Phoenix water supply ‘in a good situation’ despite drought, according to SRP planner

PHOENIX – Despite worsening drought conditions in Arizona, the metro Phoenix water supply is “actually in a good situation,” according to a top Salt River Project (SRP) planner.

“Even though we’ve had one of the driest winters on record, the water supplies stored in our reservoirs were … a little over 70% full,” Christa McJunkin, SRP director of water strategy, told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Thursday. “That’s enough water to get us by for two more years, even if there’s no more additional rain. So, we’re actually in a good situation.”

Over half of Arizona, including all of Maricopa County, is currently experiencing extreme drought conditions, according to the latest U.S. Drought Monitor map. As of Thursday, 52.9% of the state was in extreme drought, up from just 8.3% three months ago.

SRP planners ‘always assuming we’re going to be in drought’

However, these conditions are nothing new for SRP, a not-for-profit utility company.

“We’re always assuming we’re going to be in drought. … We make sure that we manage the water supplies available in our reservoirs carefully, and we subsidize or supplement that with groundwater when necessary,” McJunkin said.

In fact, metro Phoenix water supply planners stay prepared for a range of possibilities, from drought to deluge.

“Things can change very quickly on the watershed,” McJunkin said. “It was only two years ago that our reservoirs were so full, we were having to release water into the river.”

Metro Phoenix water supply runs deeper than SRP

SRP, which manages a sprawling reservoir and canal system, is one of several contributors to the Valley’s water supply.

“SRP’s water supplies are entitled to a certain area of the Valley, and there’s other water supplies that supplement that,” McJunkin said. “So, there’s water from the Central Arizona Project, which comes from the Colorado River, and also groundwater [and] the reuse of reclaimed water.”

SRP was formed in 1903 to develop a dependable water supply for agricultural use in the Valley. However, decades of urbanization have actually reduced the demand for water despite growing population.

“If you look back into say the ‘50s, which is really the peak of agriculture, we were delivering over 1 million acre-feet a year. … And now, we deliver about 750,000 acre-feet a year,” McJunkin said.

As a result, the metro Phoenix water supply has a built-in resilience.

“We’re able to carry over storage, meaning we don’t use all the water that’s available at any one year. But the extra that we didn’t need that year, we store it for next year. And that’s what gets us through really dry years like this one,” McJunkin said.

While the Valley’s water system is designed to withstand the current drought situation, planners are keeping an eye on the future, too.

“We have a very positive kind of conservation culture in the Valley where we’re very careful with our water supplies,” McJunkin said. “But it will be necessary to augment those supplies, and there’s projects in the works to do that.”

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