Councilman Robinson, can you hear me? >> Yes, I can. Can you hear me? Okay. >> Yes. Thank you very much. Good afternoon. It is April 28th and I will call the policy meeting to order. Will the clerk please call the role? >> Councilwoman Ward >> here. >> Councilwoman Hernandez. >> Councilwoman O'Brien >> here. >> Councilwoman Pastor >> here. Councilman Robinson >> here. >> Councilwoman Stark >> here. >> Councilman Wearing. >> Vice Mayor Hodgej Washington >> here. >> Mayor Ggo >> here. Thank you so much for joining us today. We'll begin with council information and follow-up requests. Councilwoman Gordado. >> Thank you, Mayor. First, I wanted to invite everyone for our final Mville Merc on May 2nd. Join us for our final Mercado of this of the season this Saturday, May 2nd, from 3 to 7:00 p.m. Our monthly vibrant, familyfriendly community event that brings people together to celebrate culture, cultura, support local businesses, enjoy life entertainment, and children's activities. Whether you're looking for delicious food, unique vendors, or engaging activities, we have something for everyone. Best of all, it's completely free to attend at the Mville Community Center at 4420 North 51st Avenue. Mariposa Park summer programs press event on May 16th. Join me on Saturday, May 16th at Mariposa Park at 10:00 a.m. to celebrate all the amazing activities and programs we have for our families this summer, including all day summer camps at activity centers, open swim hours at our pools, and our splash paths. There are so many fun and free ways for our families to stay cool and active this summer. Thank you so much, Mayor. >> Thank you. Any additional presentations? Councilwoman Pastor. >> Thank you. Um I think I have slides. Thank you. As the first slide comes about um we recently lost a beloved uh my work husband uh district 4 staff member Michael Peterson and Carvara. He was a fighter. He touched so many lives through his work. He helped coordinate supply drives to benefit refugees. mobile clinics during COVID 19 pandemic and multiple job fairs. Most importantly, he was my right hand while fighting for early cancer screenings for our firefighters and ensuring they receive workman's comp. Michael served our city for 10 years. Please keep Michael and his husband Jerry and his loved ones in your thoughts. And I want to thank everybody that has reached out to me. In addition to that, a celebration of life will be held in June. Uh June will be his well was his birthday month and so we will be celebrating him that month. So thank you for all your prayers and love. Uh I have felt it every step of the way. Thank you. Next slide. Neighborhoods are preparing for Phoenix area FAA modernization uh project tomorrow. Tomorrow, the FAA is set to publish their environmental assessment. It will be available online. The FAA is also hosting a virtual workshop on May 13th to review the assessment and allow for questions and comments. Join me next Saturday, May 9th, for a coffee chat to discuss the environmental assessment and prepare for the virtual workshop. Scan the QR code on the screen to RSVP or reach out to District 4 for more information. I was representing Next slide. I was representing District 4. The last time the FAA rerouted their flight paths, District 4 residents were not happy with the lack of communication from FAA. We went in and we fought for transparency and we won due to the city and all my colleagues. This time around, we are working as diligently as possible to ensure the FAA that FAA keeps our residents in the conversation. Next slide. Last Thursday, I rode my bike to work in the best possible weather. This was my second year hosting bike to work day after residents reached out and asked me to step in and recreate it. Thank you to Urban Phoenix Project for this continued collaboration. Thank you to all our partners for making this possible. And thank you to Councilwoman O'Brien for joining us at the beginning of the ride. It was incredible to see over a 100 community members join us and celebrate all forms of transportation in our city. And I'm hoping my other colleagues will have a bike to work day. Next slide. Three lucky riders from bike bike to work day went home with uh free bikes thanks to the bike shops in district 4. Vel bike shop on seventh street in Oak generously donated a state bicycle for this year's bike to work day raffle. I purchased two bikes for from Landis on Indian school to enter into a raffle as well. Show our local bike shop some love. Next slide. Last Thursday was a full circle moment for me. In 2024, I attended the groundbreaking of the Phoenix Scholar House. At that groundbreaking, we heard directly from Maria Wilson, who had her first child at 15 years old and found her chance to higher education and an opportunity [clears throat] through Family Scholar House in Kentucky. She is now a lawyer. The same program is now in our city through Phoenix Scholar House. This 56 unit complex offers affordable housing for parents looking to continue their education. I'm so proud to have it in District 4. Thank you to Save the Family, Brenshore Development, and the City of Phoenix Housing Department for making this project possible. And thank you to the artist Laura Thurbond for bringing this to life with her stunning mural. Next slide. This morning, I join my colleagues for the unveiling of Martin L. Schultz Way. And thank you to the mayor and C vice mayor uh councilwoman Kesha Hajj Washington. In a fast growing city like Phoenix, it's important we recognize people who helped shape where we were where we are today. Having spent my life here, I've seen the growth firsthand. Marty played a key role in m moving Phoenix forward, including bringing early investments into downtown. Always proud to honor Marty and his work in our city. Next slide. I also wanted to highlight a tree planting from this morning at Steel Indian School Park. This effort brought together volunteers through Volunteer Phoenix and Hands-On Greater Phoenix to help expand our tree canopy. Every tree we plant is an investment in cooler neighborhoods and more sustainable future. Thank you to everyone who showed up and put in the work to make it happen. And thank you Home Depot and all their volunteers. Next slide. As always, this is a way to get in touch with me. Um, thank you for listening. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any addition? Councilwoman Stark. >> Thank you, Mayor. I just wanted to note that we just won an award, a bronze medal for um city health and the reason we got that award is because of our staff. We have quite an amazing staff that really want to pursue and make sure our city is the most livable city and one of the healthiest cities in our country. And hopefully the next time they come and score us, I hope they look at some of the other initiatives we've worked on, mayor, including accessibility and making sure that people can really enjoy independent living as long as they can, as well as some of the things we're going to be doing with um public safety with regards to cancer and then of course some of the great stuff we've been doing as far as eviction and helping with rent. But this is really significant in my mind. It's because staff, you did it. So, thank you. Woohoo. Any additional comments before we get going? Wonderful. And thank you, Councilwoman Stark, for that that good recognition. And we appreciate city health for recognizing us with gold for our sustainable purchasing policy and our greenscape for the city's tree and shade master plan ordinance. All right, now we will go to agenda item one, a really important topic, which is the Colorado River water supply and demand update. In Phoenix, we see water as an essential resource that we must respect, protect, and conserve. We all benefit from the careful management of those who came before us, and we've continued to raise the bar for efficiency and conservation. Despite our city's significant population and economic growth over the last several decades, water use has remained flat. Residential use and water use per person has even decreased. We've been preparing for drought. We've stored significant water underground for times of shortage, made infrastructure improvements that allow us to move water where it's needed, and doubled down on conservation efforts. This very diverse council has made those decisions unanimously because we know how important water is in the desert. We take seriously our role in water security, not just for ourselves but our region. From supporting forest restoration that protects the critical health of watersheds to leading in the development of a regional advanced water purification facility that will serve cities across the metro area near the turn of the decade. However, a warming climate means less water in the rivers we depend on, including the Colorado River. Today, you'll hear an update on the status of our water resources, a framework for increased regional collaboration, and what residents can expect as we continue implementation of the drought management plan. It will take an all sectors approach to rebalance the Colorado River system. And I'm proud that Phoenix is stepping up to meet the moment. We have great partners across all sectors here in Arizona, including tribal communities, business and agriculture leaders, and residents who want to be part of the solution. Phoenix is very lucky to have incredible water professionals at all levels of our organization. Thank you to the outstanding water services department team who manages the systems on which we all depend. From the leadership you'll hear from today to the engineers who manage our wells and treatment plants to the conservation staff who are always looking for new ways to save water to the field staff who maintain our system on a daily basis. Thank you to our water services director Brandy Kelso and water resources manager Dr. Max Wilson. We're lucky to have your expertise and dedication. And now I'll turn it over to another great leader on water, our assistant city manager, Ginger Spencer to introduce her team. >> Thank you, Mayor. Uh, mayor and members of the council, I just want to say thank you for your leadership and partnership on this very important issue. Uh, mayor, thank you for that great introduction as well as your coverage of this issue at last week's uh, your state of the city address. Uh, as you mentioned, this is one of our water is one of our most precious and limited resources. And thanks to the mayor uh the leadership of the mayor and council, this is an issue that you have all been actively involved with, engaged with, and very supportive of. And so, mayor, I want to also acknowledge your leadership um on protecting Arizona's lifeline and the coalition and your leadership there. I also want to thank our vice mayor coun uh vice mayor Kesha Hajj Washington for her leadership on our Ammoa, the Arizona Municipal User Waters Association. um her leadership on that committee as well. Uh and then Councilwoman Deborah Stark who leads our transportation and infrastructure subcommittee which hears our water issues. Um what we're here to talk about today is an issue that has been in the media uh of recent and it has to do with negotiations that are going on at the Colorado River. um the amongst the seven basin states and and our team will talk about that in just a moment. But those seven basin states include Colorado, Utah, Nevada, California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Mexico. Um the lead uh principal negotiators on that have been Tom Buchsky from the Arizona Water Resources Department at the state as well as Brenda Burman who is the executive director of Central Arizona Project. Our team though has been involved in those discussions uh and working very closely with ADWR as well as the CAP and other cities and tribes uh throughout the state of Arizona. Uh so for a long time we have planned uh for to protect our water security and to diversify our water portfolio uh in the city of Phoenix. And so with our current team, we've continued with that legacy. And so I want to thank all of our water staff who are here with us today. I also want to thank um our um chairman and members of the Arizona um I'm sorry, not Arizona, but our rack, our water and wastewater advisory committee for their work on this issue as well. And so with that, I will turn it over to the great leadership of our water services director, Brandy Kelso. And then also pres presenting with Brandy is Dr. Max Wilson. And with that, I'll turn it over to