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About The Department
Scottsdale Water Resources Department
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Brian Biesemeyer |
For over 30 years, the city of Scottsdale has been providing quality drinking water and reclamation services to our businesses and residents. The city’s Water Resources Division operates like a business and is a financially self-supporting municipal utility. City Council guides the Division’s authority and responsibility through resolutions and ordinances.
Currently, there are over 87,000 active accounts within a 185 square mile service area, with over 90% being residential accounts. In 2010, the Department delivered over 25 billion gallons of water to our customers. Our staff works around the clock to ensure your drinking water surpasses all federal, state and local water quality regulations. In fact, water from your tap must pass much more stringent standards than bottled water.
Scottsdale’s water supply is a combination of surface water, groundwater and reclaimed water resources. Our surface water comes from the Salt and Verde river watersheds through the Salt River Project (SRP) and the Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal.
Salt River Project water is treated at the Chaparral Water Treatment Plant, which is located near McDonald Drive and Hayden Road. This plant was designed to treat up to 27 million gallons of water per day. Colorado River water is treated at the city’s Water Campus in north Scottsdale and can treat up to 70 million gallons of water per day. The city’s groundwater supply is provided by 25 active wells located throughout the city.
There are over 2,000 miles of water pipes and mains that bring water to your home each day, and over 10,000 fire hydrants to ensure your safety.
Scottsdale’s reclamation system has approximately 1,400 miles of sewer collection lines and 43 lift stations. The city operates two treatment facilities, one located at the Water Campus facility in North Scottsdale and the other near Gainey Ranch, at Scottsdale and Mountain View roads. The facilities treat up to a combined 23 million gallons of wastewater every day. Scottsdale also has an Advanced Water Treatment facility that utilizes micro-filtration and reverse osmosis technology to provide additional treatment before it is pumped into the ground for recharge. Up to 12 million gallons of this reclaimed water is used for groundwater recharge each day.
Colorado River water also supplements the reclaimed water to provide additional groundwater recharge. During 2010, the Department recharged 2.3 billion gallons of water into the groundwater aquifer. All of these methods reduce groundwater pumping and increase groundwater storage resulting in more drinking water for you now and in the future.
In 2010, approximately 2.3 billion gallons of reclaimed wastewater was sent to 24 local golf courses and the Scottsdale Sports Complex for turf irrigation through the Reclaimed Water Distribution System.
