OPENPUBLICA · PUBLIC MEETING RECORD
Record of Proceedings

Mesa City Council Study Session on Water Portfolio and Colorado River Update - February 12, 2026

Council Study Sessions — Thursday, February 12, 2026
BodyMesa, Arizona
SessionCouncil Study Sessions
DateThursday, February 12, 2026
StatusFILED
Video Record
0:00 / 1:48:41

Transcript — Verbatim
0:02

Welcome everyone to our Mesa City Council study session.

0:06

It's nice just, you know, I I did realize we're running a few minutes late.

0:10

Uh we're just kind of enjoying uh the day, the morning.

0:14

Uh the study session for February 12th, 2026.

0:17

Uh, Vice Mayor Summers and Council Member Adams are participating by Zoom.

0:22

Otherwise, all other council members are present.

0:26

Item one is a presentation.

0:29

We're going to uh postpone item one A to a further date.

0:36

So, Mayor, we will uh yeah, thank you for the understanding um about the need to reschedule item one.

0:42

So we'll uh work to get that rescheduled just as soon as possible.

0:46

Okay.

0:47

Then moving on, uh item one B is a presentation to receive an update on the current conditions of the Colorado River and impacts to the City of Mesa water portfolio.

0:57

Mr.

0:57

Hassard or Jesse Haywood, thank you, Mr.

1:02

Haywood.

1:04

Our retiring uh water resources director.

1:08

You sure you don't want to reconsider?

1:10

Paperwork's already done, Mayor.

1:13

We could cancel it.

1:15

It's such a hassle to try to undo all that.

1:19

Trust me, Mayor, we've tried.

1:21

We've tried.

1:22

I'm sure we have to fight with your wife.

1:24

Yes, you would, you would indeed.

1:26

Uh well, thank you.

1:27

And and uh as you recognize, I do have Jesse Haywood, assistant director here with me today.

1:32

He's gonna uh participate in this discussion, which is uh an important overview related to the Colorado River.

1:40

Um let me start with you probably see in in the media quite a bit um a lot of articles that talk about the Colorado River and and basin states and drought and uh all of those things, and it's it's it's pretty persistent.

1:57

Um so with that, if we can go to the first slide.

2:03

So all of that is because the 20-year operating guidelines for the Colorado River that were drafted in 2007 are expiring at the end of this year.

2:12

So that in itself is not that big a deal, but coupled with the fact that we're going into year 26 of a prolonged drought that's been very persistent.

2:23

We've had a couple of years here and there that have been promising with a lot of snowpack, but then they they tend to be backed up by then a series of very dry years.

2:33

So water bless you.

2:36

So water levels on the on the whole system, both in Lake Mead and Lake Powell have continued to drop.

2:43

Um there's seven basin states that receive Colorado River water.

2:47

Um Arizona is one of those.

2:49

We've been in negotiations, all seven states together, trying to formulate what the the next 20-year plan uh playbook, if you will, is gonna look like on the Colorado River.

3:02

Uh it's been very tenuous, those negotiations.

3:05

It hasn't gone well.

3:06

Every every state is different, every state has different interests, and they're set up differently.

3:11

So the federal government, they had hoped that the seven basin states would work something out, but it's looking like at the end of the day, they're gonna have to make the call.

3:20

Another thing I should say is because the the operating guidelines on the Colorado River have such a direct impact on the environment, the NEPA process, the federal NEPA process is required.

3:31

And under the NEPA process, it starts with the environmental impact statement, and the draft environmental impact statement, which had been in the works for about two years, was just released recently.

3:44

And none of the alternatives that are in the draft bode very well for Arizona.

3:48

There's cuts, even very significant cuts to the Central Arizona project, which is CAP, and that's important to Mesa, all the valley cities, um, stretching all the way down actually to Tucson, because that's how we receive our share of the Colorado River water is through CAP.

4:06

So with that backdrop, what we wanted to do today is tell you specifically how we're doing here in Mesa, what our water supply looks like.

4:17

We're gonna give you probably the most detailed breakdown that we ever have for you to show you where our water comes from, how it what it consists of, um, and then show a history.

4:29

Jesse's gonna walk through a few graphs that talk about the the history of both our demand and how we've built our supply over the years.

4:38

So with that, let's go to the next slide.

4:43

So this is our whole city service area.

4:47

And it shows the different zones.

