Peoria's Investment In Our Water Future

There are many ways the city invests in our water future. These investments range from strategic planning efforts, to implementation of new technologies, to better management of our own facilities.

Planning Efforts –With Peoria’s progressive leadership, the city has planned for decades to meet the challenge of providing our customers with a safe, high-quality water supply. There are two vital pieces to ensuring Peoria has a reliable water supply– securing rights to the actual water itself and developing the infrastructure to treat and move it to where it is needed. The city’s Water Resources Master Plan provides a detailed road map to support development of water supplies for the next 25 years and through build out. The plan also considers drought conditions. Peoria’s planning efforts have allowed the City to be designated as having a 100-year supply of water through Arizona’s Assured Water Supply program. Peoria also has the infrastructure – both in place and planned – to not only deliver our limited resources, but also to treat the water to a high quality.

Water Quality – With water quality staff performing over 200 tests on your water supply daily, management of such large amounts of data is necessary to ensure nothing is overlooked. In order to better manage water quality data, the city has invested in a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS). The LIMS will track a water sample from the time of collection to the final water quality result. Preparation of reports for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) is another primary function of the LIMS.

Reclaimed water recharge basins at Beardsley Water Reclamation Facility

Water Recharge –Recharging water underground allows the city to “bank” water for later use. This investment for the future occurs when water applied to recharge basins or wells filters through the layers of the earth where it can be stored for future use. Groundwater is stored in porous underground layers of sand and gravel called aquifers.

Lake filled with reclaimed water at the Trilogy at Vistancia golf course.

Reclaimed Water –The use of reclaimed water in places where drinking-quality water is not required allows drinking water to be saved for the future. Examples of this investment include irrigation of large landscaped areas and filling of decorative lakes and water features. Reclaimed water is a renewable, reliable, and drought-resistant supply of water. In addition, reclaimed water resources will grow along with our city.

Lost & Unaccounted for Water –The Utilities Department has implemented a comprehensive plan that utilizes modern technology, employee knowledge, and visual inspections to locate and correct water distribution system deficiencies in a timely fashion.