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Prescott subcommittee reviews progress on long-term water management plan
Summary
City staff and consultants briefed the council subcommittee on updates to the long-term water management plan, including model updates through 2024, assured water supply work with ADWR, groundwater and infrastructure modeling, and a public outreach framework; no formal action was taken.
The Prescott City Council Subcommittee on Water Issues received an update April 1 on the city’s long‑term water management plan, including updated supply models and a proposed outreach schedule.
Leslie Grazer, Public Works water resource project manager, introduced the item and turned the presentation over to lead consultant Herb Dishlip, who described technical work completed to date and the scope of the next phases.
Dishlip said the city’s water resources model has been updated through 2024 and incorporates customer additions and 2012–2024 water‑use data, creating a “good foundation” for future analysis. He said consultants have tailored an ADWR model of the Prescott Active Management Area to Prescott’s needs and that Corolla Associates updated the city’s water and wastewater infrastructure models in 2023.
“The model has now been updated through 2024,” Dishlip said. “We have included in the model all of the data going back to 2012, but we also are up to date.”
The presentation noted work on the city’s Assured Water Supply designation with the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR). Dishlip said ADWR uses regulatory definitions for “committed demand” that differ from the city’s planning definitions, and the assured supply review remains an input to — but not the sole limit for — the planning study.
Subcommittee members emphasized the need to track the city’s general plan boundary and water service area while the 2025 general plan remains in draft form. Member Freeworth and others asked staff to provide legible maps of the planning and service area so the planning team can align model boundaries with prospective annexation areas and recently filed annual reports to ADWR.
Members asked the consultants to examine a range of future scenarios (slow, medium and rapid growth), the effects of climate variability and long‑term drought on recharge and reservoir yields, and nonpotable uses such as recreation and fire suppression. Dishlip said the scope will include evaluations of future reclaimed water use, direct potable reuse as an emerging technology, reservoir sedimentation, enhanced recharge opportunities, and watershed/forest management impacts on supply.
Staff outlined a public outreach approach that uses milestones: technical memoranda and appendices for specialists, summarized reports for the public, and milestone briefings to the subcommittee and full council. The subcommittee asked that outreach include both open‑house formats and presentation/Q&A formats and that stakeholder meetings be scheduled at defined milestones.
No formal motion or decision on the plan was made at the meeting; staff said they will return with milestone products and updated materials for review by the subcommittee and, later, the full council.
The subcommittee also heard a brief update that a USBR performance report for the planning grant will be submitted imminently and that the city filed its ADWR annual report on March 31.
Looking ahead, consultants said the plan will identify options and costs for supply and infrastructure changes (new wells, pipelines, treatment upgrades, recharge projects) and recommend monitoring, model updates, and adaptive management steps for council consideration.
