Glendale staff outline plan to approve recovery-well permits and sell one effluent credit to Vai Resort

Glendale city staff told the City Council on May 27 they plan to provide a consent letter allowing the Vai Resort to drill a groundwater recovery well and to sell one effluent (recharge) credit so state permitting can move forward.

The issue matters because state law prohibits providing water for large, nonexempt water features in active management areas unless regulators are satisfied the use is permitted or replaced; staff said the consent letter and the single-acre-foot sale are procedural steps the Department of Water Resources requires to accept the resort’s applications. "The Vai Resort is located in the Salt River Project service area and we have plenty of water in the SRP service area," Director of Water Services Ron Serio said. Serio summarized the legal limit staff cited: "a body of water is defined as a pool, a lagoon, a lake, or any water feature that has a surface area over 12,320 square feet." He said some exemptions exist for public government facilities and for hotels or resorts, but Vai’s two roughly 1-acre features exceed the statute’s simple exemption, so the resort plans to pair a recovery well with an offset of recharge credits.

City staff described two permits…