In a growing community, water is a valuable resource for the City of Peoria. The City is guided by its general planning document, PlanPeoriaAZ 2040, which outlines the City's commitment to ensuring the best quality of living for Peoria residents through the Livability Initiatives. One of its key priorities is Smart Growth, which emphasizes sustainable development, mainly conserving water resources in anticipation of future growth.

The original student content is available on the Project Cities website. Read the full summary report here. 

Sustainable water strategies

Water policy encompasses a variety of topics, including drought management, land conservation, land annexation, and general conservation. Students from the School of Sustainability were split into groups to review peer community water management plans to recommend policies and strategies for Peoria’s water and land management practices. 

Tiered water rates

As a growing water conservation method, tiered water rates, or block tier pricing, is a method of incentivizing water conservation by charging a rate based on water usage. The City of Peoria currently uses block pricing and enlisted the help of a Master of Public Policy student to review the literature on tiered pricing and peer community pricing to recommend an ideal pricing structure. 

Recommendations for water planning

The City of Peoria is implementing various water conservation strategies, including offering rebates and incentives for conservation efforts. Students recommended that the City build out its messaging related to water by communicating about its water efforts through the Peoria website and social media. 

 

Project Cities is a member of the Educational Partnerships for Innovation in Communities Network (EPIC-N) and is administered by ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and the Sustainable Cities Network. Stay up to date with Project Cities and the Sustainable Cities Network by following us on social media or subscribing to our newsletter.