December 2016 | Business View Magazine

92 93 AT A GLANCE PRESCOTT VALLEY, ARIZONA WHAT: A town of 45,000 WHERE: Central Arizona, approximately 85 miles north of Phoenix WEBSITE: www.pvaz.net PRESCOTT VALLEY, ARIZONA future and don’t have to worry about running out. Water security doesn’t have to be a part of their business decisions –water supplies are essentially guaranteed.” “Within our ground- water basin, we use no more water than we did in the 1960s,” Munder- loh continues.“And that is because of our water management structure. In Prescott Valley, we pump the same amount of water that we did back in 2003, even though the Town has grown by about 50 percent since then. We also reclaim about 65 percent of the water we serve through the wastewater collection system where we treat it to a high degree and then recharge it under- ground into vacant space above the water table. The Arizona Department of Water Resources recognizes that volume of re- charged water as a water right that can be used for future growth.” Prescott Valley was the first jurisdiction ever to sell its effluent water rights at a public auc- tion, and Munderloh says the deal was structured in such a unique way that the town received international acclaim from Global Water Intel- ligence, a world leader for primary research information on interna- tional water markets. “We were quite proud that we were able to go to London and be recognized with other worldwide water leaders,” he says.“We took a second-place award and were happy with that for our little town in Arizona. From the perspective of water, the town of Prescott Valley has met and exceeded the highest standards in water resource management anywhere in