Brandy. Thank you, Ginger. Thank you, Mayor and Council. And mayor, I want to also thank you for the shout out to our team that works tirelessly every single day to make sure we provide reliable water services. Um, we want to thank you for having us here today to talk about this very important uh time in water resources, probably a pivotal moment. Uh, as you know, water is the lifeline of a vibrant desert city. In today's agenda, we're going to talk kind of through the whole story. Where does our water come from? How is it being used? What's changing, especially on the Colorado River? Maybe talk a little bit about how dismal the weather was this winter. Um, and then we're going to talk about how we have prepared and planned for this point in time, what we're doing now from a supply and demand perspective to meet those demands over the next 10 years, how the drought management plan fits in. And then finally, what are the solutions that we need to move forward to make sure we continue to plan and prepare to ensure reliable water services. So, we'll start first with a brief summary of where our water comes from. About 98% of the water used today comes from rain and snow that makes its way to rivers and streams. The Salt and Verie rivers make up about 58% of that supply. The water is transported to Phoenix through the SRP system. As you are aware, some of the water in the Salt and Verie is you can only be used on specific parcels of land while other sources can be used anywhere. About 40% of our drinking water supply comes from the Colorado River. As Ginger mentioned a few minutes ago, this is comes to us from the central Arizona project and is shared by seven states in Mexico and about 30 tribal communities. Finally, about 2% of our water is from groundwater. We manage groundwater as a finite nonrenewable resource since we know it takes a long time to regenerate it. Therefore, it is you we use very little of it. And when we have extra water, we use that water to store in our aquafers so that we can use it when we can't rely on surface water. It's like our savings account for a not so rainy day. Not shown on this graph is another type of water resource we use, which is reclaimed water from wastewater. Phoenix uses over 90% of this water resource for beneficial use to supply water for power generation irrigation and environmental benefits. Now that we understand where our water comes from, I'd like to visit how we use it today. As you are aware, population in Phoenix has been growing since the 1990s, as shown by the blue bars on this graph. However, water demand on a per person basis has been declining over that same time frame. In 1990, our uh person used about 135 gallons of water to per day while today they are using less than 95 gallons per water per day. This means that today Phoenix uses about the same amount of water as we did in 1990. Despite the growth in population, water delivered to our customers can be broken into uh several categories including residential, commercial, and outdoor usages. As you can see from the pie chart, about 40% of water delivered today is used outdoors. Some of that about half of the water that single family uh uses is part of that outdoor use. About twothirds of our water is used by residential customers, leaving about 23% used by non-residential customers, which is primarily um commercial, industrial, and institutional. Phoenix's water customers value safe, reliable water services to sustain their desert way of life at both home and work. >> Councilwoman Stark, >> just a quick question um with regards going back to the uh previous slide, commercial industrial and does that include farming, agriculture? Um, that's a mayor and council. Uh, Councilwoman Stark, that is a great question. Um, Phoenix does not actually have any agricultural customers. Most of those are supplied directly off of either the Colorado River cap or SRP canals. Um, so we might have some um local like small food gardens, but no actual agriculture. >> Thank you. Thank you so much for clarifying that. And I know we still have agricultural within the city, but they're not our users. Thank you. Thank you mayor. >> As you've heard, the one of the um water of our water supplies, the Colorado River, is in crisis. And now I'll turn it over to Max Wilson uh to give us a update on what's happening. >> Mayor, members of the city council, thank you for the opportunity to be here today and speak on these important issues. As we've discussed with council previously, the Colorado River is in crisis. River flows over the previous two plus decades have been the lowest in over a thousand years. Critically, this period has also seen near normal precipitation, suggesting that flows will continue to decline as temperatures warm. As a result of these low flows from historic and historic allocate overallocation, reservoir levels at Lake Powell and Lake me are at critically low levels. Unless significant action is taken to predict uh taken to reduce demand throughout the Colorado River Basin, it is near it is a near certainty that these reservoirs will lose the ability to produce power perhaps as soon as this year and the ability to pass water through them shortly thereafter. To prevent these disastrous outcomes, the Bureau of Reclamation, the federal agency that manages the system, has declared a shortage and reduce deliveries to the lower basin water users every year since 2022. I'm sorry, forgot to click record. Um, these historic low flows come at a particularly bad time uh for the basin. Federal rules that govern how water shortages in the Colorado River basin are shared expire at the end of this year. Historically, the seven states that share the Colorado River have been able to agree on such rules, alleviating the federal government of its responsibility to develop rules to operate its infrastructure. However, if the seven states are unable to develop a consensus approach, this responsibility reverts to the federal government and they will be forced to operate the system and distribute shortages by a unilateral action. Unfortunately, despite multiple years of negotiations, the seven basin states have been unable to agree on shortage sharing or new operating guidelines. While the disagreements among and within states on technicalities are vast, the core issues are around three areas. The first is whether the upper division states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico have any obligation to deliver water to the lower basin states of Arizona, California, and Nevada. Upper basin states assert that as long as they stay within their total allocation of 7.5 million acre feet, they have no obligation to the lower basin states, even if that means they dry the entire river. Uh lower basin states assert that the 1922 Colorado River Compact makes it clear that upper division states are only allotted water available above and beyond what was promised to the lower basin states. The second major issue is how cuts in the lower basin should be distributed. As a precondition for receiving federal funding, Arizona agreed to become the junior user in the lower basin, meaning that it would bear the full impact of any shortages that occurred in the lower basin. However, this commitment was presupposed on the understanding at the time that the upper basin states would meet their delivery obligations to the lower basin states and thus all shortages we would experience would be temporary and occasional. Finally, as Colorado River flows are expected to continue to decline, Arizona h and Arizona has to date borne the full impact of these reduced flows via mandatory reductions to the central Arizona project canal. Arizona has insisted that any new agreement should give Arizona protection against having to bear all cuts in the future. As previously mentioned, if a consensus amongst the states cannot be reached, the federal government will be forced to act unilaterally. The Bureau of Reclamation gave us a preview of what this could look like when it published its draft environmental impact statement in January of this year. While this document was deeply flawed, it did reveal much about the crit the current thinking of inside the Bureau of Reclamation. First, the document made clear that in order to balance supply and demand on a basinwide scale, uh total water use needs to be reduced by between two and 4 million acre feet or 12 to 24%. For context, the total municipal consumptive use in the basin is in between 2 and 3 million acre feet, suggesting that we could turn off every uh municipal and industrial use of water and still not have saved enough water to stabilize the system. Second, the Bureau of Reclamation made it clear that by its understanding of the law of the river, it only has the authority to place mandatory cuts on the lower basin. Because the Central Arizona Project is the junior user in the lower basin, this means that by their interpretation, all cuts must be placed on the Central Arizona Project canal and its users until dry. as it expressed clearly in its response to the to reclamation following the release of the draft environmental impact statement. Phoenix vehematly disagrees with this reading of the law. However, in a world where unilateral federal action is appearing more and more likely, it's worth understanding the bureau's position on this issue. And finally, the draft environmental impact statement made no attempt to quantify the economic consequences that drying up the CAP canal could have on central Arizona, even going so far as to suggest that there would be no economic consequences because we would turn to backup supplies such as hauling water. For better or for worse, mother nature is not standing still while we try to solve these problems. Over the next few slides, I will give an update on the status of storage and reservoirs from which Phoenix draws water. What you see here is an image of current storage at major reservoirs throughout the Colorado River Basin with the light blue areas representing water currently in the reservoirs. A number of major uh numbers at the major reservoirs are dire with Lake Powell at just 25% of capacity and Lake me at 33% of capacity. Worse, not all of this water is actually physically available as much of it lies below the Deadpool thresholds in each dam. For example, while Lake Powell is currently at elevation 3528, power production would be lost if this lake fell below elevation 3490, suggesting we are just 38 ft of storage today or between today and the loss of a critically uh a nationally critical energy resource. Though not to scale, we have shown an approximation of this level on the diagram in red to illustrate how little water in Lake Powell is actually available to be deployed. You will also note in looking at this image that the situation is much rosier in the upper basin where many reservoirs are near full. These reservoirs were built with the express purpose of helping the upper basin meet its delivery obligation to the lower basin. And we continue to urge the federal government to deploy these resources to ensure those obligations can be met. With lake elevations this low, a single year of bad snowpack could be sufficient to push lakes past critical elevations. Unfortunately, this year was that year. What you see here is a graph of snowpack in the upper Colorado River Basin with the red line representing the previous worsome record. The dark blue line below the red line is this year. For all intents and purposes, there was no snowpack in the Colorado Rockies this year. Unless emergency actions are taken at Lake Powell, uh Lake Powell will lose the ability to produce power as soon as this summer. To prevent this from occurring, the Bureau of Reclamation has proposed to release water from Flaming Gorge Reservoir in the upper basin and to reduce releases from Lake Me to the lower basin. However, it is unclear whether these actions will be sufficient. Worse, reduced releases from Lake Powell to Lake me this year could trigger litigation on the previously mentioned delivery obligations in the Colorado River Compact. While most of our focus has been on the Colorado River system, conditions on the SRP system are not as positive as they were just a few years ago. Current system storage is at 56% compared to 70% one year ago and almost 100% two years ago. To stabilize deliveries, SRP has initial initiated its well program serving groundwater to conserve surface water. While we anticipate that supplies on the SRP system will be sufficient to meet demands in the