SRP sees nearly full reservoirs after two wet winters

Salt River Project's reservoirs are nearly full after captures plenty of water from what officials called two productive winters.

Heading into summer - the Valley's heaviest use time on the system - SRP is at 93% overall capacity. The Salt River system is more full at 96% of capacity, while dams along the Verde River system are at 70% capacity.

“SRP continually plans for drought every year, and productive winters like this one make the job so much easier. Our research shows we will continue to see wetter wet periods along with drier dry periods,” said Tim Skarupa, senior manager of SRP Watershed Management, in a press release. “The infrastructure currently in place,  along with the water supply projects being evaluated, will enhance an already resilient system.”

Water from the SRP dams - five along the Salt River and two on the Verde River - are released periodically to users in the Valley. SRP serves much of the region from East Valley cities like Gilbert and Chandler through Phoenix to portions of Glendale and Peoria.

Unlike the Colorado River System, which is facing severe shortages because of more than two-decade drought and a structural deficit where annual demand exceeds annual runoff, the water supply provided by Salt and Verde rivers is in near equilibrium with SRP’s annual demand, officials said.

SRP is working on increasing the storage capacity for the Verde River reservoir system over the next decade to capture and put to use more flood water in wet periods like we experienced in the winter of 2023.

A group of 23 partners, including tribal, agricultural, and municipal organizations have committed to support the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation feasibility study of options to modify Bartlett Dam in order to provide a renewable water resource to areas outside of SRP’s water service territory. That includes several Valley cities who are not in SRP's service territory.

SRP also is working with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to evaluate options that would allow SRP and partners to extend the release period for water in the Roosevelt Dam flood control space. This would allow SRP and its partners more time after the runoff season to put the water to beneficial use or to store it underground for later use, rather than releasing it into the Salt River bed.