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Prescott Valley pilots stormwater capture and 'Parzana' technology to recharge aquifer
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Summary
Town Manager Gilbert Davidson described a grant-funded stormwater-capture retrofit at the Civic Center and a two-basin pilot using a technology called Parzana in North Prescott Valley to test whether captured rainfall can be moved below the evaporation zone to recharge groundwater.
Prescott Valley is testing new techniques to capture stormwater and recharge groundwater as part of a longer-term strategy to bolster local water supplies.
"What we're trying to do is get water beneath the evaporation zone," Town Manager Gilbert Davidson said, describing a grant-funded retrofit at the Civic Center campus (the library and police building) that routes rooftop runoff into subsurface systems to encourage aquifer recharge. Davidson said the town is working with the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona on the retrofit.
Davidson also described a pilot using a product the town calls Parzana (transcript spellings vary). The pilot in North Prescott Valley will use two basins—a control basin and a test basin fitted with Parzana—to compare how quickly water drains and whether the product helps move water below the evaporation zone. The town also has a sister pilot in Red Rock; Davidson said site-specific soil conditions will determine performance. "We're literally the ones out there trying this and seeing if this could work," he said.
Davidson framed the work as part of a multi-year testing phase that could be replicated around the state if effective. He said both projects are grant funded and that the pilot will run over roughly two years while the town monitors infiltration rates and soil interactions.
No cost estimate for the pilots or timelines for full deployment were provided; Davidson emphasized these are early tests to inform future water-management options.
