Goodyear approved a new route for replacing part of its Colorado River supply after city staff projected a 1,504 acre-foot reduction in the city’s Central Arizona Project water for 2027.
The City Council approved the Firming Water Delivery Agreement with the Central Arizona Water Conservation District on Nov. 2. Good Day Goodyear, citing West Valley View, reported the vote as 7-0. The agreement creates the operating and payment framework Goodyear needs to receive stored backup water when its regular CAP allocation is reduced.
The 1,504 acre-feet at issue is about 490 million gallons. The agreement does not create a new permanent allocation. It establishes how previously banked water credits can be recovered and delivered during a shortage.
What the agreement changes
Goodyear already has a municipal and industrial subcontract for Colorado River water delivered through the CAP system. It also entered a 2022 agreement with the Arizona Water Banking Authority that allows the city to request long-term storage credits for firming during shortage years.
The newly approved CAWCD agreement fills a separate operational gap. According to the city’s Nov. 2 action report, the city’s existing CAP subcontract did not specify how CAWCD would recover and deliver those stored credits on Goodyear’s behalf.
The agreement provides three possible recovery paths:
- Dependent recovery: CAWCD recovers stored water and delivers it through the CAP canal system.
- Independent recovery: Goodyear pumps water associated with Arizona Water Banking Authority credits through city wells.
- Exchange: another entity provides water for CAP delivery under a separate agreement.
The city remains responsible for treating the water it receives. The agreement says CAWCD does not warrant the quality of firming water or have an obligation to build treatment facilities for it.
Maximum added cost is $111,296
City staff calculated a gross recovery cost of $601,600 if all 1,504 acre-feet are recovered at CAWCD’s 2027 firming rate of $400 per acre-foot.
Goodyear would avoid $490,304 in ordinary delivery costs because the reduced CAP water would not be delivered at the standard $326 per acre-foot rate. That leaves a maximum net added cost of $111,296, which the Water Services Department said it can absorb within its current budget.
The actual cost will depend on how much firming water is recovered and the delivery method used. CAWCD’s board sets the firming rate based on recovery, delivery, infrastructure and related expenses.
Execution is the next step
Council approval authorizes the city manager or a designee to execute documents needed to carry out the agreement. Under the terms described in the action report, the agreement becomes effective only after both CAWCD and Goodyear execute it.
The initial term ends Dec. 31 of the year it is executed. It then renews for successive one-year terms unless either party gives notice by Oct. 1 that it does not want to renew for the following year.
The Arizona Water Banking Authority’s 2025 annual report and 10-year plan says CAWCD adopted a standard firming delivery agreement in 2023 for municipal subcontractors. Goodyear’s action report says the banking authority had accrued about 3.8 million acre-feet of long-term storage credits through 2024 for CAP municipal users and Colorado River communities.
Goodyear’s water-supply overview says the city treats CAP water at its surface water treatment plant and recharges excess CAP supplies underground for later use. The new agreement defines one way those stored reserves can be converted into an operating supply when the 2027 reduction takes effect.
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