Buckeye Valley Water Authority approves application for SAFER planning grant to study consolidation and recycled-water connections

The Buckeye Valley Water Authority Executive Committee voted to submit a planning application to the State Water Board’s SAFER program to study consolidating water infrastructure and possible jurisdictional reorganizations, staff told the committee at its meeting. The motion to apply passed on a roll call vote after public comment.

Committee members and staff said the SAFER planning grant would fund a high-level planning process to map connections — including recycled-water and raw-water conveyance options — and to study costs tied to consolidations or other organizational changes. Staff repeatedly emphasized that submitting the application does not by itself obligate the authority to annex territory or merge agencies.

Staff said the planning application is iterative: the initial submittal is likely to be revised by state reviewers, and the final accepted plan may differ from what is submitted. “It’s going to be the imperfect iterative process that we’re going to go through here in the next year-ish on a time frame,” a staff member said, noting the application is intended…