Global Water Resources, a pure-play water resource management company, has entered into an agreement to acquire seven water systems from the City of Tucson’s water utility.
The systems are located in and around Pima County where they serve approximately 2,200 customers. Following their acquisition, they would be integrated with existing Global Water utilities in the area.
The addition of the new systems will bring the total number of Global Water customers in Pima County to approximately 7,200, of which 5,000 were added from seven acquisitions completed in Pima County over the past four years. These utilities in Pima County comprise Global Water’s second-largest service area after the City of Maricopa in terms of customer connections.
The acquisition is anticipated to be completed early next year, subject to approval by the Arizona Corporation Commission.
“This acquisition aligns well with our growth and development strategy for Pima County,” stated Global Water COO, Chris Krygier, “and it is a perfect geographic fit to our current service areas. We look forward to serving these communities and being a great community partner.”
Global Water Resources has entered into an agreement to acquire seven water systems from the City of Tucson’s water utility
“We plan to integrate these systems using the same proven approach to consolidation and effective water management implemented for our other recent acquisitions in Pima County,” continued Krygier. “We first resolve any outstanding compliance requirements, and then deploy our industry-leading best practices around technology, customer service, and operations. We then seek the appropriate rate structure, resulting in both conservation incentives and a fair return on our investments. Our first rate case in the area finished its hearing last month and we are planning to file the Farmers Water rate case this summer.”
Global Water plans to modernize the systems with the installation of an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). This will include upgrading customer connections with smart meters that enable wireless usage metering, similar to the technology Global Water has deployed at more than 95% of its existing water connections.
The AMI deployment will be a key part of the company’s planned capital improvements for these areas. The improvements will support higher quality water services and potential customer savings, and further the company’s mission of utility consolidation, automation and water resource management for the benefit of Arizona communities.
