Troubled waters:
Hundreds of homes in unincorporated area could go dry
The hushed desert surrounding New River north of Phoenix charms residents, but a water war erupting within the unincorporated community is threatening the peace.
The hushed desert surrounding New River north of Phoenix charms residents, but a water war erupting within the unincorporated community is threatening the peace.
Hundreds of residents are slated to lose affordable access to privately hauled drinking water at the end of the year because of a city of Phoenix crackdown on water haulers refilling from city fire hydrants.
Meanwhile, families who own wells are anxiously watching groundwater levels drop as population growth sucks the already shallow aquifer dry.
“Frustration is an understatement. Anger is a better word,” said New River retiree Jeff Tucker, 67, whose hauled water could double or triple in price by the end of the year — or not be offered at all.
“What would happen if 1,000 people just suddenly have no water available?” he said. “There’s going to be a big problem. I don’t think the people (in government) making the decisions are looking at the greater picture.”
The situation highlights Maricopa County’s dependence on a fragile resource and the challenges of developing housing in unincorporated areas far from the pipes, treatment centers and irrigation canals built by municipalities.
New River grew by 40 percent to more than 15,000 between 2000 and 2015, according to U.S. census data. But unlike urbanized parts of Maricopa County, the aquifer in the New River area is less plentiful and shrinks further during drought years, officials at the Arizona Department of Water Resources say.
As the population has grown, recorded groundwater levels have dropped. Of the 15 wells near New River and Anthem monitored by the Department of Water Resources, 10 had lower water levels last year than in the early 2000s.
“I honestly don’t know what these people are going to do,” said water hauler Damon Bruns of Dynamite Water, who serves Tucker’s home and many more.
Phoenix accuses private water haulers of hooking up illegally to its hydrants, which are designated for firefighting and construction only, to draw water for residents outside the city.
“Water’s too precious,” said Phoenix Councilwoman Thelda Williams, whose district is closest to New River. “I feel badly for those people, but they also knew there were water problems when they moved there. They haven’t paid to maintain the system like the people in Phoenix do.”
The city didn’t know haulers were delivering their water for residential
use and learned of it after someone complained about trucks driving on a local road, Phoenix Water Services Department spokeswoman Stephanie Bracken said.
City officials worry about potential liability, since they can’t guarantee the water’s quality once it leaves the standpipes and goes aboard a hauler’s truck.
“Water in the hydrants is intended to put out fires, not to be potable,” said Wes Harris, a member of the Phoenix Water and Wastewater Citizens’ Rate Advisory Committee. “To be perfectly frank, (New River is) not part of our responsibility. If they want to become part of (our infrastructure), then it would be up to them to start petitioning to get the city to annex them.”
But the water haulers say they have used hydrants for years without a problem, and have paid the city for every ounce. Bruns said the county inspects his trucks every year, his equipment meets food-grade standards, and his employees frequently test water quality.
Phoenix’s concern about safety is “a joke,” he said. “I’ve been in business since 2006, and I’ve never had one issue . ... Blaming the water haulers is not a solution.”
Frustrated residents have flocked to public meetings hoping to pressure political leaders for a fix.
Among the possibilities:
» EPCOR Utilities Inc., which treats and delivers surface water to residents in Anthem through a leased portion of the AkChin Indian Community’s Central Arizona Project allotment, is studying the feasibility of extending its services to New River. Expanding its service area would require approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission, which could take months. Some New River residents worry the prices would be too high.
» Residents and water haulers could strike a deal with Scottsdale, Peoria or Cave Creek to pay to use their water systems. But water haulers warn it would dramatically drive up their costs of transportation. And Bruns thinks Phoenix’s hard line will set the tone for other cities to turn them down.
» Residents could seek to form a community facilities district, which would levy taxes to build water facilities, or petition for annexation by Phoenix, which would connect the area to the city’s infrastructure, such as the Lake Pleasant Water Treatment Plant nearby. But both options are likely to be costly.
» Residents could try to drill deeper wells, but many are already as deep as the water goes. Data from the Arizona Department of Water Resources show two-thirds of recorded nearby well levels decreasing over time.
» Rainwater harvesting could provide a small source of non-potable water for things like landscaping, but most homes have desert yards anyway.
In the worst-case scenario, residents fear they will lose water access, their homes will plummet in value and they will have to move.
Homeowner Jeanne Graydon, who has watched her well water drop over the years, says her fellow desert dwellers understand the need to conserve.
“We take military showers. We don’t run the water when we’re brushing our teeth. All the toilets are low-flow,” she said. “Everybody that has to haul it realizes it’s precious. My issue with the city of Phoenix is (our consumption is) a drop in the bucket compared to what Phoenix has.”
Local governments could feel a financial impact from halting residential water hauling, Graydon warned.
“We do all our shopping in Phoenix. If this whole area has to walk away from their homes, (the city is) going to lose salestax revenue and the county is going to lose property taxes,” she said.
Another concern among New River residents is continued development.
They accuse so-called “wildcat developers” of building on lots small enough to skirt state subdivision laws that require an assured 100-year water supply.
Scottsdale-based Morgan Taylor Homes, for instance, is building homes across 10 acres that lack access to well water, according to residents.
But because the developer purchased the land in sections through two companies with ties to each other, Monaco Ventures Properties and G42017, the development is split into parcels not subject to subdivision regulations, according to a review of the regulations by Maricopa County Attorney Bill Montgomery.
Representatives of Morgan Taylor Homes did not respond to voice mails and emails from The Arizona Republic seeking comment.
The Maricopa County Planning and Development Department forced work to halt termporarily at the site after Morgan Taylor failed to seek permits to begin construction. But the company recently received county approval of its plans and resumed work.
County Supervisor Bill Gates, who represents New River, said the county is hamstrung from taking further action unless the Arizona Department of Real Estate determines the developer violated the law.
“The issue here is this possibly illegal split where, if they had just developed 10 lots, that would clearly be a subdivision,” Gates said. “The county does not investigate that. ... (But) I’m going to reach out to everybody I can.”
Arizona Department of Real Estate Deputy Commissioner Louis Dettorre said a review is underway. He declined to comment further.
Neighbors like Libby Hall feel like they’re getting the run-around.
“Nobody is making a decision,” she said. “The developer is going to make his money, and he’s going to be long gone, and the poor people who move in, they’ll have no idea” about water issues.
Gates recommended residents call their state legislators — Sen. Karen Fann, Rep. Noel Campbell and Rep. David Stringer — if they want to change the law to require all new homes, no matter what kind of lot they sit on, to have a 100-year water supply.
Such a proposal might not get far in the Legislature, Fann said.
Wildcat developments are a problem, but “there’s also a thing called property rights,” she said. Current New River homeowners have benefited from the looser law, which allows individuals to build without assured water.
“At what point do we think the government should come in and totally take away your property rights and say you’re not developing properly?” Fann asked. “Where do you draw the line where it’s OK for you to come in, but it’s not OK for the next person?”
The lawmaker plans to ask Phoenix to delay its hydrant shut-off so the community has time to partner with EPCOR or another private water supplier.
New River residents hope more time will allow them to find a solution, even if it requires a marginal increase in cost, though not a radical one, Tucker said. The peacefulness of the country lifestyle is worth it.
“Take a look at the view at night. We feed deer on our back porch. We’re in nature’s wonderland,” he said. “Nobody in their right mind would mind paying more for water.”
“Frustration is an understatement. Anger is a better word.” JEFF TUCKER NEW RIVER RESIDENT