An amazing journey

Bringing water to you

A single drop of water goes through a transformation to reach a faucet in your home. Whether the water starts underground in an aquifer or as a snowflake falling on a mountain, it takes a feat of engineering and management to take that droplet, test it, pump it and deliver it to your home.

The water cycle begins when precipitation falls on a mountain or on the ground. Rain and snow slowly permeate the ground to supply the aquifer underground. Water also trickles down mountains and into streams, which gradually supply canals. 

EPCOR provides customers with more than 58 million gallons of water every day. When water enters our system, we begin to process, filter and test it. The treated, drinkable water leaves our plant and enters the system to reach your home. But that's not the end of the cycle. Once water goes down the drain and leaves your home, it's also recycled and reused, continuing the lifespan of water.

Sourcing your tap water 

Depending on where you live, your water probably came from a canal system (surface water) or from deep underground (groundwater). Sometimes, your water is a mix of both types. 

Surface water, generally, is considered to be a more sustainable type of water. This is water from rivers and streams that eventually flows into large-scale, managed systems. In metropolitan Phoenix, many communities get their water from the Central Arizona Project canal, which gets its water from the Colorado River basin.

Groundwater, literally, is water from the ground. It can be as simple as water from a well, but a managed groundwater supply is more complex than that. In Arizona, underground aquifers are used for storage of excess water as well as sources of groundwater. 

Regardless of which type of water supplies your district, all water gets treated and tes​ted after it reaches our system. ​