As usual, City Hall was the pool for damp debate.
After sharp exchanges over “recycled water” at previous City Council meetings, an $8 million water credits purchase contract was volleyed June 23.
Councilman Barry Graham splashed first, with “this should have stayed on the consent agenda.”
Mayor Lisa Borowsky dunked Graham, insisting the public had the right to hear details of a complex plan.
After a presentation, Borowsky was unsatisfied with the contract, pushing to add an “out” clause.
After extensive discussion, Borowsky grudgingly acknowledged none of the other elected officials shared her concerns. So the mayor went along with a motion by Councilwoman Solange Whitehead to approve the agenda item for a contract “in the amount of $8.25 million for the purchase of 15,000 acre feet of long-term storage credits in the Harquahala Valley.”
A unanimous vote sealed a somewhat cryptic deal.
Scottsdale’s elected officials have had “executive session” meetings – not open to the public – about Harquahala Valley water for months.
The negotiated contract was, as Graham stressed, originally on the June 23 consent agenda – meaning it was scheduled to be voted on as part of a 25-item clump, without a presentation or public questions/comments.
But Borowsky demanded the item be brought out for more information and inspection.
With anticipated, deep cuts expected in the Colorado River/Central Arizona Project the city relies on for some two-thirds of its water, Graham and Borowsky agreed adding to the city’s “water portfolio” is a great idea.
The city typically consumes 70,000 to 80,000 acre feet of water per year.
Though not quite a “drop in the bucket,” the $8 million will buy – as a one-time quantity, or “one and done,” as Whitehead put it – less than a third of what the city uses in water every year.
Are there “hidden costs” to turn the credits into actual Scottsdale water?
Responding to questions from the Progress, in a June 17 email, city spokeswoman Holly Peralta stated, “There are no transportation costs associated with this proposed purchase itself.
“The item before City Council is the acquisition of storage credits, not the delivery of water.”
Even so, the June 23 meeting featured council discussion/debate about the transportation of the Harquahala Valley water to Scottsdale – 50-plus miles away.
Borowsky noted state agencies must approve the transportation of the water. The mayor asked Thyra Ryden-Diaz, the city’s interim Water Resources director, how soon Scottsdale could receive the water.
“After we built the infrastructure,” Ryden-Diaz answered.
However, she did not explain the cost of the infrastructure, which was also not shown in the agenda report.
Comments/discussion
Betty Janik, a former councilwoman, was the only public speaker on the Harquahala deal.
She raised concerns that the water being purchased may have dangerously high arsenic levels and require transportation some 60 miles to Scottsdale.
Treating and/or transporting the water would be expensive, Janik stated – pushing City Council to put the money toward the city’s Advance Water Purification system. Graham and others have sneered at the water recycling process as “toilets to taps.”
Graham asked Ryden-Diaz to respond to Janik’s concerns about arsenic.
“We do not have concerns about additional treatment from this area,” the water director answered.
When Councilman Adam Kwasman followed with a similar question, Ryden-Diaz repeated, “We are not concerned about this particular location …
“At this location there’s been a considerable amount of study. We are not concerned with arsenic at this location,” the interim water director stated.
The satisfied one representative.
“Scottsdale’s not going to feed the people poisoned water,” Kwasman stressed.
City Manager Greg Caton jumped in to provide background.
Though it is not in the agenda report, Caton said the purchase surfs on “an existing groundwater right in the Harquahala Valley in partnership with two golf courses – and that is a groundwater right to the tune of 3,800 acre feet on an annual basis.
“There is significant infrastructure that is needed in order to convey that water rights to get it to Scottsdale, that is a significant infrastructure cost, which could include treatment.”
The projected infrastructure “will be used in combination with this acquisition. If it were just a standalone 15,000 acre feet, 60 miles west of here, what does that do? How does that help us?” the city manager asked, rhetorically.
“Well, it’s the infrastructure for the other water right in conjunction with this that really brings it to our customers here in Scottsdale,” Caton said.
Though again without providing construction costs, Caton said the Harquahala Valley system is coming soon: “We look to break ground in the fall of 2027 and have (an) approximately 18- to 24-month construction cycle.”
The ordinance notes this is part of a plan “to develop a diverse and resilient water supply portfolio to respond to unstable water supplies from the Colorado River.”
According to the contract, the credits are connected to “water stored in the Vidler Underground Storage Facility located in the Harquahala Non-Expansion Area (INA).”
The water-rich Harquahala area is near Buckeye, far west of Scottsdale.
The report explains long-term storage credits “are water rights designated by the Arizona Department of Water Resources through a permitting process.”
Credits are given when water “cannot reasonably be used directly, the water was not recovered on an annual basis, and the
water would not have been naturally recharged within the Active Management Area (AMA).”
The Phoenix area “currently holds approximately 8.1-million-acre feet of long-term storage credits” – with Scottsdale owning 277,691 of the credits.
Now, city officials are urging City Council to add to Scottsdale’s water portfolio by purchasing long-term storage credits from Vidler Water Company are within the
Harquahala area, which can be transported to Scottsdale.
“This allows further diversification and augmentation of Scottsdale’s water portfolio outside of the Phoenix AMA,” the report states.
Long-term storage credits do not expire and can be held by the city indefinitely, according to the report.
“The city may also opt to either pump water to redeem these credits in the future,” the report notes, “or if they become unnecessary, sell the credits. The long-term storage credits offers the city a high degree of flexibility.”
Lexical spray
The day after the meeting, the Progress asked Janik if she was satisfied with the answers to her questions.
“It appeared that the water director and city manager had a difference of opinion on cost of water transport – especially concerning the question of water contamination and required purification as preparation for ‘wheeling’ on the CAP,” she responded.
Though she said purchasing the water was “a good decision,” Janik added, “I was not satisfied with the answers. More information should be provided.”
Nothing new there, she snarkily added:
“In general, this council majority has avoided providing complete information on many issues of importance to our residents. Their promise of transparency rings false.”
According to the governor’s office, “The Harquahala Groundwater Basin is a massive, drought-proof water supply located in western Maricopa and La Paz counties. Designated as an agricultural transportation basin, it holds over 8 million acre-feet of water and is now used by central Arizona cities – such as Buckeye and Queen Creek – to secure long-term, drought-resistant water supplies.”
In 2025, the Arizona Department of Water Resources allowed Harquahala water to be purchased by outside municipalities.
While Queen Creek and Buckeye whipped out their checkbooks, the town of Cave Creek – bordering on far North Scottsdale – got cold feet.
Cave Creek was slated to spend $11 million for rights to 500 acre feet of water for 100 years.
After approving a tentative deal, Cave Creek Town Council ultimately voted not to proceed with the purchase due to excessive infrastructure and cost unknowns.
Before the vote, Graham attempted to flush away critics:
“What we saw here tonight was a bunch of water grandstanding … just stoking fears about carcinogenics, arsenic.
“I believe this should have just passed on consent but you had to go through the grandstanding.”
“Councilman Graham,” Borowsky responded, “when you’re looking to spend $8.25 million of taxpayer money they’re entitled to at least a brief presentation and discussion on important issues.”
Her exit spritz:
“I’m glad the public got to hear about this.”
Magic number?
Curiously, the 15,000 acre feet of water being purchased matches what Scottsdale has been saving via “water banking” over the last decade.
“On average for the last five years,” Gretchen Baumgardner, then-Scottsdale Water’s policy manager, said in 2023, “we’ve recharged around 15,000 acre feet per year.”
The Harquahala 15,000 purchase brings the city’s water credits total to just under 300,000.