SRP governance
SRP is two companies: the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District,
a political subdivision of the state of Arizona; and the Salt River Valley Water Users'
Association, a private corporation.
The District provides electricity to retail customers in the Phoenix area. It operates or
participates in seven major power plants and numerous other generating stations,
including thermal, nuclear and hydroelectric sources.
The Association delivers nearly 1 million acre-feet of water to a service area in central Arizona.
An extensive water delivery system is maintained and operated by the Association, including
reservoirs, wells, canals and irrigation laterals.
The president is the chief executive office and chairman of the Board of each organization.
The vice president fulfills the duties and responsibilities of the president during the president's
absence. Together, they serve as the day-to-day representatives of the Boards in the management of SRP.
The Boards set specific policy and, through
management, operate SRP in accordance with the provisions of the Articles of Incorporation,
District and Association bylaws, and Arizona statutes. For example, the Boards approve
major fuel contracts, authorize the purchase of major equipment, and set water and
power prices.
Where the boards set specific policy regarding the management of SRP, the Councils set broad policy relative to our governing bodies. The Councils adopt and amend bylaws, fill vacancies that may come about on the Boards and Councils, act as liaisons to its constituents, and the District Council approves negotiated bond sales.
Continuity in leadership and experience is provided through a system of various standing
committees on the Boards.
Board and Council members are elected to four-year terms, with one-half of the seats
eligible for election every two years.
With the exception of the District's at-large Board members, SRP's president, vice
president, Boards and Councils are elected by a "debt-proportionate" system based
on land ownership. The debt-proportionate concept stems from the original financial
commitment of landowners who pledged their acreage as collateral for a federal loan
to build Theodore Roosevelt Dam in the early 1900s.
Under this system, a landowner with five acres casts five votes in an SRP election, while
an owner with one-half acre is entitled to half (0.5) of a vote. Lands owned in the name of a partnership, a corporation, or owned by municipalities cannot be voted.
The four at-large Board members are elected on a one-landowner, one-vote basis.
The constitutionality of SRP's acreage-based voting system has been upheld by the
U.S. Supreme Court in 1981 and, more recently, by the U.S. Court of Appeals.
In the Association, landowners elect a president, a vice president, 10 Board
members and 30 Council members. Each district elects one Board member and three
Council members. The president and vice president are elected at-large, meaning they
are elected by the sum of the votes from all voting districts.
The Association is the older of SRP's two organizations. It began when a group of early
Valley residents searched for an effective means to bring water to their families, farms
and communities.
These pioneers tried to irrigate crops with a simple
canal system fed by the Salt River. Canal
operations were unpredictable. Sometimes the river shrank to a trickle, while other
times, the river swelled beyond its banks and washed away a season of hard work.
In 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt
signed the National Reclamation Act. The law provided federal loans for construction
of reclamation projects in the West. Valley settlers formed the Association in 1903
and pledged their land as collateral for federal government loan to build a massive
water storage and delivery system.
The cornerstone of the system, Theodore Roosevelt Dam, was dedicated in 1911, six
years after construction began. The dam was rededicated in 1996 following Safety
of Dam modifications that added 77 feet of height to the dam and needed conservation
and flood control capacity.
As part of its operations, the Association cooperatively manages a 13,000-square-mile
"watershed" or natural drainage area in the mountains north and east of metropolitan
Phoenix. This watershed feeds the Salt and Verde rivers that flow into the SRP reservoir
system. From 1923 to 1946, five more water-storage dams were built along the Salt and
Verde rivers to help satisfy the Valley's need for a reliable supply of water.
The duties of the Association increased as more people moved to metropolitan Phoenix.
Water-quality monitoring and water conservation became priorities as agricultural needs
decreased and urban uses increased.
Today, the Association delivers nearly 1 million acre-feet of water to a 240,000-acre
service area in metropolitan Phoenix. The reservoir system feeds an extensive water
delivery network comprising 1,265 miles of canals, laterals and smaller channels.
This delivery network carries water to municipalities as well as agricultural and urban
irrigators.
In the District, landowners elect a president, a vice president, 14 Board members
and 30 Council members. Each of the 10 voting divisions elects one Board member
and three Council members. The president, vice president and four remaining Board
members are elected at-large from all of the voting divisions.
During the Great Depression, Valley farmers were hard-pressed to make payments
on the federal loans for Theodore Roosevelt Dam and other dams on the Salt River.
To help reduce payments on the outstanding loans, the Arizona Legislature enacted
a law in 1936 that allowed the formation of the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement
and Power District in 1937.
As a political subdivision of the state, the District can issue tax-exempt municipal bonds,
thereby reducing interest costs and saving SRP electric and water users millions of dollars.
As the Valley's population has grown, the District has tapped many power sources to
provide electricity to more than 929,000 customers. Besides the time-honored
hydroelectric generating units at the dams on the Salt River, the District owns or
participates in 10 generating stations in the Southwest. Customers also are served
by power drawn from various other generating facilities in the Valley and state, as well
as from contractual power purchases.
SRP is divided into 10 voting districts (Association) and divisions (District). Click here for
a map of the Salt River Reservoir District that shows how the voting boundaries are located geographically.