Courtesy of LocalFirstAZ.com
Arizona is home to two Wild and Scenic rivers — and the Verde River, with headwaters in Paulden just outside of Chino Valley, is one of them. The 170-mile river flows from northern Arizona all the way down to a confluence with the Salt River, and Friends of the Verde River is doing what it can to make sure more friends will care for the entire watershed.
One way they’re doing that is through their River Friendly Living Grants program, which recently received an influx of funding from SRP, a partner and business coalition member of Local First Arizona. Residential, commercial and agricultural grants are awarded to assist eligible grantees with implementing projects that improve water conservation efforts.
Isaac Dudley, program manager for Friends of the Verde River
a passive rainwater-harvesting system
The initiative began, and is guided by, findings from an academic score card that rates the health of the river’s entire watershed — from habitat to community health to river flow rates. The first report card revealed that since 1990, the low flow state of the river during the hottest months of the year has declined by more than 40% in some parts. That concerned Isaac Dudley, the flows program manager for the organization.
“So nearly half the base flow of the river has gone away,” Dudley said of the 2021 report. “Hopefully we’ll see some improvements of those indicators over the next iteration of the report, which will be launched this spring.”
Since the Verde River is fed in large part by spring water and groundwater, one way to improve flow rates is to double-down on water conservation efforts in the communities where the river flows. And because the river basin covers 6% of Arizona’s land area, it touches quite a few communities — including Phoenix.
“It’s exciting to make that connection to the water users at the lower end of the watershed to the work being done up here,” Dudley said of the organization’s Cottonwood office. “The majority of folks in the Phoenix metro area don’t understand the connection to the Verde River and part of that is if you receive water or power from SRP, they get about 40% of their supply from the Verde River system and 60% from Salt River. The work we’re doing up here directly impacts the long-term water supply down there.”
In addition to the $50,000 of funding the organization received from SRP, it also receives funding from other local businesses and from a conservation grant program available through the state’s Water Infrastructure Finance Authority known as WIFA. Grants are awarded after applicants complete a survey or questionnaire. Friends of the Verde River works with grantees to determine which types of conservation projects make the most sense for each situation.
Those who are interested in pursuing a grant can apply through the organization’s website, but several grantees have also been past participants in Local First Arizona’s Green Business Boot Camp. Friends of the Verde River serves as a facilitator for the water section of the accelerator program. The connection between the program and the organization prompted River Friendly Living grants to be awarded to five Phoenix-area projects which altogether will save 790,000 gallons of water.
Dudley said that the 33 projects the organization funded during its fall cycle of grantees in late 2024 are expected to save about 80 million gallons of water throughout 2025.
“We’re doing anything we can do to reduce demand and increase efficiency to create a sustainable water supply for the coming years,” Dudley said.