Salt River Project thinning forest near Payson to help save one of its water reservoirs

PHOENIX — Salt River Project is thinning a forest that surrounds one of its reservoirs near Payson in an attempt to keep potential wildfires from contaminating it.

The Cragin water reservoir about 15 miles outside of Payson helps the local communities stop relying on groundwater, while also providing water to some parts of the Valley.

It can hold a total of 15,000 acre-feet of water, but as of Wednesday, it’s holding 8,866 acre-feet and is 59% full.

Tim Skarupa, a service water lead with SRP, said a wildfire in the thick terrain of juniper trees that surround the reservoir could lead to contamination of the water.

“A large wildfire that creates a lot of debris and ash and all those things, and then you get a wet storm on top of that, that’s all going to flow downstream and into that reservoir system,” Skarupa said.

He said if the water becomes contaminated, cleaning it up can be pricey.

“For that to become usable, it would have to be cleaned, or that situation would have to be mitigated, which would be very costly,” Skarupa said.

He explained SRP and multiple other agencies are working to thin the thick forest out to avoid severe wildfires.

“The idea of the forest thinning is to put the forest back in a healthy, resilient state where, when they do have a fire, it’s a low-intensity burn,” Skarupa said. “It’s more healthy, it’s more natural.”

Skarupa added, that in the long run, these efforts will protect the water supply.

“The forest itself can recover from that and you no longer need protection, so to speak, from trying to put out these large-scale high intensity burns,” Skarupa said.

He said as this year’s fire and monsoon season begins, they’re trying to work as fast as they can with these restoration efforts.

Follow @OatleyTasler