Cottonwood City Manager Scotty Douglass and Utilities Director Tom Whitmer discussed Verde Santa Fe’s water problems at the VSF clubhouse on Wednesday, Aug. 23.
On June 10, Cottonwood’s utilities department was notified that an increase in water demand from Verde Santa Fe had begun exceeding the pumping capacity of the one well that serves the area.
A level two water demand reduction strategy was put into effect, but the demand continued to increase, requiring that water be hauled into the area.
City staff found it necessary to bring in 75,000 gallons of water per day for eight days to bring the reservoir back to a comfortable level, which was then reduced to 45,000 gallons a day thereafter.
Water hauling stopped at the end of July with the arrival of the monsoon, which helped to decrease the water loss. As of Aug. 23, the city had not hauled water in for 20 days. However, the system continues to lose 70,000 gallons of water per day.
Whitmer outlined that 94% of Verde Santa Fe’s water is usually consumed by residential usage, 5% by the clubhouse and irrigation and 1% by the Highlands Resort. Seventyfour water user accounts, or 30% of users, use over 15,000 gallons a month and are now being notified of their usage by the city. The average household uses between 3,000 and 7,000 gallons a month. Whitmer also said that the lost water is going back into the aquifer without specifying why it had been lost from the system in the first place. No visual indicators of the water loss, such as large puddles, have been observed.
The water system has one well with a 750,000-gallon storage tank. With only one well in the area, any loss of the well for a period of time could jeopardize the city’s ability to provide water to that area and its approximately 970 residents.
The city is working on locating and repairing leaks, promoting water conservation and drilling another well.
In 2022, the Verde Santa Fe well pump and motor had to be replaced, which led to the utilities department planning the construction of a second well. City staff have since identified a site for the new well, had the site surveyed and are finalizing an access agreement for the property.
The new well will be twice the depth of the current well to reach a different aquifer system with a capacity of approximately 1,000 gallons per minute, or roughly six times more than the current well.
The utilities department hired an acoustic leak detection company in 2022 and repaired several leaks, and is also investigating the use of electrical conductivity, ground-penetrating radar, thermal imaging and tracer gas technologies to detect leaks.
Verde Santa Fe is located outside of Cottonwood city limits in unincorporated Yavapai County. The city of Cottonwood became Verde Santa Fe’s water utility after it bought water companies in and around the city in the early 2000s and incorporated them into the city’s water system.
