As part of FOPRG’s new mission to be water advocates, we have asked Peter Abraham, P.E., Water Utility Director with Oro Valley Water Utility, to help us inform our readers about the utility’s water conservation in Oro Valley.
The following Q&A is the first of this new series.
FOPRG’s Question:
“Because the Oro Valley Water Utility (OVWU) is an enterprise fund, with a goal to recover the cost of providing services to the public, many Friends of Pusch Ridge Golf have wondered whether rates go up when OVWU sales goes down, and thereby, whether it truly serves us to conserve.”
Peter’s Answer:
“This is a great question. Because the Utility is an enterprise fund of the Town and is solely funded by water sales and fees a reduction in water sales would certainly affect the Utility’s revenue generation. Other components that affect water rates include personnel costs, operations & maintenance costs, power costs, Central Arizona Project (CAP) water resource and delivery costs, capital reinvestment costs, and the Utility’s administrative costs paid to the general fund.
Between fiscal years 23/24 to 24/25 the Utility’s CAP water resource and delivery costs increased over 9% and 6% respectively. Unfortunately, our customers cannot conserve their way out of the unavoidable annual increases in water rates but they can, and have, minimized them. It should be noted that the Water Utility is expecting a similar percentage increase in CAP water resource and delivery costs between fiscal years 24/25 to 25/26 and beyond.
Nonetheless, conservation remains an important component to achieving the lowest water rates possible. Between calendar year 2007, when water production was the highest, to 2023 the Utility’s production has declined by 12% while the population we serve has increased 14%.
Figure 1 shows the Utility’s water production by year for all water sources of supply vs. the population we serve. The substantial increase in served population makes the reductions in water production even more remarkable.
Without our community’s conservation ethic water rates would be substantially higher than they currently are. Conservation further reduces consumer costs by avoiding costs that would be incurred otherwise. For example, without conservation, every aspect of the Utility’s water system would be larger and more expensive to construct, operate and maintain. Conservation ensures that our water system does not need to be grossly oversized to serve a water wasting community.
In summary, Oro Valley is an environmentally conscientious community and because of this it allows most of our customers to enjoy the lowest cost for water service in Southern Arizona. Our community’s conservation mindset helps to ensure your Water Utilities success in providing a safe, reliable and affordable water supply.”
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