An Arizona community water system’s ADWR system water plan has water-supply, drought-preparedness and conservation components, with specific component exemptions. Identify the system’s population category and current five-year cycle before collecting records. This planning submission is separate from an annual water-use report or an ADEQ emergency plan.
Which system and planning cycle apply?
Start with ADWR’s community water system definition: at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents, or regular service to at least 25 year-round residents. A large community system serves more than 1,850 people; a small system does not. Confirm the actual system classification and ADWR identifier rather than using the size of one building.
ADWR’s current page lists the large-system 2021–2025 plan due January 1, 2027, and the small-system 2022–2026 plan due January 1, 2028. The statutory process repeats every five years. Use the form and period for the system’s actual cycle; a prior filing does not permanently complete planning.
What do the three components establish?
The water-supply plan evaluates the service area’s needs and a strategy to meet them. Assemble the relevant source, interconnection, well-level, treatment and storage information, historical demand and required projections. The current small-system form asks for five years of source-use information and identified future demand. Have the responsible preparers document assumptions rather than invent missing measurements.
The CWS annual-use reporting guide explains the separate source-and-delivery accounting records; those figures do not by themselves complete planning projections. The source-water assessment and protection guide addresses a different question about contamination risks around the source, rather than replacing this supply plan.
The drought-preparedness plan describes stages, public communication, alternative supplies and demand-management responses. Tailor the stages and responses to the actual system. For a public service corporation, the statute requires applicable curtailment tariffs or shortage surcharges to receive Arizona Corporation Commission approval before implementation.
The conservation plan identifies relevant supply and demand measures, including leak detection, unaccounted-for water and public education. A household conservation explanation does not supply this operator planning record.
Which exemptions are actually available?
A qualifying designation of assured water supply exempts the statutory water-supply component, not every component. The statute separately exempts the conservation component for qualifying large municipal providers regulated under the identified AMA provisions. The current small-system form also describes a future-coverage route for small providers, but A.R.S. 45-342(E) retains a January 1, 2007 petition deadline and January 1, 2012 coverage date. Ask ADWR to resolve that discrepancy and confirm any existing determination before omitting a component.
Do not treat an adequate-water-supply report, an annual groundwater report or a supplier’s informal assurance as permission to skip the whole plan. A request to reuse information already filed with ADWR also requires written approval under the statute; the owner cannot simply omit it.
How should submission and followup be managed?
Use ADWR’s current online or published form process and retain the submitted version, supporting records and response. The statute requires submitting a revised plan within 60 days when an already submitted plan is revised. Its compliance review distinguishes required deficiencies from optional recommendations; track the actual written determination and any implementation requirements.
ADWR’s FAQ explains that an ADEQ emergency operations plan usually does not meet the drought-plan requirements. Keep the community-system emergency plan and ADWR resource plan coordinated but distinct. Likewise, a new system’s elementary business plan is a different approval task. Ask the responsible agencies to resolve an uncertain exemption or conflicting instruction before relying on a copied template.