immediate future, we ask you to keep the condition of this system in mind as we discuss backup supplies in the next few moments. In particular, the renewable backup supplies. And with that, I will hand it over to Brandy. Thank you, Max. For over a hundred years, Phoenix has been planning and preparing for drought conditions. Next, we'll walk you through various steps we've taken to ensure con to be able to continuously provide safe, reliable water services. The first step, Phoenix has been working with our customers to develop a culture of conservation. Since the mid80s, Phoenix Water has been providing landscape and educational materials for our customers. These materials have helped our customers learn proper watering techniques as well as appropriate landscapes for our desert city. To further Phoenix culture of conservation about four years ago, mayor and council developed the ad hoc water conservation committee. Want to thank you for your leadership in this area and since then we have implemented all the programs recommended by that committee. Some of these programs have included efficiency consultations, incentives for residential and commercial grass removal, and rebates for high efficiency toilets and irrigation controllers. Step two, Phoenix has invested in renewable surface water supplies. We consider these supplies our renewable backup supplies. Some of the projects Phoenix has invested in include construction of infrastructure on both the Verdie and Salt rivers to capture flood waters store that to store this water that we can use at a later time. In the 1950s, we installed gates on Horseshoe Reservoir to capture water at the Verie River. And then in the 1990s, we partnered with SRP and others on Roosevelt Dam to raise it to capture flood waters on the Salt River. In addition, we have invested in forest restoration to ensure the health and sustainability of these local waterheds and protect these water resources. For step three, Phoenix has stored unused water supplies underground so that this water can be used in the future. We refer to this water as our previously stored water. Phoenix has been storing water in both Phoenix the Phoenix area and the Tucson area. To date, we have 675,000 acre feet of water stored underground, which equates to approximately 4 years worth of water supply currently used by our customers that primarily use Colorado water supplies. While step two and three uh in our preparedness plan focused on water resources, step four focuses on building the infrastructure necessary to move these supplies. Phoenix needs to make sure that we can move these water supplies within the water system to ensure that no tap goes dry. Thank you, mayor and council, for authorizing the $300 million drought pipeline project that allows us to move water from the 24 street water treatment plant into northern Phoenix. In addition, we've been constructing groundwater wells to access our groundwater supplies. And today, we have significantly increased that capacity and have 20 wells operational and an additional 10 wells expected to be online in the next three years. Our final step, step five, is really about Phoenix departments being prepared to lead the way by to handle these drought conditions and practice water conservation. Phoenix departments are developing their specific drought management plans to conserve water while maintaining the services they provide to the public. Many departments have already implemented many state water saving measures such as work completed by the airport to remove non-functional grass and to update their cooling systems or by the parks department that has installed weatherbased irrigation systems at approximately 70% of our parks and most recently by public works to remove the water feature outside of city hall or the non-functional grass just outside these council chambers. ers Phoenix departments are showing the public how water can be used reasonably while practicing water conservation and efficiency. As you can see with these five steps, Phoenix has been planning and preparing for the drought conditions we are expecting to see in the coming years. Now, we're going to walk you through what does that demand and supply look like under various Colorado River cuts. This graph shows our demand and supply for areas served primarily by Colorado River water as it is today. The orange line, the orange bar is our demand today and is about 160,000 acre feet per year. Our Colorado River allocation is shown in blue and is about 200,000 acre feet per year. Obviously, our goal is to have greater supplies than demand as shown by the orange line there. It should be noted that this graph is very specific to Phoenix as every city valley city has a very different water portfolio and very different Colorado River um allocations. So we know cuts are coming. So in this chart uh the first two bars are the same bars we saw saw in the previous graph but we've added to this Colorado River cuts at 25 50 75 and 100%. As you can see, even at a 25% cut, we will need to use some of our other supplies to meet to make today's ma de demands. I want to set the stage for the next series of slides where we're going to review our backup supplies to meet these cuts. We've projected our various supplies over a 10-year time frame to determine if we can meet these projected cuts. We've made assumptions based on the historical performance of water supplies. For example, some of our Salt and Verie system supplies historically replenish in a three-year cycle. >> Councilman Wearing, >> well, I had some uh I just had looked at this chart, so I was a little confused. Is this what the situation looks like 10 years from now? You said 10ear supply at various cap cuts. So, are we looking at what it would be like in 2036? Uh, mayor and council. Um, no. This is what the the the cuts could look if the bureau does a 25% cut starting in January of 2027. The amount of supply we'd have from the Colorado River is about 150,000 acre feet. What we've done when we see the next couple graphs is we've taken our available supplies and projected them and spread them over a 10-year. So, we don't use all the supply in year one, but if we were to spread it over the 10 years and applied it in these different cuts, could we meet those cuts >> over the next 10 year over a 10-year horizon? >> Still a little confused by this chart. Sounds like the other guys get it, so I'm just dumb. I'll accept that. Um, >> we'll go to the next slide and maybe I'll that will help. >> Well, so I'm the Bureau of Reclamation has put out isn't it four different plans or aren't there multiple variations of plans? Okay, >> mayor, Councilman Wearing, uh, the Bureau of Reclamation has released their draft environmental impact statement that contains a range of possible alternatives that they could implement. Uh, those range from a uh, essentially 100% CAP cut to a very small CAP cut. So, we wanted to show you the full range of possibilities here. Um, and I think as Brandy lays on some of these additional, uh, water backup supplies that we have, um, hopefully it'll help clear up, uh, how we're showing it here. >> So, but going back to So, it's really at this point since an agreement hasn't been reached, it's up to the Bureau of Reclamation to make a decision. >> Mayor, Councilman Wearing, that's correct. >> And that's coming this summer. Correct. >> Mayor, Councilman Wearing, that's correct. and various, not just city of Phoenix, but the valley cities and the governor presumably are lobbying the Bureau of Lcomamation to make a decision favorable to Arizona. >> Mayor, Mayor, Councilman Wearing, that's correct. And sometimes writing excruciatingly long letters to make our point. [snorts] >> Okay. Um, so are you suggesting you think the cuts will somewhere be between 25 and 100% or you're just showing us what is likely? >> We're trying to show I'm sorry, mayor, council wearing, we're attempting to show you the kind of full range of possibilities what could happen. >> Does this mean we really have no idea what the Bureau of Reclamation is going to do? >> Mayor, Councilman Wearing, it is fully at the Bureau of Reclamation's discretion how they act in a unilateral action >> and they report to the Secretary of the Interior. >> Mayor, Councilman Weing, that's correct. for reports to the president. Correct. >> Mayor, Councilman Wearing, that's correct. >> So, ultimately, it's the administration's decision. >> Mayor, Council Wearing, unless there is a uh agreement amongst the states or a subset of the states. That is correct. >> Which just seems like it would have happened before now if it was going to happen. >> Uh Mayor Council Wearing, there are still uh talks ongoing for a lower basin only agreement between the lower basin states. That would likely be a very short-term uh deal while a broader agreement was attempted to be negotiated. How long have the talks been going on? >> Uh, Mayor Corning, uh, four years. >> Correct. So, my point exactly. >> So, really, our focus should be on making the Secretary of the Interior happy who probably sees it as their job to make someone else happy. My guess, they want to stay being Secretary of the Interior. Mayor, Councilman Wearing, I think uh whether there is a lower basin only deal or not, uh we are certainly at a point where the risk of unilateral federal action is very high. Yes. Um and therefore we do need to continue lobbying the Department of the Interior to understand the full scale and magnitude of what could occur if they were to take some of these actions. >> Correct. At this point, it is somewhat out of our hands. Um, Mayor, Councilman Wearing, I I think that we will talk at length in a moment about things that we can do to continue service continuity despite some of these cuts, but the cuts themselves, yes, are largely out of our hands. >> Okay, thank you. Okay. So for this graph um what we've done is we've taken our um renewable backup supplies that I spoke about in step two of our planning and preparation efforts uh such as the installation of gates at Horseshoe Reservoir to capture verdie water uh flooding. Um, and as you can see, when we add this supply over a 10 the next 10-year horizon, um, you can see that we can fill the gap at a 25% cut, and we barely are making, uh, ends meet on a 50% cut. We then layer the next uh, water resource that we tap into, which is our stored groundwater. Uh this is the water that we've been storing in Phoenix and Tucson and corresponded to step three that I mentioned earlier where we've taken supplies that are not currently being used and put them underground. With this supply, you can see that we now meet that 50% cut. Um but we are still short a little bit on the 75% cut. The final type of ground water we would uh look at to meet our demands is the natural groundwater allocation. As we discussed earlier, this is the water resource that we use last as it is not renewable and once it's used, it's gone. Use of this supply will allow us to meet the 75% cut, but we, as you can see, are not able to make the 100% cut. This has been previously called our black swan event. And just a reminder that these are base amounts over the 10 years. We of course could use more of one water resource earlier in the 10-year period, but then it would be likely that we'd fail to meet those demands towards the end of the 10 years. Given the range of cuts we expect on the Colorado River, we are not running out of water, but we will need to use our backup supplies to meet demands over the next 10 years. In addition to the use of these supplies, we will need to implement our drought management plan to ensure that we're meeting demands with these supplies and that they're balanced. As a reminder, Phoenix declared stage one water alert in June of 2022 to further educate our community about conservation. With cuts coming on the Colorado River, we anticipate going to great uh stage two water warning by the end of 26. as we begin to using our backup supplies to meet demands in early 2027. As discussed earlier, our planning efforts um this aligns a lot with step five in which our departments are already preparing for enhanced conservation. We are currently working on the aspects of what a stage 2 water warning will look like, but it may include things like additional conservation education, expansion of water audits, incentives, and rebates to ensure efficient use of water. We expect to come back to council in the fall to present the details of what a stage 2 water warning declaration will look like, as well