Arizona
State Agencies Supporting Water System Partnerships
Arizona Corporation Commission
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Arizona Water Infrastructure Finance Authority
State Policies and Programs Regarding Water System Partnerships
DWSRF PRIORITIZATION OF CONSOLIDATION PROJECTS
The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona prioritizes project applications that will include consolidation or regionalization. The application for funding asks whether the project physically consolidates two or more PWSs into one PWS; if the project is the extension of service to areas currently not served by a PWS; or if the project consolidates the operations, management, and/or ownership of two or more PWSs.
CAPACITY DEVELOPMENT ASSISTANCE FOR SMALL WATER SYSTEMS
The Arizona Corporation Commission formed a Small Water Systems Ombudsman Office to assist small water utilities in preparing and filing rate and financing applications and other compliance filings to help support long-term system sustainability.
OPERATOR SHARING
Title 18-5-104 of the Arizona Administrative Code allows very small water systems to have remote operators, as long as the remote operator resides no more than 200 miles by ground travel from the water system and they visit either weekly or monthly, based on the size and type of the system.
STATE ORDERED CONSOLIDATION OR RESTRUCTURING
The Arizona Corporation Commission has the regulatory power to order a public service corporation to make additions, improvements, or changes to an existing plant and to construct new structures, including interconnections to other systems. If any ordered changes require joint action by two or more public service corporations, the corporations must share the cost of those changes (after notice from the commission). If the corporations cannot agree upon an apportionment of the costs, the commission can order the corporations to pay at a proportion determined by the commission (Arizona Revised Statute 40-331).
Helpful Links to State Resources
- Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Water Quality Division: http://www.azdeq.gov/programs/water-quality-division
- Operator Certification: http://www.azdeq.gov/OperatorCertification
- Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA): http://www.azwifa.gov/
- Arizona Administrative Code: http://www.azsos.gov/rules/arizona-administrative-code
- Arizona Corporation Commission Small Water Systems Ombudsman Office: https://azcc.gov/utilities/small-water-ombudsman-office