As a decades-long drought continues and water scarcity remains a critical issue in the Southwest, it is more important than ever to ensure current and future water security through a variety of innovative methods.
Global Water has strived to efficiently manage local water supplies since its inception in 2003, through recycled water throughout the community, which has saved more than 16 billion gallons of water to date. Global Water is continuing to identify methods to conserve water to sustainably source it for years to come, one of which includes the construction of a new basin recharge facility in Maricopa.
Global Water, the City of Maricopa and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers are proud to partner together for the new recharge facility planned to be constructed next to Global Water’s Campus 1 wastewater treatment facility in Maricopa. The City of Maricopa received a $6.5 million grant from the federal government to complete the project in partnership with Global Water. This project will allow excess class A+ recycled water to recharge the underground aquifer within the city. The recharge facility construction efforts will be managed by the Army Corps of Engineers and the site will include interpretive signage for safety and education.
A basin recharge facility, also known as an underground water storage facility, stores water by making controlled releases of water into a constructed basin where the water then percolates into and replenishes the underlying aquifer. An aquifer is an underground layer of permeable sediment and rock material saturated by water percolating into the ground from the surface by way of gravity.
Global Water holds a Designation of Assured Water Supply in the area, issued by the Arizona Department of Water Resources, assuring a water supply that will be physically, legally and continuously available for the next 100 years. However, Global Water continuously strives for additional future water security in as many ways as possible as part of its Total Water Management Plan.
Water recharge and recycled water use are essential components of TWM, as they meet the overarching principles of utilizing the right water for the right use in a manner that reduces demand of scarce and non-renewable water supplies. Water savings from the recharge facility project will benefit the aquifer in an important way by reducing the impacts of local groundwater pumping through the recharge of recycled water back into the aquifer. This will contribute to the resiliency of local water supplies as the City of Maricopa continues to grow and develop.
Global Water has long been involved in statewide efforts to study the local groundwater basin through many efforts like leading the Eloy and Maricopa-Stanfield Basin Study funded in part by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation. The study has an objective of addressing water supply uncertainties, assessing current and future water demands and supplies and developing strategies to help ensure future water supply sustainability. This new recharge project will help meet the goals of the EMS Basin Study and demonstrate Global Water’s and the City of Maricopa’s dedication to ensuring the long-term sustainability of the water supply in the basin.
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