as the future stages of our drought management planning. So, so far we've discussed what we've been doing to plan and prepare for drought conditions and how we plan to meet demands over the next 10 years. But there's more to do. Phoenix is continually planning and securing additional water resources to ensure that we can meet demands over a 100redyear horizon. So, next we're going to cover several projects that we've been working on to have those additional water resources available to us. This first project is being developed by SRP and will provide another renewable backup supply similar what to what was completed on Roosevelt Dam on the Salt River. SRP is looking to replace Bartlett Dam on the Verdie River. This would allow for additional flood waters to be captured, stored, and used at a later time. The picture on the left shows how Bartlett Reservoir looks today, while the picture on the right shows how Bartlett Reservoir will look like when this project is completed. As you can see, this project will drastically increase the amount of water stored behind Bartlett Dam. Another group of projects being proposed is the Pure Water Phoenix program. These three projects will take treated water from our wastewater treatment plants and further treat water through advanced purified water facilities to meet or exceed all drinking water regulations. We anticipate three pure water project Phoenix facilities. These projects give us a local supply that is available every day. Thank you, mayor and council, for your leadership in this area by supporting and authorizing the construction of our first facility at Cave Creek Road. And I'm happy to report to you that we are about 50% complete with that construction. We will soon begin design for the North Gateway facilities where we were recently awarded $179 million grant from the Bureau of Reclamation based on the support of Mayor and Council and Representative Stanton. Finally, the third facility is expected to be a regional facility with several other valley water providers participating. We expect that all three of these plans or these facilities will completed be completed within the next 10 years and will provide over 50,000 acre feet of renewable water supply each year. This equates to about 25% of our current work Colorado River allocation. With that, I'm going to pass it back to Max so that he can talk about the next series of projects. >> Thank you, Brandy. These large infrastructure projects that Brandy has just described are critical to Phoenix's water future. However, in times of shortage, it will be equally critical that all Arizonans are working together to protect the economic and social vitality of our state and local communities. With this in mind, we're proud to present you a first look at the Secure Water Arizona program or swap. A first of its kind program that allows Arizonans to solve water problems by working together. First, a little background on why a program like the swap is the best path forward for Phoenix and other water users across the state. The biggest difference with how water is managed in Arizona versus some of our neighbors is the fact that we are our water is not managed through a large regional authority. Rather, individual cities and industries have developed their own unique water portfolios to fit their needs. This is important as every community has a different vision and goals and thus different water needs. As a result, Colorado River water is as much as 100% of the water portfolio in some communities and as little as 5% of the water portfolio in other communities. Similarly, the major users of Colorado River water, irrigation districts, are often quite as different from one another as they are from the cities themselves, growing different crops on different soils with different water rights. What this makes clear is that no oneizefits-all solution can work for everyone. and instead um no however if we move past trying to find solutions that work for everyone and instead focus on solutions that work for specific subsets of users coalitions of the willing we can find instances where everyone benefits and that's the idea behind the swap co-developed by the city of Phoenix and the city of Tucson the swap is a completely voluntary opt-in partnership that facilitates members working together to solve water problems to be clear upfront the swap does not allow for any forced reallocation ations of water, but rather connects willing buyers to willing sellers and a spirit of mutual aid. But how does a swap actually work? There swap has three core programs. The first is the emergency reserve. While every water provider has been preparing for a future with less Colorado River water, it is critical to mention that the shortages we are facing today are coming faster and are larger than previously anticipated. Additionally, as we learned during the Riovery Foothills crisis a few years ago, water insecurity on even the smallest communities in Arizona can have an enormous impact on public perception and economic development for all of Arizona. The Emergency Reserve works towards solving this problem by setting aside a small discreet amount of water to provide short-term protection to all participants against unanticipated wet water emergencies. This water is then paid back to the reserve through other swap programs. Both Phoenix and Tucson have expressed a willingness to pledge water towards this reserve in 2027 to provide immediate safety net for participants and it is anticipated that the reserve can and will grow through contributions from other swap programs. The second part of the swap is the reduction offset program. This program would seek to de develop additional water resources that could reduce the volume of cuts faced by priority 4 users in Arizona including central Arizona project water users. Examples of programs that could operate in this way include infrastructure improvements that reduce water losses or partnerships with irrigation districts to implement proven conservation technologies. Reduction offset program projects would carry a high degree of certainty and be funded by the beneficiaries. However, they would likely carry a higher dollar per acrefoot cost than current supplies and thus participation in any specific reduction offset project would not be required for any participant. [snorts] And finally, while we know many of the solutions that could be implemented to help save and share water, we don't know everything. Perfecting the next generation of water saving and water sharing programs will require experimenting with new technologies, new crops, and new delivery and exchange agreements. These types of projects fit into the water sharing sandbox, which allows Colorado River water users to experiment on new ways to save and share water with the understanding that these are experiments, not long-term commitments. While we anticipate that projects like the or we anticipate that projects like these will not be for everyone, sometimes not even for Phoenix. Therefore, agreements will be negotiated on a user-to-user basis, open and available to any swap party who wants to participate. I'd like to conclude this discussion of the swap by thanking the city of Tucson for its thoughtful leadership and spirit of collaboration in co-developing the swap. Central and Southern Arizona have very different water situations, but we're confident that by joining together to build flexible tools, we can address the water problems all across our state. In closing, while the entire Colorado River Basin has a problem, Phoenix and its partners have a plan. We believe that by taking these steps, building the next generation of water resource infrastructure, creating a safety net to protect us all, working together to reduce the impact of cuts, and experimenting on water saving and sharing projects in the future, water users from across the state can work together to solve water problems. And with that, I will hand it back to Brandy. Thank you, Max. Mayor and council, with this in mind, we request authorization to negotiate the development of mutual aid agreements and transactional agreements that will be the basis of secure of the secure water Arizona program and we will bring back those agreements to council for approval once they are developed. With that, we're happy to take any questions. >> Thank you, Vice Mayor. Do you have a motion? >> Yes, mayor. Um, I move to approve the staff's recommendation to authorize staff to negotiate the development of mutual aid agreements and transactional agreements to establish a secure water Arizona program. >> Second. >> Thank you. We have a motion and a second. Also want to recognize Warren Tenny, the executive director of the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association is with us. And now I'll turn to my colleagues for questions and comments. Councilwoman Gordado. >> Thank you, Mayor. First, just want to thank staff for taking on such a big challenge um in front of us. So, Brandy, thank you so much for your leadership. Maxwell, thank you for all the briefings and all of your hard work. Um and Ginger, right, it's not an easy task. So, thank you for your leadership as well. Water is not just a resource in Phoenix. It is our future. Today's discussion makes one thing clear. The challenges we face on the Colorado River are real. They are urgent and they are not going away. We are seeing historic lows at Lake Med and Lake Pow. And we know that nearly 40% of our city's water supply depends on this system. That means the decision we make right now is not optional. It is an essential one. I am proud that Phoenix is not waiting. We are planning. We are investing. We are conserving. From storing water on water underground to building critical infrastructure like the drought pipeline to expanding partnerships across Arizona, we are doing the work to protect our city. But we also know this. No single city can solve this problem alone. That's why these agreements matter. They represent collaboration, flexibility, and a shared commitment to making sure our communities, especially working families and future generations, have access to safe, reliable water, no matter what comes up next. Because at the end of the day, this is about more than policy. It's about whether our kids and grandkids can continue to live, work, and thrive here in Phoenix. I'm trying to get David to go to ASU, right? So, I think it's incredibly important um to making sure that we have a water supply for our for our communities, for our children's and our grandb babies. We have a responsibility to act with urgency, with innovation, and with partnership. And I want to close by thanking the again the water services department, by thanking all of our constituents. I know we've had to make hard decisions in the last couple of years to making sure that we have the water supply that we need. Um we don't know what the future holds for us. So again, thank you everyone for your leadership for um looking forward. I remember it was one of the first briefings I got when I first came into council in 2019 and did all the different tours um of all of our different water facilities. So I am happy to support and making sure that we that we continue um to conserve water and that we continue um to welcome people here in Phoenix, but at the same time um we got to make everyone responsible. Thank you guys all so much. Thank you, mayor. >> Thank you, Councilman Wearing. >> Uh, thank you, mayor. Uh, lost in this. And Max, I appreciate you putting on your ominous radio announcer voice for your presentation, too. That was fantastic. Uh, and you managed to hold it through the whole thing. That was great. Um, uh, the chart on page three, chart six on page three, the incredibly dramatic decline in per capita consumption is a is a huge victory that I don't think we tout enough. I've talked about this before. I mean, it's really fantastic. The problem is you'd have to try to conserve our way out of this. You'd have to follow up a fantastic achievement with a pretty quick another fantastic achievement. Um, I moved here in 1991, so this chart is me and it really is kind of amazing with lowflow toilets and dishwashers that hardly use any water and etc, etc. Um, I just think it's been fantastic what's been done, but how much is possible? I mean, in 1980, I think it was, 80% of the yards were green grass and only 20% were desert skate. Maybe it was 85% and 15. And now that's completely switched around. Like, I don't have any grass. I have a desert skate. um