The city of Goodyear has a Colorado River (CAP) allocation of 17,742 acre-feet per year.  The new Surface Water Treatment Facility is scheduled to take approximately 8,960 acre-feet of direct delivery in calendar year 2022.  The water is transported or wheeled through the Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association and the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (SRP) canals.  The city incurs both fees for wheeling the water and for the subleased reserved capacity to wheel the water through the CAP/SRP Interconnection Facility (CSIF).  We are requesting the additional $491,200 to meet the water supply needs of the new Surface Water Treatment Plant. SRP bills the City on a calendar basis.  This request will reconcile the funding needs for the rest of FY2022.

Approve the expenditure of an additional $491,200 for a total expenditure authority of $1,191,200 for FY2022 to pay wheeling fees and the CSIF Sublease to Salt River Valley Water Users’ Association and the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District (SRP) for the delivery of CAP water. (Ray Diaz, Water Resources & Sustainability Manager)

Funding for the wheeling fees and CSIF lease are included in the FY2022 Water operating budget in the amount of $783,882.  The FY2022 expenditures for the wheeling fees were previously approved by Council on June 21, 2021 in the amount of $700,000.  The current request expands that expenditure authorization to $1,191,200 as a result of the increased rate associated with SRP wheeling CAP water to the Surface Water Treatment Plant and the annual CSIF Sublease.  The additional $408,000 of expenditures will be covered by operational savings in the Water operating budget.

The city has a Municipal & Industrial subcontract with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for 10,742 acre-feet per year (AFY) of Colorado River water and a lease with the Gila River Indian Community for 7,000 AFY of Colorado River water.  The new Surface Water Treatment Facility is scheduled to take approximately 8,960 acre-feet of direct delivery in calendar year 2022.  The water is transported or wheeled through the SRP canals.  The city incurs fees for wheeling the water and for reserved capacity to wheel the water through the CAP/SRP Interconnection Facility (CSIF) into the SRP canal system. 

On June 21, 2021, Council approved $700,000 of expenditure authority in FY2022 funds to pay wheeling fees to SRP for the delivery of CAP water.

Wheeling water through the SRP canals is the only means for the city to receive its CAP water allocation.  Our agreement with SRP requires us to pay for transportation of the water through their canals and for leasing capacity through the CSIF on an annual basis.  The water delivered through the SRP canals affords the city the means to continue providing safe drinking water to our customers now and into the future.   

Per the agreement with SRP, each January, the fees shall be adjusted by the percent change in the Department of Commerce’s Price Index for the Gross Domestic Product.  In January 2022, the wheeling fee increased 4.6%.  Additionally, now that the Surface Water Treatment Facility has begun receiving CAP water through SRP, we are charged for the entire CSIF Sublease.  Neither of these were included in the previous expenditure approval amount.