Questions? Contact us at info@azhydrosoc.org.

Join us for a tour of Tucson Water’s CAVSARP/SAVSARP underground storage facilities in Avra Valley. BSMAR registration is not required but you need to be a member of AHS or GRA due to liability reasons.

CAVSARP / SAVSARP tour

During this tour, we’ll be discussing the history, construction, operation, and maintenance of these facilities, along with Tucson Water’s partnerships with other water purveyors who store water there.

Logistical info

Date / Time: Saturday, April 6 / 8–11 AM

Cost: $45 early bird

Limit: 25 people

PDHs: 2

Transportation

Transportation will be provided for this trip. Vans will depart from Casino Del Sol.

Leaders

This trip will be led by Hector Zamora and Beth Scully of Tucson Water.

Located in the heart of the Sonoran Desert, CAVSARP and SAVSARP (the Central Avra Valley Storage and Recovery Project and the Southern Avra Valley Storage and Recovery Project) are underground storage facilities operated by Tucson Water. These facilities are primary elements of the Clearwater Program, a series of projects developed and engineered to bring, and make use of, the City of Tucson’s annual allocation of Colorado River water — 144,191 acre-feet — which is delivered by the Central Arizona Project (CAP).

CAVSARP and SAVSARP consist of 20 spreading recharge basins totaling 536 acres, along with monitoring wells, recovery wells, reservoirs, boosters, and transmission mains. The benefits of recharging Colorado River water are manyfold. Soil aquifer treatment provides water quality enhancements by reducing organic carbon. This allows Tucson Water to use chlorine for disinfection and provide its customers with a high-quality blend of Colorado River water and local groundwater. Water levels have recovered by up to 150 feet since recharge began in the Avra Valley, reducing the risks of ground compaction and subsidence in the area. Additionally, the aquifer serves as a water bank, providing short and long-term storage capacity to meet the potable system demand.

For over 20 years, Tucson Water has efficiently recharged, recovered, and delivered over 2 million acre-feet of Colorado River water for the City of Tucson and other storage partners with CAP water entitlements. The potable recharge operations in the Avra Valley play a crucial role in managing water resources in the Tucson Active Management Area, contributing to water security, sustainability, and resilience in the face of challenges like drought and increasing water demand.

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Hector Zamora is a hydrologist with the Recharge Unit at Tucson Water. He earned a B.S. in geosciences from the University of Texas at El Paso and a Ph.D. in geosciences with a minor in hydrology from the UA. Hector has worked on diverse water resources management projects in the academic, public, and private sectors. Since June 2023, he has managed the CAP deliveries and recharge activities at CAVSARP and SAVSARP.

Beth Scully is the Water Program Superintendent for the Source Water Division at Tucson Water, where she works on long-range water resource planning. She was previously the lead hydrologist for Tucson Water’s Recharge and Special Projects Unit and worked as a hydrogeologic consultant. Beth has a B.S. in earth and environmental science with a minor in geology from Wilkes University in Pennsylvania and an M.S. in water resource management from California State University, Fresno.