M&A’s water adequacy analysis results in approval for water supplies totaling 135,000 AFY in an area where little was previously known about the hydrogeologic system.
Clients: Rhodes Homes of Arizona, Mohave Sun Power - Time frame: 2005–present
- Location: Mohave County, Arizona
Beginning in 2005 — when Arizona’s “building boom” was at a peak, and growth was three times the national average — M&A initiated basin-wide hydrologic studies to investigate potential groundwater supplies for proposed large-scale housing developments in the northeastern part of the state. The once-isolated Mojave County became attractive as a bedroom community to Las Vegas, located an hour away, in response to the city’s population boom and the construction of a new bypass route across Hoover Dam. Land acquisitions by developers — including Rhodes Homes — were part of an overall plan to build 160,000 homes in the area. At the time, this would have created the third largest metropolitan area in Arizona outside of Phoenix and Tucson.
M&A was hired to investigate and project the availability of a long-term water supply in a sparsely populated area where little was previously known about groundwater conditions. Our studies covered the Detrital, Hualapai, and Sacramento Valleys of Mohave County.
ADWR approved M&A’s applications for adequate water supply totaling over 135,000 AFY for the three basins, which included an unprecedented amount of reclaimed water — nearly 38,000 AFY — slated for reuse. Investigations and modeling analyses conducted by M&A continue to support an effective decision-making process for future uses on these extensive land holdings. In fact, M&A is providing technical support to Mohave Sun Power, developer of the proposed Hualapai Valley Solar (HVS) facility. This company acquired an option to purchase land from Rhodes in 2009 to build a 340 MW concentrating solar power plant.
M&A designed and supervised the installation of five production wells in the project area, each capable of producing over 1,000 gpm. To characterize the regional hydrogeologic system, we conducted geophysical surveys, drilled and tested exploration borings, and ran numerous pumping tests.
The field data we collected allowed us to develop a conceptual understanding of the basin hydrogeology and estimate the aquifer parameters required to model groundwater flow and predict long-term drawdown impacts. In addition, we developed a GIS-linked database to organize data and communicate the modeling results to regulatory agencies and the public.
Acronyms & Abbreviations
