Free wings / p. 21
FREE SUBSCRIPTION
FREE | QueenCreekTribune.com
An edition of the East Valley Tribune
Inside
This Week
NEWS ....................3
Passport office sees demand, delays
Sunday, July 23, 2023
Official: Town’s water future is bright
BY MARK MORAN Tribune Contributing Writer
W
hile some communities in Arizona still grow crops, Queen Creek is growing water. Simply by using effluent, or recycled water, the town will have more water from a just-completed deal to buy Colorado River water than it is importing. “We’re getting 2,000-acre feet from Cibola,” said Paul Gardner, director of water resources,
at the July 19 town council meeting, referring to the $27 million deal to bring water from Cibola in western Arizona to Queen Creek. “After the first year you get 3,300-acre feet of water that second year,” he explained. An acre-foot of water is about enough to cover a football field 1-foot deep, and enough to supply the needs of a typical family for two to three years. But looking forward, there will be even more water in Queen Creek thanks to other deals the town is working on to secure
water from places other than underground. Queen Creek recently signed a 5,000-acre foot, $30 million deal with the Harquahala Valley Landowners LLC, a group of landowners and farmers in Maricopa County west of Phoenix to further diversify the town’s water portfolio. But that deal, too, will provide more than the original amount. “When we do 5,000-acre feet with Harqua-
see COUNCIL page 8
Colorado River water flows to Queen Creek BUSINESS ............. 14 Chamber offering 500 Google scholarships
SPORTS ................. 18
Phoenix Suns’ Bradley Beal: ‘This is a dream come true’
COMMUNITY ............. 11 BUSINESS ................ 14 OPINION ................... 16 SPORTS .................... 18 GET OUT .................... 21 CLASSIFIEDS ............. 22
BY MARK MORAN Tribune Contributing Writer
A
mid legal challenges, ongoing litigation and a five-year process of logistical hurdles, state and federal approvals, and criticism from landowners and lawmakers in western Arizona, Queen Creek has started receiving water from the Colorado River. The deal will help reduce the town’s reliance on underground aquifers and diversify its water portfolio as the sprawling, thirsty suburb continues apace as one of the fastest-growing communities in the United States. “As a council, we began discussing diversifying our water supply nearly a decade ago,” Mayor Julia Wheatley said during a July 19 ceremony welcoming the water reaching town.
see WATER page 5
CAP canal forms the eastern border of Queen Creek and where the water from the Colorado River reaches town. (Special to the Tribune)
BUY FACTORY DIRECT & SAVE
MEDIA WALLS • HOME OFFICE • KITCHENS StoneCreekFurniture.com 匀琀漀 渀攀䌀爀攀攀欀䘀甀爀渀椀琀甀爀攀⸀挀漀洀
FURNITURE FACTORY 䘀唀刀一䤀吀唀刀䔀 䘀䄀䌀吀伀刀夀