The City appreciates your conservation efforts, and your continued observance of Time-of-Day watering times - after 8pm and before 8am. To see more information, click below.
The City of Prescott is one of four (4) incorporated communities that reside within the State’s Prescott Active Management Area (PrAMA) and the remainder of the land is unincorporated Yavapai County. The PrAMA was defined by the passage of the 1980 Groundwater Management Act (Code) and is regulated by the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR).
Due to stipulations in the Code, in 1999, the Assured Water Supply rules were invoked in the PrAMA, which restricts the use of groundwater supplies for new subdivision development. For more information, see the Final Determination on the Safe-Yield Status of the Prescott AMA.
In June 2021, ADWR released 2021 Prescott AMA Groundwater Flow Model Update which provides improved information on the structure and influences on the local aquifers. The ADWR website contains additional information on all aspects of water management with in the PrAMA.
View meeting schedule for both Mayor’s Commission on Water Policy Review & Monitoring and Council Subcommittee on Water Issues. Both of these committees discuss water related issues and water policy.
In 1999, the City was issued its first Assured Water Supply Designation, more commonly known as a Decision and Order (D&O), by ADWR. In order for the City to obtain and maintain this designation, it must demonstrate, among other requirements, it’s water supplies will be physically, legally, and continually available for one hundred (100) years. Visit the ADWR website for more information related to Assured Water Supply requirements. Since 1999, the City’s D&O has been modified twice to acknowledge an increase of water supplies that resulted from the acquisition of water supplies within the PrAMA, acquisition of supplies outside of the PrAMA, and groundwater recharge. The City’s most recent D&O was signed on December 30, 2009; however, because the document went into litigation, the City chose to limit any further reservations or other plans for the new supplies pending a Court verdict. In September 2011, all litigation ended, and the D&O remained as stated and signed on December 30, 2009. The City’s 2009 D&O is available in both text and diagram formats below.
The 2009 D&O has the following condition (Section IV. Order of Designation and Conditions of Designation, Condition 4):
If Prescott does not submit to the Department on or before December 31, 2019, evidence that ADEQ has issued an AOC for the pipeline, Prescott shall submit an application to modify this decision and order designating Prescott as having an assured water supply when the sum of Prescott’s current demand, committed demand, and two-year projected demand exceeds 16,397 acre-feet per year, or by December 31, 2021, whichever is earlier.
The City prepared and filed an application to modify its Decision and Order No. 86-401501.0001. It was date stamped by ADWR on December 21, 2021.
The 2009 D&O has the following condition (Section IV. Order of Designation and Conditions of Designation, Condition 4):
If Prescott does not submit to the Department on or before December 31, 2019, evidence that ADEQ has issued an AOC for the pipeline, Prescott shall submit an application to modify this decision and order designating Prescott as having an assured water supply when the sum of Prescott’s current demand, committed demand, and two-year projected demand exceeds 16,397 acre-feet per year, or by December 31, 2021, whichever is earlier.
The City prepared and filed an application to modify its Decision and Order No. 86-401501.0001. It was date stamped by ADWR on December 21, 2021.
The components of the application are available below and will be updated as the city moves through the State’s process:
Note: Within two hundred and ten (210) days after receipt of the application, ADWR will determine if the application should be granted or denied; however, the timeframe can be extended during either the administrative or substantive review processes. For more information go to www.azwater.gov
The City of Prescott is required to file an annual water withdrawal and use report with the State of Arizona.
These full reports are available for download from the Arizona Department of Water Resources website using the “Imaged Records” feature found under “Quick Links” at azwater.gov.
There are two (2) categories of water supplies within the City’s D&O: Groundwater and Alternative Water.
Water supplies pumped from the groundwater aquifers within the PrAMA. Only lands within the City’s water service area that were recognized in 1999 to receive this water supply are entitled to connect to the City’s water system.
Water supplies that are the alternative to pumping additional groundwater supplies from the PrAMA, including surface water, reclaimed water (treated effluent), and imported groundwater. These supplies are the backbone for meeting the State’s intent to transition communities into recharge and recovery practices and therefore reducing groundwater overdraft.
View information below about each:
Various surface water supply projects have supported Prescott since territorial times but now the City relies upon the water secured by the acquisition of Watson and Willow Lake Reservoirs and their associated water rights.
The City has been producing reclaimed water supplies since the mid-1930’s when the first City wastewater treatment plant was constructed. The late 1980's is when the State began to develop recharge and recovery statutes and rules. Now, the City uses reclaimed supplies for turf watering and industrial use, and the remainder is “banked” in the City’s State defined long-term storage account.
The potential importation of water supplies from the Big Chino sub-basin has an extensive history that pre-dates the 1980 Groundwater Code.
The City of Prescott through a Designation of Assured Water Supply from Arizona Department of Water Resources has legal authority to deliver water through its municipal distribution system to its customers located within its service area. The City’s service area includes all areas within the City Limits, portions of Chino Valley, and portions of unincorporated Yavapai County. See map below for limits of the City of Prescott Service Area.
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