American
Water official testifies re: Desert Hills
by
Kathleen Stinson
CAVE
CREEK/DESERT HILLS – An American Water executive
testified before the state Corporation Commission
last week regarding Desert Hills Water Company’s
supply capacity and improvements made to the system.
Production
Director Troy Day testified for the Town of Cave
Creek, owner of Desert Hills Water, at the town’s
hearing before the commission Feb. 27. The town
is asking the commission to approve the transfer
of DHW assets to Cave Creek, thereby taking it
out from under the oversight of the state regulator.
American
Water, though its subsidiary Arizona American
Water, is currently managing DHW on behalf of
the town of Cave Creek.
AAW
took over management in September 2006, Day testified,
and completed the Desert Hills
booster station to prevent future water outages
like the ones customers experienced in previous
months.
Prior
to the DHW booster station becoming operational,
however, Global Water Resources built a temporary
booster station within the Cave Creek Water Co.
System which stopped the water outages prior
to completion of the DHW booster station. Global’s
efforts made it possible for 200‑plus
DHW customers at that point to have normal water
pressure in the morning hours.
Day
testified that AAW next rehabilitated DHW wells
No. 3 and then No. 4. The company also converted
the valving on both booster stations to allow
the system to maintain pressure and replaced several
electrical panels.
According
to the system permit, he said AAW has supplied
as much as 660,000 gallons a day to DHW during
peak demand. In answer to a commissioner’s question,
Day stated that delivering two‑thirds of
a million gallons a day to DHW would have no negative
impact on Anthem water customers. AAW is not currently
delivering water to the Desert Hills system.
Global
spokesman Paul Walker told The Desert Advocate
last week that Cave Creek officials asked them
about a month ago to turn the water on full blast
to Desert Hills. Since then, Cave Creek Water
Co. has supplied DHW with 6.4 million gallons
as of last week.
Asked
if DHW would have enough water to supply its customers
next summer, Day said he thought the interconnect
between Anthem (AAW) and Desert Hills would be
sufficient to supply customers.
He
related that one of AAW’s water sources is the
city of Phoenix. AAW has a contract to buy up
to 5 million gallons a day from the city–sufficient
to serve Anthem and some other customers, Day
added.
Questioned
as to Anthem’s water supply in light of increasing
growth and demand from Desert Hills, Day said
AAW could re‑open the Phoenix agreement
to buy more water. Anthem has priority to the
water, and any sales to Desert Hills Water are
priced at “full cost of service.”
He
also stated Arizona American had to staff DHW
with its own personnel, with the exception of
two employees when it took over.
Town
manager Usama Abujbarah testified that the engineers
looking at the system say Cave Creek Water Co.
needs more storage capacity in order to supply
water to Desert Hills during the summer months.
