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Phone: 1-800-383-0834Email: mywater@epcor.com
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Short-term water solution in place
Residents in the unincorporated Rio Verde Foothills community have long relied on water delivered by private water haulers from a municipal source, a source that was unavailable to them after December 31, 2022.
We were asked to propose a solution that would provide safe and reliable water over the longer term. EPCOR’s proposal to do that through a water station accessible to private and state-licensed water hauling providers and local residents who have established accounts with EPCOR was approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) on November 30, 2023.
EPCOR was approved by the Arizona Corporation Commission (ACC) to provide standpipe water service on a permanent basis to the Rio Verde Foothills community. In order to provide such service, EPCOR will design and construct a water filling station and any other facilities necessary to provide the service (the “standpipe”) and which is accessible to state-licensed water hauling providers.
Those persons with occupied homes as of the date of the ACC’s Decision No. 79199 (December 12, 2023) and up to 150 property owners who have paid the hook-up fee at the time of account creation will be approved for service. The project will take 24 to 36 months to build, however Rio Verde Foothills residents are required to apply for enrollment for permanent service in advance of the standpipe becoming commercially operable.
Rio Verde Foothills residents in occupied homes who want water service from EPCOR’s standpipe must complete and submit a customer application in to be included as either a full requirements or standby customer. Once receiving service from the standpipe, these customers will pay the tariffed rates then approved and on file with the ACC. Property owners who do not have occupied residences (up to 150) will be considered “enrolled customers” and subject to paying the hook-up fee to eventually receive service as a full or standby customer. The deadline for applying to be a customer is June 1, 2024, per the ACC’s decision.
Procedural Notice to Rio Verde Foothills Property Owners
Procedural Order
Letter of Sufficiency
A water station is a convenient location where water trucks can purchase potable water that meets all Federal and state drinking water standards. Payments are made through an automated kiosk. Trucks enter the facility and fill up at a dispensing station similar in size and function to a vehicle-filling station.
Water is a precious resource and as drought conditions continue in Arizona and the greater Southwest, communities and utilities are increasingly looking to conservation and careful management and preservation of water resources. Water for the Rio Verde Foothills community would be provided through EPCOR’s portfolio of long-term storage credits, exchanging those credits for water that could then be delivered to Rio Verde Foothills through the standpipe.
EPCOR’s Operations and Engineering team has already conducted a preliminary feasibility analysis for a water standpipe that would be constructed in Fountain Hills to provide water that could be hauled to Rio Verde Foothills. Our analysis concluded that the proximity of the Fountain Hills Middle School and an adjacent daycare facility to the only road between Fountain Hills and Rio Verde Foothills, which would be the road that any water hauler would have to take, posed too great a human safety risk to justify further consideration.
No, our first responsibility is to our existing customers and ensuring that safe and reliable water is available to them today and well into the future. This is a responsibility we take very seriously and continuously study and plan for water resource supplies. The water for Rio Verde Foothills would come from Long Term Storage Credits that EPCOR has accumulated from years of storing and recharging unused water supplies.
Now that the Arizona Corporation Commission has approved EPCOR's application, design, construction and approvals from any permitting agencies could take 24 to 36 months.
Once approved as an EPCOR customer who is allowed to have service from the Rio Verde Foothills Standpipe and you receive official notice, you’ll need to pay that $24,000 fee within 45 calendar days.
EPCOR hopes to notify customers via email, phone, or letter by the end of August 2024.
