Guest Editorial: Photo Ops Won’t Secure Scottsdale’s Water Future

By Councilwoman Solange Whitehead

This week, a Council majority is staging a photo opportunity at Scottsdale’s Water Campus to reassure residents that Scottsdale’s water future is secure.

It isn’t.

The backdrop may be our award-winning Water Campus, but the reality is different. The experts who built Scottsdale’s nationally recognized water utility are gone. Funding for critical water projects has been cut. Long-term reserves are being spent on a one-time groundwater purchase that does not solve Scottsdale’s long-term water challenges.

Even worse, political rhetoric is undermining public confidence in Scottsdale’s state-of-the-art water treatment system. Trust is one of our greatest assets. Once lost, it is difficult to rebuild.

Here are the facts:

• Scottsdale receives about 81,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water annually but uses 68,000 acre-feet for drinking water and irrigation.
• The remaining 13,000 acre-feet has been stored underground to prepare for future drought.
• A 16% Colorado River cut would eliminate our ability to continue building those reserves.
• A 34% cut would require about 15,000 acre-feet every year of replacement water—not a one-time purchase.
• The groundwater now being pursued will take years to reach Scottsdale, does not improve our 100-year Assured Water Supply, and cannot replace the long-term water projects this Council has delayed or defunded.

The solution is not abandoning the strategy that made Scottsdale a national leader in water management.

Acting Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Scott Cameron recently pointed to Advanced Purified Water—not the Colorado River—as a key long-term solution for the Phoenix region. Yet this Council defunded Scottsdale’s Advanced Purified Water program, despite years of planning and broad support.

Photo Credit: Utah State University

People choose Scottsdale because it’s a first-rate city with a long history of planning ahead, investing in its future, and delivering an exceptional quality of life.

Residents don’t need photo ops. They need water security and a water utility that attracts and retains top water policy and technical experts—professionals who stay focused on the mission, free from political distractions, and capable of keeping Scottsdale’s water flowing for decades to come.

Photo ops don’t deliver water. Long-term investment does.