Seminar: Phoenix Metro Area Water Resources: Challenges and Future Opportunities

Abstract:

The Phoenix Area water supply consists of groundwater and two surface water sources, the Colorado River and the Salt-Verde River system. The long-term water balance and response to drought differs between the sources, with storage in the Colorado River reservoirs sharply declining during multidecade drought and Salt-Verde River reservoir storage increasing slightly. Declining Colorado River supplies, lost reservoir capacity from sedimentation, and conjunctively managing surface water and groundwater supplies present future challenges to Arizona water resources and there is currently not an individual solution to address these challenges. There are, however, several opportunities to leverage existing infrastructure and create new infrastructure to capitalize on future wet years to increase water supply sustainability and successfully manage supplies through the deeper droughts of the future.

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