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Casa Grande studies options to allocate reclaimed water as local supplies tighten
Summary
At a Casa Grande City Council study session, Catherine Sorensen of ASU27s Kyle Center for Water Policy briefed the council on reclaimed-water (effluent) allocation options — from selling and direct delivery to recharge and setting aside supply for housing or industry — and recommended contract safeguards and modeling before policy choices.
Casa Grande city officials heard a study-session briefing on reclaimed wastewater, commonly called effluent, that laid out ways the city could allocate a scarce and increasingly valuable local resource.
Catherine Sorensen, director of research at the Kyle Center for Water Policy at the Morrison Institute and a former Phoenix and Mesa water director, told the council that Arizona treats effluent differently from surface water and groundwater and that the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality regulates its quality. "Effluent, of course, is water that's collected in a sanitary sewer and treated for subsequent use," Sorensen said, adding that uses depend on treatment level and that some communities already pursue advanced treatment for direct potable reuse.
Why it matters: Sorensen said recent Department of Water Resources modeling for the Pinal Active Management Area shows groundwater is…
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