you can only change 15% more where before you changed a much higher percentage. It just seems like a lot of the tools in the toolbox already been used. Am I wrong about that? Is there a way to move that orange chart heading downward uh residential use? How do you get that to go lower in a to make a meaningful difference? Mayor, Councilman Wearing, you're certainly correct that we cannot conserve our way out of a problem of this magnitude. Um, to answer your question directly on how much additional demand reductions could we see, we do see on an annual basis, these uh GPCD numbers, gallons per capita per day, do continue going down. As they go down, what's happening is the demand is what we call in the industry becoming hardened. It's be it's being focused on things that uh are must haves not nice to haves as compared to say your grass outside compared to your toilet inside your house. Um so the total amount of additional demand reduction that we could see through water conservation certainly is um not limitless and not at likely at the scale that you see on this graph here. Uh so you mentioned toilets like we have a program right to replace uh toilets that just run and run and run and waste water. That the problem is the messaging getting people to know that there's such a program and that will effectively give them unless I'm overstating a free toilet if you just let us know your toilet is running and running and running. But we're not in every house checking. So, um, but let me ask this. Like, what is a for residential, what is a major water bill? Like, $200, $300, what what does that look like? Uh, Councilman Wearing, uh, Mayor and Councel, uh, the average water portion of the bill, so I know the city services bill has a lot of different, uh, pieces to it, but the average customer is spending about $34, I believe, on the water side. Um, I haven't looked at the numbers in the last couple months, but that's about where we're at. Um, >> and that's a single family home. >> That's a single family home. Uh we do know that uh people can use water more efficiently and that's some of the things that we're going to be bringing uh back in the fall when we go to stage two and we'll be able to share with you some of the ideas that our team's been working on um to help educate and further those numbers so that we continue to see that decline. But as Max said, there's still kind of a a lower limit of just base need that people need to have water. So, we approve uh Brandy a lot of zoning changes and so forth. I assume when new buildings, office buildings come online, you know, they're as efficient as possible. I would assume those builders would want to make it as attractive a location. And one thing you could do is by reducing the electrical costs and the water costs for the prospective tenants andor owners. I assume I'm right about that, right? Like they're doing like the most cutting edge stuff just because it's good for them, not because it's necessarily good for everybody else. Is that a fair statement, >> Mayor and Council? Councilman Wearing, yes, we already have rules within um the planning and development department where we're using high efficiency um water saving devices. Um we also, as you know, um the council's um passed not long too long ago our large water user ordinance in which we're taking those um facilities that use a larger amount and requiring them to have conservation plans and show us how that they're doing that because they use a large amount of water. >> And part of the reason I focus on offices is because in district two, we haven't had a ton of residential, at least single family homes, just because it's expensive to build there. The last big one we had was uh July of 2022. I'm talking big in terms of number of units. Um those folks were great to work with. Um but the mayor really spearheaded making those units like they are the most efficient. I I forget you guys will remember there's award you get and you have to prove there has to be like a proof of concept, right? That you're actually doing what you say you're doing. But when you talk about the $34 bill, did that materially change like how much water or how much they're paying in those houses which aren't built yet in fairness, but can you project that out? Like is that moving it down? Like new bills I would expect would be like those dramatically more efficient than even one from 2020. Mayor and council, Councilman Wearing, yes, we have seen over time that the newer um house ho households are being more efficient. Some of it is the outdoor water use though um in district 2. Um as you know, a lot of that is around desert landscaping um and so they're using a lot less water outdoors. With that said, we have seen a decline in water usage in older neighborhoods as they're starting to renovate their houses. they're starting to get rid of grass and go to zeroscape similar to what we see in the newer areas. Um so we see that there is some room for movement especially in the older neighborhoods as they start to move to this uh more water-wise um efficient uh appliances and things in the homes. >> And mayor Council Murray if I may add to that a little bit. I I bring up the slide that we have on the screen here now uh just to uh illuminate I think um where the potential for additional water savings is in the city. Um as we can see here uh the uh largest single bucket of water demand in the city is outdoors at single family homes. Um and that is despite the fact that as you alluded to Councilman Wearing only 9% of homes in Phoenix have predominantly grass front and backyards. And if you put those two facts together, what it suggests to us is that there's actually a very significant amount of overwatering of desert landscapings occurring. Um, and that's something that our conservation team, many of whom are here behind us, are out working with customers every single day to help educate them on is how can you use the amount of water that your plants actually need instead of the amount of water that maybe you think they need um without having any um training on that, >> right? Um, so it sounds like we're doing what we can to reduce per capita consumption in offices and houses. Frankly, citizens have done an incredible job. It's really them. I mean, we can provide all the guidance we want. It was really the market and the citizens and the folks who moved here post 1990 who built houses or bought houses, I guess I should say, depending on how you look at it, who kind of drove that decline. But if I read the chart uh that I either misunderstood or never understood, pick one of those on page 12. It's chart 24, the 10-year supply at various cap cuts. The 75% cut, we can try to keep doing more conservation, but we can still sustain at the 75% cap cut. How long is that sustainable? Is this for a hundred years? Is this like what does this look like? Is is this enough for my kids? Kind of to Betty's point, I'd love my kids to live in the house we all live in. They love the house. That would be fantastic. That would be my dream. Like, is that realistic in any way or what should I tell them? >> Mayor, Councilwoman, uh, Wearing. Uh, yes. So, this is just the supply over a 10-year. So, we took some of these uh renewable backup supplies, stored water, and groundwater, and then just applied them over a 10-year to look at what the 10-year looks like. However, we know that we need to continue planning and building the other projects such as the Bartlett Dam, um Purifi, Pure Water, Phoenix, um to have additional supplies available after this 10-year horizon. >> So, to take care of the 20 year and the 30-year >> Exactly. Exactly. Um, I am not judging, just saying. Slightly concerned that by putting out this chart, who knows whose hands it's going to fall into. Somebody might, some bureaucrats somewhere in Washington might go, you know what, kind of looks like at a 75% cut. Phoenix is good. That's 1.7 million people we've taken care of. Good to go. And just do it. Um, hopefully it's not as simple as that, >> but who knows? No offense, you guys don't seem to know. So, I'm not saying you should. It's just it's an unknowable. So, I'd be cautious and scrap and everything else. Plus, I know you're only speaking for Phoenix. I always make that point whenever ask me about water. Like, if something happens to one of our sister cities, that definitely would affect us for sure. Um, do we have any idea what did they certainly must be briefing their councils as well. Do you guys I don't want to say spy that would be so ridiculous but do you get their presentations like what are they looking at because you know if somebody looked at this and said well at a 75% cut Phoenix can make it work maybe the environmental turnaround something and they're done that doesn't necessarily mean the other cities are fine and it's they're they're picking a plan for Arizona not just Phoenix correct >> mayor Councilman Wearing A couple of issues I'd like to just flag there as we discuss them. One, um it's important to note as Brandy said in her uh comments that this slide is based on a large number of assumptions. We're showing demand at what it is today. Obviously, demand could change over time. We're also showing our uh renewable backup supplies performing how they do on average over that 10 10-year period. However, if we entered into a period of drought on the uh the the Salt and the Verie River side, those supplies may not perform as well as they're displayed here. And so, I would say to anybody who got a hold of this slide and said, "You guys are fine at certain levels of cuts." Um, what we're showing here is that if the assumptions work, we would be fine at those levels of cuts. And there are additional conversations that we would want to have with you, mayor and council, on an annual basis about the status of those supplies as we go into each operating year because we're going to be operating near the edge in any of these types of scenarios. Um to the question of how are >> can I can I actually interrupt you there? So first about that word assumptions. >> So you guys and I don't mean you guys I shouldn't say that because you guys weren't in those positions that you're sitting in right now. So, but previous iterations of you have given us assumptions that have now changed. >> So, I just in the future I'll be gone, but in the future, my successor, Laura's successor, the rest, you know, if you could definitely make sure like, hey, this is what we think. In the past, there's been a little bit of this is what we know and that hasn't exactly turned out to be correct. Um, so I I guess I would just ask that when you use the word assumptions. I also we really don't have any idea. Do we even have a name of the person who will ultimately make this decision? >> Uh, mayor, Councilman Wearing, the acting commissioner of the Bureau of Reclamation is Scott Cameron. Um, and uh, the current director of the Department of Interior is Doug Burkham. >> So ultimately they're the person. it does help uh to know who's actually the person doing this. Um so not only do you know hopefully what the other cities are telling their councils, do you know what other states are I mean we're saying we need this water basically to survive. We don't have farms. We're not farming. We kind of cut what we can cut. We need this to actually give water to our actual humans who live here. What are they saying in one of the other states or all of the other states? Like I'm trying to compare like these arguments to Scott what's his name? Like what are they telling him and how compelling is it? >> Mayor Councilman uh Wearing I um first I just do just want to clarify um the Central Arizona project has historically served quite a bit of agriculture. that agriculture has been turned off central Arizona project water since the uh 2019 drought contingency plan. Um and so the agricultural uses here within Arizona, whole counties of which in Panal County have been offline for years because of of shortage. We have significant agricultural production using Colorado River water in the Yuma area as well. Um I think the arguments that we hear from other states across the the West really do divide at the upper basin lower basin lines. um in the lower basin. I think um perhaps unusually compared to our history, we we have had lawsuits with some of these states over these issues in the past. Um there's really been a spirit of collaboration. As I mentioned, the lower basin states are still working on a deal right now um because the upper basin states