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The Value of Partnerships By Christa McJunkin
The existing CAP-SRP Interconnection Facility.
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16 | MUNICIPAL WATER LEADER | November/December 2020
The CAP water system begins with intake pumps at Lake Havasu, Arizona, that divert Colorado River water into the CAP canal, a 336‑mile-long aqueduct system stretching from Lake Havasu through Phoenix to south of Tucson. The CAP canal delivers about 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water each year to cities, agricultural users, and tribal communities in c entral and southern Arizona. SRP delivers more than 800,000 acre-feet of water annually from a watershed located in northeastern Arizona to more than 2.5 million people in 10 cities and towns, including both residential and agricultural customers. In 1989, the CAP-SRP Interconnection Facility (CSIF) was constructed. This one-way interconnection from the CAP canal to SRP’s water delivery system has a total capacity of 1,200 cubic feet per second. This connection allows CAP water to be delivered to any point along more than 1,200 miles of SRP canals and laterals, including recharge facilities and the 11 drinking water treatment municipalwaterleader.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF SRP.
roviding a reliable and affordable source of water in the desert has never been an easy task. Not only does it require careful planning and solid infrastructure, it requires partnerships. Just as the landowners and farmers who banded together to work with the federal government to form the Salt River Project (SRP) 100 years ago knew, one simply cannot survive in the desert by going it alone. That is why, a century later, SRP continues to look for partnerships that will assist it to deliver affordable and reliable water not only to its own customers but to others as well. One example of a successful partnership is the interconnection between SRP’s water system and that of the Central Arizona Project (CAP). Delivering a combined 2.3 million acre-feet of water per year to more than 5 million Arizonans, the interconnection helps SRP and CAP manage the water resources that support central Arizona’s communities and economy.
