Water treatment agreement to enter third phase

Although the City of Buckeye technically has 22 wells in brackish water areas, only six of them are considered primary. The rest need extensive processing before they can be considered drinkable.

That's just not going to cut it.

Not at the rate Buckeye is growing. More of those poor quality wells are going to need to become primary in order to meet the city's increasing needs.

“As we get bigger, our demands gets larger, more wells that are in poor quality come online,” said Terry Low, Buckeye's water resources director. “We’ll have to deploy larger centralized types of systems just so we’re kind of all on the same page.”

Fixing the problem has been in the works since 2021, and, last night at its March 4 regular meeting, city council approved the third phase in its partnership with City of Goodyear to establish infrastructure and equipment to deliver brackish water to the Palo Verde Generating Station. The total cost is $15,9 million, shared with with Goodyear. Buckeye's total end cost will be less than half at $6,769,200.

What is brackish water?

It's water with a salt concentration somewhere between fresh water and oceanic salt water. In other words, it's dissolved-solids content is somewhere in the middle, but that still makes it undrinkable. Brackish water comes from a variety of sources, such as Buckeye's ground water wells. It still is a water source, but it's one that needs extra treatment before becoming usable.

Enter the Brine Management Report, completed in October 2021. This resulted in Buckeye and Goodyear's first agreement for a pilot study which was produced in July 2022. A second agreement was reached two years later in July 2024 when infrastructure was installed at PVGS to aid in the processing of area brackish water.

"The goal of the project really was to find a way to streamline and be collaborative in the brine management approach," Lowe said. "Tonight is the final agreement for the completion of the construction as well as the installation of the last piece of infrastructure for the work out at Palo Verde Nuclear Generator Station."

Building additional reverse osmosis treatment facilities will be important in the execution of this plan, as well. One small-scale facility is currently going up thanks to developer DR Horton.

The aim of it it all is to bring more of the poor-quality wells online, in addition to allowing for the processing of drain wells from the Buckeye Water Conservation District that send water downstream at approximately 22,000 acre feet per year. Once the city is named a designated provider by the state and once a treatment plan is in place, the water could go toward a potable system.

This third step in the agreement with Goodyear moved the city one step further toward that goal, with targeted completion in approximately two years. Once the infrastructure is in place, Buckeye can enter an agreement with Arizona Public Service for water treatment, though that could take five to seven years.

It's going to be a journey, but Buckeye is moving further on its route.

Read more about the agreement HERE.

Watch the full city council meeting HERE.