have just made it um impossible for a complete sevenst state agreement to work. On the upper division side, what we would hear from upper division states is that um they still do not use their full entitlement of Colorado River water. And until they get to that full entitlement of Colorado River water, they have no responsibility to make cuts to help any of us down here. Um that water in the upper basin is going to a diversity of uses just like water down here goes to a diversity of uses ranging from uh farms to municipal uh sectors. um the coalition for protecting Arizona's lifeline that Brandy mentioned earlier and mayor was uh very instrumental in founding put out an excellent fact sheet we could provide to council after this showing the differences of the value of a drop of water in the upper basin versus the lower basin. And what we can say definitively is that we get a lot more dollars out of every drop of water down here regardless of which sector you look at than they do in the upper basin. >> Okay. So you feel like Arizona has a compelling argument and I did. You're right. I misspoke. I was taking Bry's we don't have farm. Obviously Arizona has farms but Phoenix itself doesn't have farm. So, um I just hope the other cities have modeled the successes that we have with water to put all of us in the best position to succeed because again, if one of the other cities doesn't have water, then that's going to hurt almost as much as if we don't. Um but all you can do is all you can do, I guess. But all right, you're gonna you're going to know something this summer and I guess you're not in the prediction business. So hopefully it'll be something that's manageable and then you're going to come back and tell us all about it when I guess based on a timeline I know it will be on break, but I assume we'll hear about it in the papers or something. Just kidding. >> Yeah, mayor. Council Wearing, we'll make sure you don't hear about it in the paper. >> Thank you. I appreciate it very much. Thank you, Mayor, for indulging me. >> Councilwoman O'Brien. >> Thank you, Mayor. Um, and to Councilman Wearing's point on slide 24, having the assumptions added would be helpful, I think, for or or side noted, but noted would be incredible. Um you talked a little bit about the Bureau of Reclamations um report draft report they put out and can you speak to um what industries they highlight in Arizona as the predominant industries? >> U Mayor Councilman O'Brien um by our analysis they left out 99.6% of Arizona's economy in their uh analysis of the potential economic impacts of the options they put on the table. There was effectively no analysis of the potential loss of Colorado River water to central Arizona municipalities that they assumed that we would find some other water someplace else. >> Okay. And then is probably not. I don't suppose that uh Ryan is here with us today. >> Ryan Tuhill. >> Okay. We saw him come in. All right. Um, I guess maybe one of the city managers could talk about what kind of economic development we have just in the city of Phoenix that was left out of the report. >> So, mayor, um, members of the council and Councilman O'Brien, if you want to as Ryan comes to the table, um, as you can see, we've invited all the city departments that we work very, very closely with. Uh, one thing I would like to point out, um, TSMC is a major project. It's one of the largest economic development, uh, project in the nation. And that water all is Colorado River water, 100% of it. And so, again, um, to to Max's point, um, there were several significant industries that were left out the analysis. And Ryan, >> thank you. Uh, Councilman O'Brien, members of council, um, the other thing that, um, we've been, we've looked at analysis by third parties, the outside of industries, just the concern about foregone development and foregone both residential and commercial and job loss. That that's really kind of what we've seen as a the major drivers. So, it's and it kind of keys up as we go. Uh, year over year, it just kind of accumulates. But what are the major industries currently in Phoenix? What what is driving our economy right now? Because I've been here my entire life and that's 57 years, I'm sad to report. Um and and as I recall when I had my briefing, they talked about us being agriculture and tourism only. Now, I think it's been at least a few decades since we have been 99.6% 6% agriculture and tourism only. What are the industries? And I'm just talking about Phoenix. I'm not talking about the greater Phoenix area. What is happening in Phoenix that that is in our economy that doesn't just help Phoenix but helps the entire state and the entire country? >> Sure. Absolutely. Uh members of council, Councilwoman O'Brien, uh obviously advanced manufacturing, uh semiconductor chip manufacturing are are the top of the list, followed by aerospace and defense, which obviously has um significant national security um uh benefits for the country uh for what we produce here. Um, as you go further down that line, that's um emerging technology companies uh such as as uh AI and and other technology companies that are contributing uh to the industries that we have. Um then as you you know go further down the line um but perhaps not as and and I be a little bit careful not to go outside of my lane here, but not as as heavy water users, but things like our bioscience um and and life sciences industries. So the concern being that as as we see decreasing um uh de industry decreases in certain industries that that has a ripple effect across the economy that would certainly impact um uh other industries. Does that answer your question ma'am? >> It does. Thank you so much. I appreciate that. Sorry for calling you from downstairs. >> It's okay. I I would also like to know that given Phoenix's decade of conservation and infrastructure investment, how are we making the case to the federal government that our community should not be disproportionately impacted by the proposed Colorado River cuts? >> Mayor, Councilwoman O'Brien, uh we have uh had direct and indirect conversations with uh the federal uh administration about these issues. By that I mean we have obviously sent our response to the draft environmental impact statement. It was I am proud to say by at least in my opinion I would say that's the most complete um analysis of that document done by anybody in the basin um providing them direct feedback on the industries that uh at least we see as potentially could be impacted and the national importance that those industries have. We also have talked directly in person uh with uh acting commissioner Cameron and his staff about some of these issues. We are aware that uh the central Arizona project as well as um the state of Arizona have led on those conversations as well. Indirectly, we've worked closely with the business community to ensure that uh they had their voices heard during the review period for the draft environmental impact process and was Ryan's I think third day on the job when we threw him into that particular vat of boiling water. And um uh I we're very proud to say that all of the major economic development uh organizations here in the valley submitted letters on their on our behalf. >> Wonderful. Um and you you touched a little bit on this, but if you could give me some I think number more numbers. You you talked about the 50 um acre feet per year um relative to the um advanced [clears throat] water purification, but what are some of the other water sources where we would get like you mentioned the um river raising the dam on the river. How how would that have which one of those has the most potential impact um on reducing our reliance on the Colorado River? Mayor, Councilwoman O'Brien. Um, it's a difficult question to answer for one kind of odd reason, which is that and all of that water kind of like a bathtub is at the top of the existing uh resources and therefore how much water will actually the dam expansion will have really is determined by how many big floods do we have in the intervening uh period. Additionally, the uh the um Bartlett Dam process is still in the process of allocating resources. they have a draft allocation pro process that's already been gone through. But as members drop in and uh drop out of the program, we anticipate that more water may actually come available uh to be purchased. Uh that being said, if to give you a a round uh number type of answer, you're certainly in the tens of thousands of acre feet of of potential storage from that project. >> Okay. And uh Mayor and Council, Councilwoman Brian, uh the thing that I want to add to that is you mentioned advanced purified water. Uh that's a little bit of a different bucket because it's a supply that comes to us every day. And so with just the three plants that we have now, the projects that we have now, that's 50,000 acre feet. However, as we expand the projects in uh on the Cave Creek Road and the North Gateway, that will add to that supply as those grow over time. So it's just for the base amount of of the initial investment >> given the supply that you know we have and I guess how much we could expand. Do you know what the the largest number that could be if we were fully built out in advanced water purification? >> Uh probably around 75,000 acre feet. But we could go back and do the math and make sure and get you a number for sure. >> Okay, that would be great. I appreciate that. And then h how will we continue to keep our residents informed about our water supply usage trends and the progress so that they can see the impact of their conservation efforts. Mayor Councilwoman O'Brien, that's a great question. Thank you for asking it. Um so obviously we have a lot of this information on our website. Uh you can see that at phoenix.govwaterfuture. Um, in addition, we are constantly working um to implement new technologies. And so, one of the things our department's been working on for about the last year is um the advanced metering um infrastructure and bringing AMI um and that's going to give us some new tools for our customers to be able to look at their water usage in more real time. However, with this 465,000 meters in the in the service area, it's going to take us a while to get there. Um, but that is one of the new technologies that we hope to be bringing over the next few years so that people can look and see their water usage every single day. >> Excellent. I appreciate that. I just have a few comments to finish off with. Um, the water challenge facing Phoenix is serious and how we respond will shape our city for many years to come. But I want to be equally clear that our system is strong, our planning is real, and our track record is unmatched. For decades, we've banked water, built drop infrastructure, and forged regional partnerships. All while our residents voluntary cut per capita use by 30% over 20 years. And that record matters because right now the federal government is making decisions that will shape the future of the Colorado River. The proposals currently on the table would significantly cut Arizona's allocation and that is deeply disappointing. It sends the wrong message that doing the right thing by planning early and conserving water comes with a penalty. And we do not accept that. Phoenix is working with tribal communities, regional partners, and leaders across the state to push for a fair framework, one that recognizes conservation, rewards responsibility, and provides a realistic path for growing cities. And the strongest case we can make in those discussions is what we continue to do here at home. Phoenix conf conversate sorry Phoenix's conservation story is measurable. It's ongoing and it's something we prove every day which means this is not just a policy debate happening in Washington. It's something every person in this city is part of. Every gallon we save strengthens Phoenix's position. It strengthens our credibility and it strengthens our future. So here's my ask to our residents. Talk about this with your neighbors, your co-workers, your family, and most importantly, take action. The city has tools, rebates, and simple steps that can make a real difference. Visit phoenix.gov/savewater and find at least one thing you can do this week. Um, additionally, I don't remember their website, so I feel bad, but Amwa has a website as well, and it's amwa, I think.org. They have also great um resources. Phoenix has built the infrastructure, secured supplies, and created one of the strongest water systems in the country. We need to continue demonstrating that we are a city that does not wait to be told what to do. We step up and take action because we understand what's at stake. Water must be managed and protected by every generation. And right now, that responsibility belongs to us. Thank you, Mayor. >> Thank you. We'll go to Councilwoman Stark and then Councilman Wearing and then Councilwoman Pastor. >> Thank you. Um, I I really want to thank staff. We're we're very fortunate to have Dr. Max Wilson with us and he really does know the subject matter and I appreciate um what you do. You really do look out for the city of Phoenix, but you also think about the entire state and I I I think that's important as well. I will tell you um several years ago when the American Planning Association had their conference here, I think people were shocked from other states, shocked how much we thought about water and how advanced we were in legislation and modeling water. So I think that speaks volumes about Phoenix and Arizona. We've been thinking about this for years. And at our next um transportation, infrastructure and planning subcommittee, we're going to talk about smart technology. I am an optimist. I see the glass half full and I think there's a lot we can continue to do and I'm excited. Again, the smart metering is just one uh asset that we're looking at, but I think there's a lot more we can do. But it's also important that we continue to deliver the message to the public that we want to make sure we have adequate water going into the future. And I will be supporting this motion. I think it's very important that we do this. Water is probably one of the most important assets in any city, but especially in a city that is a desert city. So, thank you so much and keep up the good work. Mayor, I'm glad we had this subject today. This is important. We need to talk about this continuously. