Goodyear presents updated Integrated Water Master Plan; recommends plant expansions, recharge and policy work

Goodyear staff presented an update on the city’s Integrated Water Master Plan (IWMP) during a March 3, 2025, council work session, outlining infrastructure needs, resource projections and policy steps to keep pace with rapid population and development growth.

The IWMP update, delivered by Barb, water resources staff, said the city’s water portfolio is diverse — including Colorado River surface water, groundwater from several sub-basins, reclaimed water and long-term storage credits — but that growth has consumed system capacity faster than previous plans anticipated. “We now bring that [Colorado River] water into the city,” Barb said, describing the city’s surface water pipeline and treatment facility that came online in January 2022.

The report recommends multiple near- and mid-term actions: expand the surface water treatment plant from its current 8,000,000 gallons per day (gpd) capacity to 16,000,000 gpd by 2030; increase storage and create a pressure-zone break in Planning Area 2 to stabilize pressures across a wide service area; expand groundwater treatment at certain wells; and expand the 150 Seventh Avenue Water Reclamation Facility and the Rainbow Valley Water Reclamation Facility to meet rising wastewater loads.

Why this matters: The IWMP guides capital investments, rate and impact-fee studies and future ordinances. The city’s prior master plan was expected to carry capacity through 2026; staff said the city has outgrown that designation and has already submitted a modification application to…