4:49

We have the city zone, which we're sitting in right now, which is served by SRP, and then the eastern zone and southern zones are served by Colorado River water.

5:00

And uh I want to state that the entire service area can be supplied with groundwater from our groundwater allowances.

5:10

So before we get it, we're gonna break part of the city into the zones and drill down and talk specifically about where the water comes from that supplies these zones.

5:19

But we first want to do if you go to the next slide, uh a little refresher on units because we use this archaic turn, and all the slides going forward are gonna be using this term acre feet.

5:33

And a lot of people don't know what that means, but when we're talking in in water supply and talking about water portfolio, um we use this term acre foot.

5:42

We just that's just what we use.

5:44

When we're talking about flow through a plant, it's it's MGD.

5:47

But when we're talking about just supply of water, it's acre feet.

5:51

So I can visualize an acre, one foot deep of water, and that's pretty easy.

Discussion Breakdown — Share of Meeting
Water And Wastewater Management█████████████████████████████████████████████69%
Procedural█████7%
Environmental Protection█████7%
Technology and Innovation████6%
Governmental Procedures██3%
Engineering And Infrastructure█2%
Energy Management█2%
Economic Development█2%
Budget Equity Analysis█1%
Summary of Proceedings

Mesa City Council Study Session: Water Portfolio and Colorado River Update - February 12, 2026

On February 12, 2026, the Mesa City Council held a study session to receive a detailed update on the current conditions of the Colorado River and the impacts on the City of Mesa's water portfolio. The presentation, led by Water Resources Director Chris Hassard and Assistant Director Jesse Haywood, covered Mesa's diverse water supply sources, conservation efforts, and strategies to manage impending cuts to Colorado River water allocations. Vice Mayor Summers and Council Member Adams participated by Zoom.

Discussion Items

  • Colorado River Conditions and CAP Cuts: The 20-year operating guidelines for the Colorado River expire at the end of 2026. Year 26 of a prolonged drought has reduced levels in Lake Mead and Lake Powell. The draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) proposes alternatives that include significant cuts to Central Arizona Project (CAP) water, which directly affects Mesa. The public comment period on the draft EIS ends March 2, 2026, with a final EIS expected by summer 2026. Cuts are anticipated to begin in 2027, possibly phased in initially around 20%.
  • Mesa's Water Portfolio Breakdown:
    • City Zone (SRP water): 62,000 acre-feet available annually; current demand is 33,000–35,000 acre-feet. SRP has declared shortages in the past, but Mesa has headroom even under cuts.
    • Eastern and Southern Zones (Colorado River via CAP): Mesa has 53,000 acre-feet (43,500 M&I + tribal leases) plus 8,000 acre-feet from the Gila River Indian Community (GRIC) exchange, totaling ~61,000 acre-feet, just above current demand of 58,000 acre-feet.
  • Additional Water Supplies:
    • GRIC Water Exchange: Delivers reclaimed water to GRIC and receives Colorado River water at a 5:4 ratio. Current exchange provides ~8,000 acre-feet/year at a cost of $85/acre-foot (versus $365/acre-foot for CAP M&I). The Central Mesa Reuse Pipeline, coming online in early 2026, will increase exchange deliveries to 16,000–17,000 acre-feet. The maximum allowable exchange is 23,520 acre-feet.
    • New Conservation Space (NCS): Created by raising Roosevelt Dam, provides 41,000 acre-feet of storage. Based on hydrologic records, Mesa can sustainably use 12,500 acre-feet/year under its 100-year assured water supply. Current NCS account balance ~30,000 acre-feet.
    • Bartlett Dam Raise: Mesa is a partner in raising Bartlett Dam, expecting to gain an additional 10,000–13,000 acre-feet of storage (sustainable annual yield ~3,000 acre-feet).
    • Groundwater: Annual allowance of 9,965 acre-feet (467,000 acre-feet over 100 years, plus incidental recharge credits of ~5,286 acre-feet/year from system leakage). Mesa typically pumps only about half of this to preserve the aquifer.
    • Long-Term Storage Credits: Mesa holds 557,000 acre-feet of credits, stored primarily in the Roosevelt Water Conservation District and Granite Reef Underground Storage Project. At current CAP demand, this represents about 10 years of backup supply.
  • Future Supply Options: Advanced water purification at the 91st Avenue plant (feasibility stage), septic-to-sewer conversions (potential 3,500 acre-feet/year), continued water conservation through smart metering (saving over 1 million gallons/day), and system leak detection.
  • Council Discussion: Council members inquired about the security of GRIC water rights, the impact of cuts on other cities, costs of new supplies, and the role of the state legislature in protecting water regulations. Council Member Adams noted that water portfolio investments are a key driver of utility rate adjustments. Several members praised the team's foresight and management.