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilwoman. Councilman Wearing, followed by Counciloman Pastor, followed by the vice mayor. >> Thank you, Mayor. And uh maybe a different time, I guess I'll say. We'd probably be relying on our congressional delegation to do a lot of the heavy lifting on this. For a variety of reasons, I'm skeptical that in this particular case, some of the members weighing in on this would be as effective as maybe in a bygone era. So, and don't take this the wrong way. I I appreciate I'm sure you're sending serious letters and so forth, but did he leave? Ryan left. Um I wouldn't necessarily limit our arguments though to just Phoenix. >> Yeah. Um, I some will find this controversial, some won't like it. There's a product that's made, I believe, here in Arizona. I was going to ask Ryan to confirm it. I think it's Rathon that makes the Tomahawk missile, and I think they make them in Tucson. Now, last I heard, we've been using the Tomahawks. They work whether you like it or not. They're effective. And so, uh, I think they were asking potentially for another 10,000 where the current buildout, I think, is 90 a year. But if Tucson doesn't have water, then my guess is no tomahawks. So I think we should probably rely on cogent arguments like that. Things that are developed here in Arizona um that are going to be missed by the rest of the country if we're not here to develop them. The only reason we had any of this development in the first place is because Carl Hayden had a long congressional tenure and that made all of this possible really. and then his successors, you know, spun off from that. But but realistically, I don't know that that path is the optimum one this time. Maybe with a couple of exceptions. So, I really think the business community and making the arguments like, you know, if we're going to keep doing what we're doing around the world and you need this product, it's built right here. It's not the only one, but it is one that's probably got more publicity than any other, certainly recently. So again, don't please don't limit our arguments to just Phoenix-based arguments. Please rely on the argument that Phoenix is a huge economy, as the mayor very capably and and beautifully highlighted in her speech just a few days ago, all the things that we're doing here. But that all grinds to a halt if our sister cities can't do what they need to do. You're not going to get the products you want. so that states in the upper basin I guess can keep their overages if I understood what you're saying correctly. You're nodding so I guess I did. Um that doesn't seem like it should be too heavy of a hurdle to get over to get what we need and then the projects that Bry's talking about then can kick in and hopefully we'd be in good shape. But I am somewhat concerned about like how the decision-m might go on this. And so I implore you to use every tool in the toolbox. Highlight everything that's going on here. That's great. See the mayor's speech if you need some examples and why the rest of the country would notice if that was suddenly gone. Um please. Uh so um that's something that I would hope we would focus on and do effectively. Uh I I get the density and the length of the letters that can matter, but I just knowing people like I do after being in a people business for about 25 years. That's not always the magic elixir that sometimes, please don't take this the wrong way, experts think it's going to be. There's other factors involved and I just hope that we're using those factors as effectively as possible to our benefit. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilman Wearing. And Ryan, we brought you up, but I I feel like we did confirm what Rathon makes, but you can. >> Uh, yes, ma'am. According to Google, uh, Councilman Wearing, tomahawks are made in Tucson by Rathon. >> Excellent. >> Okay. [laughter] Mayor, I I I would emphasize too um our message that we have been sending with the help of the business community is that Arizona is not a nice to have for the nation. We're a mustave. The things we make here are must-have things. And the idea that this is somehow just Arizona's problem, if you live in Iowa, that draft environmental impact statement is your problem, right? because it's threatening the things that you need to be able to do your job to be able to be economically viable. If you live in New York City, that draft environmental impact statement is not Arizona's problem. It's your problem. And we have to make sure that the administration fully understands that. And I I wholeheartedly agree that the business community will be our best method for doing that. >> So, mayor, if I can make one point uh because you brought up a compelling one. I don't want Chad if he's here to get a big head, but that airport, how many people go through it connecting to God knows where every day? It's 44 million people, I think, or something and rising a year. You'd miss it if it was gone. So, that is definitely a compelling point that we should use to our benefit. Thank you. >> Thank you, Councilwoman Pastor, followed by the Vice Mayor. >> Thank you. I first want to thank you. Um it's a difficult topic to talk about especially when it's uh water and it's a precious uh item and tool that we need in order to survive. Um so I want to thank you for uh what you're doing and and helping us understand what we need to do uh as a conservationist of water and I've I'll be 12 years before I leave. Um, I have always talked about conserving and Brandy, you said we can't conserve our way out of the out of this, but I do believe we can conserve more and uh I would like to see in the future what additional conservations we can do. at one point, and it was Karen Peters who was still here. At one point, I presented uh some language or some conservation pieces out of Newport. Uh and they did a really good job on how they stepped it uh in order to uh make sure they had water. Um, and so I would like to have a or I I'm not on the committee, but um in the future to have a a conversation, a policy conversation regarding what we can continue to do in conservation. I also want to acknowledge that we do have a lot of business here and we're a large economic engine uh for not only ourselves but really for the country because we supply and internationally and it would be devastating if we can't get the message to Washington of the fact that how much we contribute globally and I want to uh thank the mayor for uh being part of that. But I also want to thank uh Vice Mayor uh Kesha Hajj Washington for also being uh a co-creator in this space of what how we want to uh move forward. My questions are um what are some of the actions other cities have taken to reduce demand when facing supply shortage? >> Mayor uh Councilwoman Pastor, it's an excellent question. And I would say that cities when they've faced situations like this in the past, we aren't the first ones to ever go through anything like this. Many cities have faced situations like this in the past. Across all of those cities, everything that you can possibly imagine has been tried. Whether that's a percent reduction or it's a uh end use span, you can't use water to do a specific thing or a time of use restriction. Say for example, you can't water your lawn on Tuesdays or something like that. All of it's been tried. Um the one thing that we see universally through that is that one it can work in the short term it can reduce demand but two that when those restrictions are lifted on the back end demand tends to return back to not quite where it was before but almost where it was before. And so what you get are really shortterm drops at significant amounts of resources put in. And that's why and the drought management plan as we have it today is really structured um to use that as a last resort for when it's needed to occur while we work with customers daytoday on the voluntary actions that are durable over the over the long term. >> Well, that's good to know. As I just said, I wanted to conserve more. [laughter] It's good to know. Um the other question I have is what sector has the most potential for additional water conservation? What what approaches would be the most effective in ensuring conservation in this sector as this happens? Mayor Councilwoman Pastor um as we showed uh maybe I'll jump back to it. Um as we showed in our pie chart slide, which is a long ways away apparently, um the single largest uh user of water in the city is ourselves. It is our use in our homes, whether that's in a multif family context or a single family context. Almost half of the water in the city is used in single family homes. And so when we develop new conservation programs, that really is the area where we focus the most because much like a budget, it's hard to solve the problem by going after little pieces here and there. Well, you really have to focus on what some of those largest demands are. Um, that being said, we certainly should not ignore the commercial and industrial space. I think council showed significant leadership in the last couple of years by passing things like the sustainable desert city development policy and the large water user policy to ensure that even though commercial and industrial isn't that biggest bucket of water, they still need to be doing their part if we're going to go ask our residents to change how they're uh using water in their day-to-day lives. >> And I think we've done a really good job. I want to uh commend and thank our uh my colleagues and the mayor for doing that. I think we've been really uh ahead of our ahead of the curve, proactive in looking at our our our space and or water and industry and saying okay we need to change here and add these different codes and um procedures I guess in building. Uh my last question is under what condition does the drought management plan allow for mandatory conservation? What options does a council have if it wants to move faster than the drought management plan allows Mayor Councilwoman Pastor? Sorry, we were going back and forth on who was going to talk. Um uh so our drop management plan has four stages. Um stages one and two really focus on outreach and education and voluntary actions. mandatory actions uh are authorized when we move into stage three and later in the uh uh in the drought management plan. These would be the points at which either our backup supplies were insufficient to meet demand or we're using them in a way that is uh outside of their design criteria. So, for example, today we talked about a 10-year draw down of those supplies. If we were using them faster, we would want to come and have a conversation with you uh about whether