Cave Creek weighing $11.25 million Harquahala Valley groundwater purchase, decision due next week

Town staff told residents that Cave Creek has entered a purchase option for groundwater from the Harquahala Valley project and must decide whether to complete the acquisition before the end of the due‑diligence window.

Sean Cruz Weisner, the town’s utilities director, said the town’s contract gives access to 500 acre‑feet per year for 100 years and that the contractual value for that allotment is $11,250,000. Weisner said staff has put down $50,000 in earnest money and that the due‑diligence phase ends on or about Feb. 15; if the town declines to proceed, the earnest money would be refunded, he said.

Weisner described the project as a groundwater basin designated by state statute (an irrigation non‑expansion area) with modeling accepted by the Arizona Department of Water Resources for a long‑term sustainable yield. He said the project proponents have completed significant engineering and easement work, but that the town must still determine the cost of physical access, wheeling, and other infrastructure and whether those costs fit Cave Creek’s budgets.

Residents asked whether purchasing a paper water right is risky; one commenter said the owners and nonrefundable payments raised concern. Staff replied that the town has legal and procurement counsel reviewing terms and said the contract does not guarantee simple resale — transfers would likely require approvals — so staff is treating the acquisition as a long‑term supply purchase rather than a freely tradeable asset.

Weisner said staff had applied to ADWR for authorization to import the groundwater and is continuing negotiations on the shared infrastructure that would be required to move groundwater into the CAP canal and to Cave Creek’s treatment facilities. He asked the council to consider the tradeoffs between buying a secure 100‑year supply now versus relying on bridge measures that could be less durable.