Q ueen Creek Town Council on Wednesday is scheduled to complete a $244.4 million purchase of Harquahala Basin groundwater to secure the town’s water security well into the next decade.

The complex deal calls for acquiring 1.2 million acre-feet over decades at a rate of no more than 12,000 acre-feet annually that would be paid largely through Certificates of Participation, a type of lease-purchase financing tool, and a loan of undetermined size from a state authority.

An acre-foot equals 325,851 gallons of water – which the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) estimates is enough water to supply three homes for a year.

The Harquahala water would be transported from western Arizona via the Central Arizona Project Canal and “will supply the town with options to support further gro

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