasing the city’s stored-water credit inventory to nearly 293,000 acre-feet.
Quick deal snapshot
The city says the June 23 approval would pay $8.25 million for the added storage credits—equating to $550 per acre-foot. The credits represent water stored underground, generated through storage of Central Arizona Project water, and located in Arizona’s Harquahala Valley.
Scottsdale also said it already maintained about 277,691 acre-feet of Long-Term Storage Credits, so the new purchase adds to an existing pool of stored supplies.
City officials said the purchase will be funded from the Water Fund Capital Improvement Program contingency, then transferred to a newly created capital project dedicated to acquiring the credits.
What “Long-Term Storage Credits” mean for residents
City officials describe Long-Term Storage Credits as working like a water savings account: when water can’t be used right away, it can be stored underground through authorized recharge programs. The Arizona Department of Water Resources tracks those stored supplies as credits, which can later be recovered, transferred, or sold. When a credit is recovered, the credit is redeemed and removed from the account.
The city also said these credits never expire and can be held indefinitely as part of its drought planning.
Why the city says it boosts drought resilience
Scottsdale’s news release frames the Harquahala purchase as adding flexibility and diversification as Colorado River planning continues amid uncertainty.
Specifically, the city points to the credits’ location in the Harquahala Irrigation Non-Expansion Area west of Phoenix and says Arizona law allows groundwater associated with those credits to be transported into an Active Management Area—creating opportunities to diversify beyond the Phoenix metro’s more traditional supplies.
The city also said the purchase aligns with Scottsdale Water’s long-range planning and its Water Strategic Plan, which is designed to prepare for a range of shortage scenarios.
The practical question: how does “stored” water become usable water?
Even if the city owns more storage credits on paper, residents’ day-to-day question is what happens next—how that underground water gets recovered and then moved into the system that can supply Scottsdale.
Local coverage highlighted that concern. Scottsdale REALTORS®, republishing coverage of the June 23 discussion, reported it was not clear what it would cost to build the infrastructure needed to get the Harquahala water over to Central Arizona Project infrastructure that could ultimately deliver it to Scottsdale.
Arsenic concern: what’s raised, and what the city says
Scottsdale REALTORS® coverage also reported that former councilwoman Betty Janik raised an arsenic concern, saying some of the water in the Harquahala Valley has arsenic and would need treatment before entering the CAP system and being transferred to Scottsdale.
In that same coverage, Scottsdale’s interim Water Resources leader, Thyra Ryden-Diaz, said there is a “considerable amount of study” and that the city is not concerned about arsenic in this location. She also said other cities pursuing water in the same valley may have concerns depending on where their wells are, and that the Scottsdale water campus has the ability to remove arsenic.
What to watch going forward
Because local coverage said there were “no answers forthcoming” at the June 23 meeting about the cost of delivering the water to Scottsdale, residents may want to watch for follow-up details on:
- Delivery logistics—what steps are needed to recover and move the credits’ water into Scottsdale’s supply chain
- Infrastructure and cost estimates for getting the water to the point where it can be used
- Treatment requirements, if any, tied to the quality of water recovered for transfer
Sources
- City of Scottsdale: Scottsdale adds new layer of water security with Harquahala credit purchase
- Patch (AZ): Scottsdale Spends $8.25 Million To Prepare For Colorado River Uncertainty
- Scottsdale REALTORS®: Scottsdale Buys Water, Unsure How to Deliver It
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