Chandler accuses Roosevelt Water Conservation District of failing to honor agreement

PHOENIX — Chandler residents have been paying an East Valley water district over $1.5 million a year for water that isn’t getting delivered, according to Mayor Kevin Hartke.

He said the Roosevelt Water Conservation District (RWCD) is refusing to sign an updated contract that would commit them to providing Chandler its rightful percentage of the water. In response, the city has taken the district to court and is now trying to get the Arizona Supreme Court to hear the case.

“This was certainly not our first choice to publicize or to go to court to get what is rightfully ours, but RWCD has left no other options to us in order to secure what our taxpayers pay for and is contractually ours according to their very existence,” Hartke told KTAR News 92.3 FM on Monday.

Chandler residents can get involved by attending RWCD Board of Directors meetings, which are open to the public. They can also submit their feedback online.

Details about Chandler water issues between city and RWCD

RWCD, which was established in 1917, holds the rights to 5.6% of Salt River Project’s annual water delivery.

The district’s main purpose is to irrigate around 40,000 acres of farmland within the borders of Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and other parts of southeastern Maricopa County.

“RWCD taxes residents in those three cities. So our residents are paying whether they get water or not,” Hartke said. “Here, you have an entity that has a valuable resource in water, has access to it, is taxing residents who live in those municipalities, and yet, they’re not getting a return on that investment of property taxes.”

The city of Chandler has a longstanding agreement with RWCD, which was last updated in 2002. The city says RWCD stopped honoring the terms of a deal to supply 40,545 acre-feet of water.

“About 27% of our city is paying taxes to RWCD,” Hartke said. “That amount this last year was $1.7 million, so it’s just tacked on property bills.”

How do these Chandler water issues impact residents?

The issues between the city and water district date back to 2018. That’s when RWCD voided its agreement with Chandler, Hartke said.

“What we are asking RWCD for is based upon on the amount of water that you receive, give us a rightful percentage of that,” Hartke said. “We’re just asking for year-to-year certainty based upon the amount of water that they have to give.”

Essentially, while Chandler residents currently aren’t impacted by the city’s issue with RWCD, the fact is that the city could be actively using a percentage of its water, which would enrich the water portfolio it’s obligated to have by law.

The issue is made more complicated by the fact that, due to the drought, sometimes RWCD doesn’t have water to give. However, Hartke said sometimes the district will let water go to waste rather than sell it to the city.

“We had that momentous year a few years ago where they actually had water spill over the dam rather than sell to us,” Hartke said. “They lost about 24,000 acre-feet of water, which they would not sell to us.”

This is a huge concern for Hartke when he considers the city’s 100-year water plan, especially considering that 57% of Chandler’s water comes from the Salt and Verde rivers.

“We’re just looking for assurances when they have water that they will rightfully sell to us,” Hartke said. “Our residents have paid close to $8 million over the last 6 years, maybe more, without getting a drop of water.”

KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Heidi Hommel contributed to this report.

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