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Contact:

  • Water Resource Project Manager

  • 433 N Virginia St

  • 928-777-1144

State’s Active Management Areas

The City of Prescott is one of four (4) incorporated communities that reside within the State’s Prescott Active Management Area (PrAMA) and the remainder of the land is unincorporated Yavapai County. The PrAMA was defined by the passage of the 1980 Groundwater Management Act (Code) and is regulated by the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR). Due to stipulations in the Code, in 1999, the Assured Water Supply rules were invoked in the PrAMA, which restricts the use of groundwater supplies for new subdivision development. For more information, see the Final Determination on the Safe-Yield Status of the Prescott AMA. In June 2021, ADWR released 2021 Prescott AMA Groundwater Flow Model Update which provides improved information on the structure and influences on the local aquifers. The ADWR website contains additional information on all aspects of water management with in the PrAMA.

City’s Assured Water Supply Designation

In 1999, the City was issued its first Assured Water Supply Designation, more commonly known as a Decision and Order (D&O), by ADWR. In order for the City to obtain and maintain this designation, it must demonstrate, among other requirements, that it’s water supplies will be physically, legally, and continually available for one hundred (100) years. Visit the ADWR website for more information related to Assured Water Supply requirements. Since 1999, the City’s D&O has been modified twice to acknowledge an increase of water supplies that resulted from the acquisition of water supplies within the PrAMA, acquisition of supplies outside of the PrAMA, and groundwater recharge. The City’s most recent D&O was signed on December 30, 2009; however, because the document went into litigation, the City chose to limit any further reservations or other plans for the new supplies pending a Court verdict. In September 2011, all litigation ended and the D&O remained as stated and signed on December 30, 2009. The City’s 2009 D&O is available in both text and diagram formats below.

The 2009 D&O has the following condition (Section IV. Order of Designation and Conditions of Designation, Condition 4):

If Prescott does not submit to the Department on or before December 31, 2019, evidence that ADEQ has issued an AOC for the pipeline, Prescott shall submit an application to modify this decision and order designating Prescott as having an assured water supply when the sum of Prescott’s current demand, committed demand, and two-year projected demand exceeds 16,397 acre-feet per year, or by December 31, 2021, whichever is earlier.

The City prepared and filed an application to modify its Decision and Order No. 86-401501.0001.  It was date stamped by ADWR on December 21, 2021.  The components of the application are available below:

Cover Letter

Application

Part A – General Information

Part B – Demand Estimates

Part C – Physical Availability of Source Water

Part D – Continuous and Legal Availability

Part E – Consistency with Management Plans

Part F – Financial Capability

Part G – Consistency with Management Goal

Part H – Water Quality

Part I – Fees

Addendum

Note:  Within two hundred and ten (210) days after receipt of the application, ADWR will determine if the application should be granted or denied; however, the timeframe can be extended during either the administrative or substantive review processes. For more information go to www.azwater.gov