SRP water-banking facility back online after year pause to assist with drought

PHOENIX – After more than a year of being offline, one of Arizona’s largest water-banking facilities is back in operation this month, officials announced Wednesday.

The Granite Reef Underground Storage Project stores water for use during prolonged drought periods or when a shortage is declared on the Colorado River system, which officials expect to happen in 2022.

The stored water, nearly half of which is stored on behalf of the Arizona Water Banking Authority, would then be available to be pumped out of the ground and delivered to residents.

Through artificial groundwater recharge, water is retained in large, porous recharge basins and allowed to seep into the natural underground aquifer below, which stores and transmits groundwater, consisting of gravel, sand, slit and clay and varying in thickness from a few hundred feet to a few thousand feet.

Last year’s storms halted operations when the delivery channel was washed out by flooding, but based on a land-lease agreement signed in 2013, operations will currently run until 2033.

The GRUSP is operated and maintained by SRP, and owned by Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa, Phoenix, Scottsdale, Tempe and SRP.

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