Madison Groves IWDD

The Madison Groves Irrigation Water Delivery District (IWDD) was formed by a majority vote of the neighbors in our community in 2018. The district boundaries are the east side of 12th Street to the east side of 13th Place, south side of Glendale to the north side of Ocotillo. See map for details. The district was formed to allow us to manage the water delivery system to our properties.

IWDD Management

The district is currently managed by three trustees and an advisor. It is funded by a property tax that is collected by Maricopa County in your property tax bill. The money is held in trust by the county and managed by the trustees. The fiscal year starts in July and runs through June. We are required to submit reports and budgets to the county. Generally there is public meeting held in June to keep the homeowners up to date. The managers meet one a month to discuss issues and repairs. The managers work with local contractors to maintain and repair the system. We are currently looking for additional volunteers.

How does our irrigation system work?

There are three major components to our irrigation system. Salt River Project (SRP) maintains the lakes, dams and canals, and is responsible for delivering the water to the standbox located near 13th Street and Glendale. Our system starts at this standbox. Property owners pay SRP for their water. See the SRP Website for more information.

SRP standbox on Glendale.

IWDD standbox on Glendale.

The Madison Groves Irrigation Water Delivery District (IWDD) is responsible for the pipes and valves that deliver the water to our properties. There are numerous standboxes, valves and 1.3 miles of pipe in our system. The district maintains this part of the system.

Each property that receives irrigation is responsible for their water delivery. Some are self-servers while others use an irrigation service. Irrigator fees are not included in your IWDD or SRP payments.

System Operation

During an irrigation run, SRP turns on the water to our system. Slide gates in the standboxes control the flow of water in the system. The water flowing into the system must flow out or the water will back up and overflow the standpipes. Many homeowners employ an irrigation service to control the valves on their property. Some homeowners are self-servers and control their own valves.

It's important that the self-servers have the next homeowner open their valves before theirs are closed. Otherwise the water will overflow the standpipe. This increases the pressure in the system which is hard on the pipes and wastes water. Also other valves in the system must remain closed so the water goes to the right property.

Keeping the irrigation water in our yards

It is very important that we keep the irrigation water contained in our yards and not allow it to run out into the street. That means, we as homeowners, need to keep our berms built up and place sandbags across walkways and driveways where water flows prior to each run. Sand and sandbags can be found at our local hardware stores at an inexpensive cost. We all need to do our best to preserve this wonderful resource we have in our neighborhood!

System Maintenance

The irrigation system was constructed when the homes were built in the early fifties. Originally, there were open irrigation ditches along Glendale. When Glendale was widened in the early seventies, pipes were installed and the ditches were filled in. The system is 50 to 70 years old and needs periodic maintenance and repairs.

Cracked pipe under the sidewalk on Glendale.

Standbox hit by car.

The pipes along Glendale run under the sidewalk, 13th Place, 13th Street and 12th Way. Repairs to these pipes requires digging up the sidewalk or cross street and blocking a lane on Glendale. This can be very expensive. The pipes that run through properties are in an easement and need to be accessible at anytime for repairs or maintenance, as any other utility.

There are several standboxes along Glendale. These have been hit by cars, used as trash barrels and sometimes leak.

The district subscribes to Arizona 811. If you are doing any construction or digging on your property, you or your contractor should request through AZ811 that the utilities be marked. The irrigation lines are not very deep and are easily damaged by construction equipment.