Prescott Valley outlines long-term water strategy centered on recharge, stormwater capture and Big Chino study

Prescott Valley Town Manager Gilbert Davidson and Tracy Lund, water resources adviser for the Town of Prescott Valley, outlined the town's multi‑pronged plan to secure long‑term water supplies, including expanded wastewater recharge, new stormwater infiltration projects, a pilot deep‑infiltration technique and continued study of a possible Big Chino water import.

The work matters because Prescott Valley sits inside the Prescott Active Management Area (AMA), which officials say is overdrafting groundwater; long‑term balance will require greater recharge, conservation and — potentially — imported water. "It's not an acute issue. It's more of a chronic issue," Tracy Lund said, describing the multi‑decade challenge.

Town staff explained that roughly half of the town's treated wastewater effluent is currently sent to recharge endpoints, including the North Plains Recharge Facility and nearby river bottoms. "We send about 50% of our water out that way," Lund said, adding that the town is working to expand recharge operations and target new areas of the aquifer without degrading drinking‑water quality.

Officials flagged PFAS (per‑ and polyfluoroalkyl substances) as a constraint on reuse. Lund said the town's effluent contains PFAS and that removing those compounds from drinking supplies is technologically feasible but expensive, noting an order‑of‑magnitude treatment cost often quoted as about $3,000,000 per well. Because of that cost the town is prioritizing recharge locations that will not cause PFAS‑contaminated effluent to migrate into existing drinking wells.

Prescott Valley is designing three stormwater infiltration facilities on town‑owned buildings intended to capture runoff that would otherwise become evaporation or flow downstream. Those projects are grant‑funded with a small local match, the town said, and aim to route rooftop and site runoff into infiltration systems so more water reaches the aquifer.

The town also described an early‑stage pilot using long tubular infiltration elements (commercially marketed as "irises" by a vendor called Parjana) placed in the bottom of stormwater basins to speed infiltration past the near‑surface evaporation zone into the vadose and saturated zones. Lund said the faster, deeper infiltration helps microbes in the vadose zone treat contaminants and reduces evaporation losses.

Prescott Valley said it is collaborating with partners on the pilot and other projects, naming the Salt River Project (SRP) and outside technical experts; the town also mentioned coordination with the Yavapai‑Prescott Tribe and conservation organizations such as The Nature Conservancy.

On the question of imported water, Lund said the Big Chino Basin north of Prescott remains a formally recognized source in state planning and that the City of Prescott has purchased the Big Chino Water Ranch. The town said Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) monitoring and a groundwater‑flow model for the Big Chino are nearing completion; the model will be used to run scenarios on pumping, drought and development before any decisions about conveyance or pumping are made. "We will be exercising that model, making sure that we understand the dynamics of the system," Lund said.

Officials stressed caution on importation because the Big Chino feeds headwaters of the Verde River. Prescott Valley described the work on the Big Chino as multi‑agency and multi‑decade in scope and said modeling and environmental review would precede any infrastructure or pumping decisions.

The town also said it will develop a formal water conservation plan in the next fiscal year to identify cost‑effective conservation measures and customer incentives such as appliance or fixture rebates. Lund said the town will assess per‑dollar, per‑acre‑foot effectiveness and noted that Prescott Valley's relatively newer housing stock may point conservation priorities toward appliances, hot‑water circulators, aerators and low‑flow showerheads rather than older toilets.

No formal policy votes or regulatory decisions were announced during the conversation; the session presented current projects, technical constraints and planned next steps. Town staff described ongoing weekly or biweekly technical coordination meetings on water, stated that grant funding supports some pilot projects, and said community outreach will follow as projects reach implementation phases.

Looking ahead, the town emphasized continued modeling, pilot testing and public engagement before any major infrastructure or treatment investments. Lund said the overall goal is to move toward a sustainable "gallon‑in, gallon‑out" balance for the aquifer while protecting water quality and the Verde River's environmental values.