Carefree Water Company was
incorporated in September of 1957 to provide domestic water services to
approximately 3,400 acres. The water supply for the Water Company was provided
by groundwater from wells and a CAP allocation of 400 Acre Feet. In 1989 as
part of the agreement to sell the Water Company infrastructure that was
physically located within the city limits of Scottsdale to the City of
Scottsdale an agreement was made for the City of Scottsdale to transport and
treat 2,000 Acre Feet of CAP allocated water on behalf of Carefree Water
Company.
In the mid 1980’s, the Arizona Department
of Water Resources declared the Carefree/Cave Creek Aquifer a critical aquifer
and discontinued issuing groundwater-based Certificates of Assured Water
Supply, basically stopping any additional development or building in the Town.
Due to major, annual groundwater level declines during this period it became
evident that the continued over pumping of the aquifer would totally deplete
the aquifer and another source of water needed to be utilized in addressing the
existing and future needs of Carefree. Carefree Water was unable or unwilling
to use the 400 acre feet of CAP allocated water until the mid 1990’s and then
only in small amounts, in the summer, to meet water demands which cause
continuing demands . It became apparent to the Town officials that unless the
Water Company began using their CAP allocated water the future of the Town to
develop as originally planned was at great risk because of the lack of a
sustainable potable water supply. In 1997 the Town of Carefree and the
stockholders of the Water Company agreed to purchase/sell the Utility Company.
After forming a Utility Facilities District and securing bonding to purchase
the Utility the sale became reality at the end of 1999.
Since that time, the Water Company has
secured an additional 900 acre foot of CAP water allocation and has reduced
groundwater pumping by increasing CAP water usage up to almost 60% of the water
supplied to our customers. It is now anticipated that there is sufficient water
to totally develop the Town of Carefree through build out. As anticipated with
the reduction in groundwater pumping the aquifer is now starting to refill as
the water level in the aquifer is beginning to increase. The water Company has
also completed many improvements to the storage and distribution system
subsequent to the purchase. We have completed construction of a new 1,000,000
water storage reservoir, water wells have been upgraded to supply water in
cases of emergency, emergency electrical generators have been installed on
wells and pumping stations and an agreement has been finalized with the Desert
Forest Golf Club to exchange water from their well for water from one of our
wells which exceeds the drinking water standard for Arsenic. This has allowed
using the highest quality water from the aquifer for potable purposes and the
lower quality water for golf course use. We have also reached agreements with
Cave Creek Water to supply us with CAP water as an additional, alternative
source of water supply and to provide them backup up assistance if and when
needed by making various connections between the two systems that did not exist
in the past.
One of the other purposes for the
purchase of the Water Company was to address the issue of fire protection which
was not required under the previous ownership. We have added over 200 fire
hydrants and have a continuing program of upgrading the distribution system to
be able to handle the water flows to planned additional fire hydrant
installations.
In the past ten years we have been
involved in an ever increasing drought in the Southwest causing the Utility
Company and the State of Arizona to recognize the need to increase our planning
and actions relating to conservation. These efforts include the dissemination
of educational materials including emphasis on low water using plants and
desert landscaping as well as a continuing effort on a comprehensive plan to
address the complex water issues facing us all.