Background
Located approximately 25 miles north of Payson, the C.C. Cragin Reservoir, formerly called Blue Ridge, stores water from a 71-square-mile watershed on East Clear Creek, a tributary to the Little Colorado River. Standing 170 feet high and 492 feet long, the dam has a storage capacity of approximately 15,000 acre-feet (AF). The C.C. Cragin pumping system consists of a dam, reservoir and pumping system to store water and divert it across the Mogollon Rim to the East Verde River (fig. 1).
When water is diverted, it travels through a 4,500-foot-long tunnel to a pump shaft. A pumping plant then lifts the water and transports it to a priming reservoir via 5.3 miles of steel-reinforced concrete pipe. The water then flows from this 2-million-gallon priming reservoir south over the Mogollon Rim to a small hydropower plant near Washington Park on the East Verde River through an additional 4.7 miles of steel-reinforced concrete pipe. An electrical transmission line alongside the pipeline right of way transmits power from the generator to the pumping plant, allowing the pumps to be powered by the water as it descends into the East Verde River (fig. 2)
Figure 1
Purpose of C.C. Cragin Reservoir
Originally constructed by Phelps Dodge in 1965, the reservoir and associated facilities were used to fulfill an agreement between Phelps Dodge and the Salt River Project regarding water diverted from the Black River for mining purposes in Morenci, Arizona. Historically, between 1966 and 1990, these deliveries of C.C. Cragin water to the East Verde were about 9,600 AF.
How did SRP acquire C.C. Cragin Reservoir?
Following a 1997 settlement agreement between Phelps Dodge and the San Carlos Apache Tribe, C.C. Cragin was no longer needed for the Black River exchange. SRP acquired C.C. Cragin Reservoir from Phelps Dodge Corporation as part of the Gila River Indian Water Rights Settlement. The 2004 Arizona Water Settlement Act specifies that up to 3,500 AF of water stored in Cragin will be made available for municipal and domestic uses in northern Gila County at no cost to SRP or the Bureau of Reclamation.
C.C. Cragin Reservoir is now a critical water supply for the Town of Payson. In 2008, SRP and the Town of Payson reached an agreement for Payson to receive as much as 3,000 acre-feet of Cragin water per year, covering Payson's anticipated water needs through build-out of its town limits. In 2019 Payson completed construction of a pipeline from Washington Park to its new water treatment plant and has successfully integrated Cragin water into its water distribution system. The remaining 500 acre-feet of water has been designated as a future water solution for smaller Mogollon Rim communities. SRP has partnered with additional small water providers for a share of water from C.C. Cragin Reservoir and continues to work with communities in northern Gila County.
The resolution of water rights and supply issues offered by C.C. Cragin Reservoir is just one example of SRP’s continued efforts to provide water certainty throughout the state.
Figure 2
