RIO VERDE, Ariz. — Time is ticking.
"More than likely, we're not going to have water January 1st," Karen Nabity said, standing in front of a filling station that will soon be off-limits to her.
"It's right there!" she said, pointing at the pipe that could – but won't – keep water in her home. "It's right there!"
So close, and yet it may as well be a million miles away.
The City of Scottsdale announced in 2021 that Rio Verde Foothills residents would not be able to use the city's water. Rio Verde Foothills is unincorporated and outside the Scottsdale city limits. With the Southwest's mega-drought continuing, Scottsdale officials said they needed to conserve the city's water for city residents.
As of Jan. 1, 2023, the water hauler trucks that deliver water to about 500 Rio Verde Foothills homes will no longer be able to deliver Scottsdale's water there.
"Fifteen days and I can tell you my phone's ringing off the hook," Nabity said. "I have neighbors that are angry, they're frustrated, and they're scared."
They're scared because more than a year in, there is no plan.
Nabity and a group of homeowners pushed for a domestic water improvement district (DWID), which is basically a community-owned water company that's allowed to buy water and water rights. It needed Maricopa County's approval, and in August of this year, the county Board of Supervisors voted it down, saying there were other options.
The county pointed to a letter from water utility EPCOR that said it could take over the water service for Rio Verde Foothills. But EPCOR also said it would take three years to get the infrastructure in place.
Dynamite Water, a water hauling company, currently serving Rio Verde, entered into an agreement to buy what it said would be a year's water supply from the San Carlos Apache tribe. That agreement is signed, but the tribe said it needs approval from the Bureau of Indian Affairs, the Bureau of Reclamation and the tribal council.
And even if the deal gets all three approvals, Dynamite still needs someplace to treat the water for drinking. the water coming from the tribes would be Central Arizona Project canal water.
And the City of Scottsdale, which runs the filling station the trucks use, told 12News it has no plans to allow Dynamite Water to use its treatment plant.
So Rio Verde Foothills has 15 days, a ticking clock, and no plans in place.
Nabity said she plans on having a full water tank at her home before January 1. She said it should last her about two months. Past that, Nabity said she has no idea what she and the other homeowners will do.
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