O R O VA L L E Y W AT E R U T I L I TY N E W S L E T T E R
SUMMER 2025
A MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR Welcome to our Summer issue of “Behind the Meter”. In addition to managing our water resources to ensure our community’s long-lasting sustainability, the Water Utility is also responsible for ensuring that your drinking water is safe. In this newsletter, you will learn how the Utility’s Water Quality section performs this important work.
Peter Abraham, P.E. Water Utility Director
Your drinking water comes from two sources of supply. Those supplies include groundwater, which makes up 65% of our drinking water and Colorado River water, which makes up the remaining 35% of our drinking water. Groundwater is pumped from deep wells within our service area while Colorado River water is delivered by way of four separate delivery connections throughout our service area.
With the completion of the Northwest Recharge Recovery and Delivery System (NWRRDS) in mid-2026 the Utility will have the capacity to increase Colorado River water deliveries to our service area by 150%. NWRRDS provides the means to pump less groundwater, access more of the Utility’s Colorado River water allocation and access to decades worth of water that has been stored in underground water storage facilities, if needed. The NWRRDS project will cost approximately $50 million to construct. The funding that supports this project is a combination of several funding sources as shown in Table A The funding sources highlighted in yellow are paid for by future customers through development impact fees, the funding sources highlighted in blue are paid for by existing customers through the groundwater preservation fee and the funding sources highlighted in green are paid for by federal and state grants that do not require repayment. In closing, your water utility staff works hard to ensure our community’s water resource sustainability at the lowest possible cost to existing and future customers. Thanks to your ongoing support we continue to be successful in this endeavor.
TABLE A Amount of Funding
Percent of Project Total
Impact Fee Fund (New Meter Sales - Future Customers)
$15,421,598.00
31%
Groundwater Preservation Fee (Existing Customers)
$10,281,065.00
21%
WIFA Loan (Low Interest Federal Loan - Future Customers)
$6,600,000.00
13%
WIFA Loan (Low Interest Federal Loan - Existing Customers)
$4,400,000.00
9%
Private Loan (Low Interest Bank Loan - Future Customers)
$3,600,000.00
7%
Private Loan (Low Interest Bank Loan - Existing Customers)
$2,400,000.00
5%
WIFA Grant (Federally Funded Award - No Repayment)
$3,000,000.00
6%
ARPA Award (Federally Funded Award - No Repayment)
$2,373,337.00
5%
WIFA Loan (Forgivable Principal - No Repayment)
$1,000,000.00
2%
NW Reliability Funds (State Funded Award - No Repayment)
$924,000.00
2%
Total Projected NWRRDS Total Cost
$50,000,000.00
100%
Funding Source
Looking forward,
Peter Abraham
Peter A. Abraham, P.E. | Water Utility Director
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