it was appropriate to move to stage three at that time. Um, if council wants to move faster than this, as they did with the large water user ordinance, that is entirely council's prerogative through the adoption of additional ordinances to empower the water services director to enforce other conservation standards. >> Mayor and council, I would like to add that um that's going to be part of the discussion that we have with mayor and council when we come back in the fall. So, just wanted to add that. >> Great. Setting it up, teeing it up. Um what I want to say is uh the presentation was great, informative, gave us some insight, gave community insight. Um but where I struggle with is when I hear um the statement that uh we have water. Um and I struggle with that because we give a presentation as to hey this is what's going on this done and then all of a sudden we go we have water I struggle because I don't want to give um false hope in the sense that uh we have all this water supply and and we don't or we see that we don't. Um, I just want to be at the forefront and real and say this is what we need to continue to do, which we're doing. Um, but it's hard because I also understand the balance of a city and the balance of who's watching us and how we get funded and everything. So, there's a lot of balance that goes into this space as we have this delicate conversation. And I know we do have water because we have been conserving and doing the aquafers and everything else, but I I think it's a great conversation for community to understand we do have to conserve a little bit more. Um and what that looks like, I don't know. As Councilwoman um O'Brien stated, you know, to community, uh try a little harder. Look at your uh toilets, which I did. Uh I looked at my sinks. I did. I looked for every leak that I have. I do I put a a gadget to tell me that there's a leak. Uh the only big issue I have right now is my pool and that's the challenge too. But um I've tried and I continue to try and and it it's I feel like uh Councilman O'Brien had a great message in saying we have to continue to do great efforts because if we don't have water, we don't have air, we're going to no longer have hope. And so I think it's important that we continue to have hope. So thank you. >> Thank you, Vice Mayor. >> Can you hear me now? >> We can. >> Okay, perfect. Thank you. Um, I want to start off by saying thank you to Ginger, Brandy, and Max, and our dedicated city staff for making sure that we are ready for what lies ahead. Um, thank you also to the mayor and current and former council members who helped ensure that we are proactively working towards water stability. Um, I think this was an exceptionally thorough and meaningful presentation. Um, as a city's representative on Ammo, I feel like I have an advantage on the subject and the one thing that I didn't see is some of the extensive efforts implemented by our city departments to conserve water. Can you share a little bit about that? I see you nodding. uh mayor council uh our vice mayor Hajj Washington that's correct we've working very closely with um several partners um of other departments many of who are which here are here today um in my speaking talk points I talked about a couple ones that I highlighted obviously parks is a large one where they have um put in weatherbased um controllers and about 70% of our parks aviation has gone through some extensive um redesign at the airport and they've removed about 11 acres of turf um that were nonfunctional turf, what we call non-functional turf, which means nobody was using them to play sports on or picnic on. Um and they've also in the a aviation um updated their cooling towers. And then the third one that I mentioned was um public works. Um in addition to providing um high efficiency um sinks and toilets in city hall and other um facilities, they've also removed uh the fountain at the front of the city hall and we've removed the nonfunctional turf here at council chambers. So overall, all these departments have been doing things um to start the momentum here. Um they are currently working on their sightsp specific uh drought management plans right now to develop what are they going to do at stage two and stage three so that Phoenix can be the leader and showing our residents and businesses how to best use water. And >> mayor, vice mayor, I'd like to add just one other um important departmental action that um I think can get overlooked when we think about just how departments use water. Um, and that was the incredible collaboration between the parks department and the water department in the installation of the drought pipeline. Um, I know that was a very um challenging process for for everybody involved. Uh we obviously had a major recreational area difficult to access for a long time, but I can tell you as the the person who had to make the graphs, those d graphs are very different without the drought pipeline in place. And um the foresight that mayor and council had, the collaboration that the parks department was able to show the water department in that is making a fundamental difference in our ability to withstand this level of shortage. And mayor and council and vice mayor, if I can add to what Brandy and Max have also said, we also have a committee that meets of all the city departments on a regular basis to come up with how they are going to work to lead by example and reduce their water usage. So just want to shout out is what the committee is the what are you calling it now? >> The drought and shortage response team or desert for short. That's the conservation people are great with the acronyms. [laughter] Thank you all for that. Um I just end with some comments. Um water is not just a resource. It is a foundation of our future. Recent developments in the Colorado River negotiations have captured the attention of many in our community. Every city situation is different, but this presentation clearly shows what Phoenix has done and continues to do to secure its future. It should give our residents confidence that this desert city is not only surviving, but position itself to thrive. Even as our population grows, our conservation efforts are making a real difference. We are using less water today than in the past. An achievement that deserves to be recognized more loudly. While in Washington DC today, in fact, one of our federal congressmen rep remarked that if there was any critique of Phoenix, it would be that we don't tell our success story loud enough and often enough. We should because in addition to conservation, we have built up approximately four years of stored water resources planning not just for today but for tomorrow. And we are leading by example. We are asking our residents to be responsible water stewards and we are holding ourselves to the same standard. We are investing in critical infrastructure, advanced water purification, resilience systems, and projects like the expansion of Bartlett Dam to strengthen our long-term security. At the same time, we can't ignore reality. The hydraology of the Colorado River is in crisis. The findings outlined in the draft environmental impact study are deeply concerning and underscores the urgency of action. That's why I would urge our residents to engage. Reach out to your congressional delegation and federal leaders. Make it clear that protecting Arizona's water future is essential. Our state is not only our home, but it is also home to critical industries from semiconductors to national defense and agriculture that is vital not only to our city's strength city sustainability, but to our country's strength and security. We appreciate the proposed release from Flaming Gorge Reserve by the Bureau of Reclamation, but in the absence of a broader agreement with the upper basin states, actions like this that we are proposing today provide another important tool as we navigate these waters. Phoenix remains committed to a sustainable and resilient future through conservation, innovation, and strategic investments. Initiatives like the secured water Arizona program ensures we continue moving forward stronger, smarter, more secure. I want to again by say thank you again to our staff for your leadership, your foresight, and your unwavering commitment to planning responsibly for Phoenix's future. The challenges before us are not simple. They demand coordination, partnership, and sustained investment. And this team continues to make sure we meet this moment with clarity and purpose. Thank you Mayor. Thank you so much. We have one member of the public to comment. Uh Luke. >> All right. Thank you, council. Um good afternoon, council. I'm reading this statement at the request of Councilwoman Hernandez. uh she was unable to uh be here but wanted to let the residents of D7 know her position. So dear residents, although I am deeply concerned to hear that the federal government under the administration of Donald Trump is moving towards decisions that could negatively negatively impact our water supply, I am encouraged to hear that Phoenix is actively planning for what lies ahead. From underground water storage, securing supplemental water supplies to major infrastructure developments, we are truly finding ways to adapt. I want to thank city staff and all those who have labored to protect and steward our water to protect Phoenix residents. As we move forward, I am especially interested in how our mutual aid agreements and water transactional agreements will continue to support not only our residents, but also surrounding cities as we collectively face the ongoing crisis tied to the Colorado River shortage. This moment calls for cooperation and collaboration, not comp competition driven by scarcity. I also want to be clear any cons any conversation about water in this region must center the leadership sovereignty and lived experience of tribal nations. Indigenous communities have been the original stewards of these lands and water since time memorial. Their displacement and exclusion from water decisionmaking is not just historic. It is ongoing. The partnership this their partnership means more than consultation. It means honoring tribal sovereignty, upholding water rights, and ensuring that tribal nations are not just an afterthought, but leaders in shaping the future of water governance. Our responsibility is to move in solidarity, not extraction. At the s same time, I believe that we must urgently revisit our policies under around large-scale big water users. We are no longer operating under the same conditions. Thank you, Mary. I have about 30 seconds. We are no longer operating under the same conditions. We are in deepening crisis shaped by climate change. >> Thanks so much. We got to be consistent just for legal reasons. >> All right. Thank you so much. I want to thank uh Brandy and Max and and Ginger and the whole team for this uh really important look. We didn't cover everything related to the issue. There's important environmental and ecosystem impacts. There's international relations. It is a very complex and nuanced issue, but I think we got some of the core things we're doing at the city. And again, this council has been preparing for years and years. We've had so many unanimous votes. 91st Avenue is one of the most substantial votes we've taken and we did that unanimously working together. Also want to thank our residents for being part of the solution. So much of the fact that we're in this position today is because our residents have that culture of cons conservation and have stepped up And then for anyone who uh wishes to be part of the protecting the coalition for protecting Arizona's lifeline, we would love to have you. We're trying to do cross- sector advocacy and it's been a very broad coalition which Max mentioned, but we can always use more help. We are trying to talk about what Arizona is doing that is so special for our country that if Arizona loses, the whole country loses. And you can see more of that under protect Arizona's water, protect America's future. So with that, we have a motion on the table. Any council members have final comments? All right. Roll call. >> Yes. >> O'Brien, >> yes. >> Pastor, >> yes. >> Robinson, >> yes. >> Stark, >> yes. >> Wearing, >> yes. >> Hodge Washington, >> yes. >> Diego, >> yes. passes 8 Z. >> Thank you so much. A really important vote and we are going to be part of a team effort in this area. So, thank you to everyone. We are adjourned. restaurants, grocery eaters and in between is processing, packaging, distribution, for it.