Key Outcomes

  • Item 1A (ASU presentation) postponed: The session agreed to reschedule the ASU item to a future date, possibly the February 23 study session.
  • Motion to acknowledge board minutes passed unanimously: The council voted to receive and file various board minutes.
  • No votes on water-related items, but the presentation served as foundational for future rate discussions and drought management planning.
  • Council expressed gratitude to retiring Water Resources Director Chris Hassard for his leadership and expertise.
  • Upcoming meetings: Strategic planning session on February 19, 2026 (at The Post, 7:30 a.m.); next regular study session and council meeting on February 23, 2026.
  • Legislative note: Council Member Adams highlighted a bill in the state legislature that would impose a four-year moratorium on municipal utility fee/rate increases, expressing concern over its impact on Mesa's ability to fund water infrastructure.

Meeting Transcript

Welcome everyone to our Mesa City Council study session. It's nice just, you know, I I did realize we're running a few minutes late. Uh we're just kind of enjoying uh the day, the morning. Uh the study session for February 12th, 2026. Uh, Vice Mayor Summers and Council Member Adams are participating by Zoom. Otherwise, all other council members are present. Item one is a presentation. We're going to uh postpone item one A to a further date. So, Mayor, we will uh yeah, thank you for the understanding um about the need to reschedule item one. So we'll uh work to get that rescheduled just as soon as possible. Okay. Then moving on, uh item one B is a presentation to receive an update on the current conditions of the Colorado River and impacts to the City of Mesa water portfolio. Mr. Hassard or Jesse Haywood, thank you, Mr. Haywood. Our retiring uh water resources director. You sure you don't want to reconsider? Paperwork's already done, Mayor. We could cancel it. It's such a hassle to try to undo all that. Trust me, Mayor, we've tried. We've tried. I'm sure we have to fight with your wife. Yes, you would, you would indeed. Uh well, thank you. And and uh as you recognize, I do have Jesse Haywood, assistant director here with me today. He's gonna uh participate in this discussion, which is uh an important overview related to the Colorado River. Um let me start with you probably see in in the media quite a bit um a lot of articles that talk about the Colorado River and and basin states and drought and uh all of those things, and it's it's it's pretty persistent. Um so with that, if we can go to the first slide. So all of that is because the 20-year operating guidelines for the Colorado River that were drafted in 2007 are expiring at the end of this year. So that in itself is not that big a deal, but coupled with the fact that we're going into year 26 of a prolonged drought that's been very persistent. We've had a couple of years here and there that have been promising with a lot of snowpack, but then they they tend to be backed up by then a series of very dry years. So water bless you. So water levels on the on the whole system, both in Lake Mead and Lake Powell have continued to drop. Um there's seven basin states that receive Colorado River water. Um Arizona is one of those. We've been in negotiations, all seven states together, trying to formulate what the the next 20-year plan uh playbook, if you will, is gonna look like on the Colorado River. Uh it's been very tenuous, those negotiations. It hasn't gone well. Every every state is different, every state has different interests, and they're set up differently. So the federal government, they had hoped that the seven basin states would work something out, but it's looking like at the end of the day, they're gonna have to make the call. Another thing I should say is because the the operating guidelines on the Colorado River have such a direct impact on the environment, the NEPA process, the federal NEPA process is required. And under the NEPA process, it starts with the environmental impact statement, and the draft environmental impact statement, which had been in the works for about two years, was just released recently. And none of the alternatives that are in the draft bode very well for Arizona. There's cuts, even very significant cuts to the Central Arizona project, which is CAP, and that's important to Mesa, all the valley cities, um, stretching all the way down actually to Tucson, because that's how we receive our share of the Colorado River water is through CAP. So with that backdrop, what we wanted to do today is tell you specifically how we're doing here in Mesa, what our water supply looks like. We're gonna give you probably the most detailed breakdown that we ever have for you to show you where our water comes from, how it what it consists of, um, and then show a history. Jesse's gonna walk through a few graphs that talk about the the history of both our demand and how we've built our supply over the years. So with that, let's go to the next slide. So this is our whole city service area.

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