After 70 years of use, storage capacity on the Verde River basin has shrunk due to the buildup of sediment at the bottom of the reservoirs. Now, the Salt River Project and the federal government are going to look at ways to restore some of that capacity.
The two reservoirs on the Verde River system provide water to the Valley. The Department of Interior will provide $8.5 million and the Bureau of Reclamation will partner with SRP and other tribal and municipal water users to find solutions. The entire study will cost $28 million.
Those solutions could include raising the dam or a process known as sluicing, which moves the sediment downstream.
Jacob Rodriguez is the manager for SRP’s Water System Projects. He says the loss of storage is significant.
“So it's about 45,000 acre feet, which equates to about 15% of our total storage capacity on the Verde system," he said.
The two-year feasibility study will look at Bartlett and Horseshoe lakes. SRP says the schedule for the final completion of the project could take 10 to 15 years.
