Salt River Project
Who is responsible for a flood irrigation leak on an SRP-served lot?
Salt River Project delivers untreated irrigation water as far as the SRP delivery gate, and its own owner's manual states that its responsibility to monitor or maintain the irrigation system ends once the water has been delivered to that gate - everything past it belongs to the landowners. That single sentence decides who fixes a losing ditch, valve or lateral, and it is why a flood irrigation problem is rarely a call to the utility.
Reading the bill
Irrigation water is not metered water
SRP delivers untreated, raw flood irrigation water to a delivery gate rather than metered drinking water to a house.
SRP states plainly that the irrigation water it delivers is untreated and raw, is not treated before delivery, and is not suitable for human consumption. It is a different supply from the city water that comes through a meter, and it arrives on a schedule rather than on demand.
The charging structure reflects that. Standard irrigation accounts carry annual charges tied to the land and its water rights rather than to metered volume, with an additional usage-based charge only where a base allocation is exceeded during the year. Larger water balance accounts instead receive a monthly statement of annual entitlement and use.
So a losing lateral does not show up on an irrigation bill the way a leak shows up on a water bill. It shows up in the yard, as water that never arrives where it was meant to go.
The cycle
Annual, ordered delivery by delivery
SRP issues irrigation bills in the middle of November for the following calendar year, due in early December, with an instalment option. Deliveries themselves are ordered through an SRP My Account profile, the SRP Water app, the recurring order programme, or the water contact centre, and on the day a zanjero opens the delivery gate.
Where it changes hands
The delivery gate is the boundary
SRP's residential irrigation owner's manual puts it in one sentence: SRP provides irrigation water to the SRP delivery gate at the high point of the quarter section, and its responsibility to monitor irrigation water or maintain irrigation systems ends after the water has been delivered to that gate. Once the water enters the private system, it becomes the responsibility of the irrigation customers.
The ditches, pipelines, standpipes, berms and valves beyond the gate are private property, owned, operated and maintained by you and your neighbours. That is the part that leaks, and that is the part nobody is coming to fix for you.
How a loss shows
What a losing private system looks like
| What you see | What it suggests | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Less water arriving than was scheduled | SRP calls this a short head - it may be the private system, or the delivery | Check your own ditches and valves, then call SRP |
| Water leaving the ditch before it reaches the lot | A low or eroded berm, or a losing gate, port or valve | Walk the run during a delivery, looking for cracks, rust and broken seals |
| A soft, permanently damp line across the yard between irrigations | A buried lateral or a standpipe losing water | Photograph it and have the line traced |
What they publish
What SRP publishes, and what it does not
SRP's published irrigation credit policy deals with excess water debits, overdrafts and refunds of purchased water that was not delivered. We found nothing in it that credits a bill for water lost to a leak on the private side, which follows from the gate being the boundary.
What SRP's own manual describes instead is practical help: where a line or valve has failed, it tells customers to contact neighbours, use a sandbag as a temporary measure and call SRP, which will shut the water off at the delivery gate or try to reroute it. That stops the water; it does not repair the private system.
Repairing what is past the gate is the landowner's, and it is work we do. Billing questions are between you and your provider, and what they do about them is theirs to decide. Our part is establishing whether the property is losing water and where, in writing.
Straight answers
SRP irrigation questions
Where does SRP's responsibility for irrigation water end?
At the SRP delivery gate at the high point of the quarter section. SRP's own owner's manual states that its responsibility to monitor irrigation water or maintain irrigation systems ends after the water has been delivered to that gate.
Who owns the ditches and valves in my neighbourhood?
The landowners. SRP describes the ditches, pipelines, standpipes, berms and valves beyond the delivery gate as private property, owned, operated and maintained by you and your neighbours.
What is a short head?
It is SRP's own term for when the flow rate from the delivery gate is less than what was scheduled. SRP's guidance is to check your own private system and then call, and it may send a zanjero to measure what is actually being delivered.
Where does irrigation water usually go missing?
SRP's manual points at berms that are too low or have eroded, and at valves, gates, ports and ditches with cracks, rust or broken seals. All of those sit on the private side of the delivery gate.
Flood-irrigated areas we work in
Tell us what the water is doing
Where the water stops arriving, and what the ditch or standpipe looks like during a delivery.
Photograph the run during an irrigation
Where the water leaves the ditch is usually visible only while it is running.
5.0 on Google
What customers in the Phoenix valley have written. The words are theirs, on listings we cannot edit.
“Humberto has been amazing! Prompt, professional, and patient. He has gone above and beyond, taking the time to show me how to operate the water valves and educating me so I can continue to monitor for future leaks. He identified multiple leaks and made thoughtful recommendations.”
“Beto was very professional, thorough and patient in explaining everything he was doing and why. It was an excellent and well worth it experience, and this is saying something for an architect who had a hundred questions!”
“The owner and operator of this company is everything a contractor should be. On time, honest, competent, reachable, comprehensive. Hope to work with him again in the future.”