Increasing COC in Arizona Cooling Towers

Arizona’s new COC requirements under the Phoenix AMA 5th Management Plan took effect January 1, 2025. Most facilities running standard water treatment programs are operating at less than half the required concentration levels. Getting into compliance without disrupting operations or incurring unnecessary capital costs is a real challenge.

At ProChemTech, we are the leading water-treatment provider for increasing COC in Arizona cooling towers. Our two patented technologies are purpose-built for Arizona water conditions and give facilities a way to meet the new standard while reducing total operating costs.

Read on to learn about the new COC requirements and how our experienced team delivers custom cooling tower programs built around your facility’s specific water challenges.

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Arizona ARS 45-568: New Cooling Tower Requirements

Arizona’s Department of Water Resources (ADWR) enacted new conservation and reporting requirements for large cooling tower facilities under the Phoenix Active Management Area 5th Management Plan. Effective January 1, 2025, and authorized under ARS 45-568 through 570, these rules apply to any facility that operates a cooling system with individual units rated over 250 tons and a total facility capacity of 1,000 tons or more.

There are many different types of facilities across the Phoenix AMA that fall within this scope, including:

• Municipalities
• Hotels
• Hospitals
• Data centers
• Manufacturing plants
• Commercial buildings

The regulation requires facilities to limit blowdown by maintaining a minimum concentration of at least one of three water quality constituents. Facilities must meet at least one of three constituent thresholds: silica, total hardness, or total dissolved solids.

Phoenix Area COC Compliance Thresholds

Based on Phoenix-area water quality, the required cycles of concentration to hit each limit are as follows:

Most Phoenix-area facilities currently operate at an average COC of 2.5 with standard water treatment. That is less than half of the minimum the law now requires. Compliance also carries a mandatory reporting obligation. Facilities must file an annual report with ADWR through their water provider, documenting monthly capacity, operating days, makeup and blowdown volumes, and the measured concentration of their COC-limiting constituent.

How ProChemTech Gets Arizona Facilities Into Compliance

ProChemTech delivers innovative water management programs for government, commercial, and industrial clients. We maintain a water management contractor license, ROC 241899, in Arizona and hold ISO 9001/2015 AMD 2024 and ISO 14000/2015 AMD 2024 registration. Our approach applies Plan-Do-Check-Act methodology and risk-based thinking to strengthen process planning, drive customer satisfaction, and reduce environmental impact.

Our full-service water treatment programs cover cooling towers throughout a wide range of Arizona facilities. We maintain tight, collaborative relationships with operations teams to ensure reliable chemistry and responsive service for these critical systems. This dependable technology and level of detailed support have kept many industrial customers with us for 25 to 35 years.

Our Proprietary Aqua Save and Aqua Ionic Treatments

At ProChemTech, we have been treating cooling tower water at Arizona facilities since 1990. Our four patents span two proprietary technology families developed specifically to increase COC in the hard, high-alkalinity water conditions common throughout the Phoenix area. As a licensed Arizona water management contractor, we serve commercial, industrial, and municipal facilities with chemistry programs, engineered systems, and on-site service.

Aqua Save and Aqua Ionic are our two technologies that directly address the new ADWR requirements. We designed each formula for a different level of compliance need:

Aqua Save: Increase COC to Become ADWR Compliant

Aqua Save is our patented, acid-free cooling tower treatment chemistry built on carboxylated phosphonate and organic polymer formulations. Standard phosphonate-polymer programs max out at around COC 2.5 in Phoenix-area water. Aqua Save routinely doubles that figure, bringing facilities to COC 5.0 and into compliance with the TDS and total hardness thresholds under the new ADWR requirement.

Aqua Save achieves approximately 80% compliance across facilities and works well as an introductory solution for smaller-scale cooling programs or facilities where water conservation does not require more advanced chemistry. Most conversions require no new capital equipment as the chemistry works with existing feed and control systems. Total program costs typically run 25-35% lower than those of standard phosphonate-polymer programs.

Aqua Ionic: 100% Compliance in AZ Cooling Towers

Aqua Ionic combines ion-exchange softening of makeup water with our proprietary corrosion- and deposition-control chemistry. Removing hardness ions before water enters the system eliminates the potential for scale, allowing towers to operate at COC 8-10. That puts facilities in full compliance with all three constituent thresholds of the ADWR requirement.

For facilities dealing with persistent scale problems, acid feed systems, or Legionella risk, Aqua Ionic addresses all three simultaneously. Documented testing across 17 systems running Aqua Ionic programs returned Legionella “none detected” results across the board.

Arizona’s New COC Reporting Requirement

Facilities subject to the new ADWR rule must file an annual compliance report through their water provider. Each report documents monthly facility capacity, operating days, makeup and blowdown volumes, and the measured concentration of the COC limiting constituent. That data goes directly to ADWR, giving the agency full visibility into who is and is not meeting the standard.

Any operation running below the required COC will be identifiable through that reporting chain. Under Arizona’s Groundwater Code, ADWR can issue cease-and-desist orders and impose civil penalties on operators that do not meet the standard. Addressing COC now keeps the timeline and the costs in your control.

ProChemTech monthly or bimonthly service reports contain all the information to complete the annual ADWR reports. We would determine the limiting constituent when setting up the Aqua Save or Aqua Ionic treatment program. In many cases, we provide the annual report for the customer as part of our Full Service agreement.

Reduce Sewer & Water Costs by Increasing Cooling Tower COC

Phoenix-area water and sewer costs make a strong financial case for increasing COC independent of the regulatory requirement. An economic analysis using actual Phoenix city water parameters for a 1,000-ton annual thermal-load system shows that a hard-water program at COC 2.2 costs $246,464 per year in combined water, sewer, and chemistry costs.

Switching to softened makeup water with Aqua Ionic at COC 10 delivers the following results:

• Annual program cost: $167,634
• Annual cost reduction: $78,830
• Annual water savings: 6,998,875 gallons
• Water softener installation cost: ~$26,313
• Return on investment: 4 months

What Arizona Facilities Are Seeing With High COC Programs

Three Arizona facilities have documented the operational and financial results of switching to high COC programs using ProChemTech technology:

*Single-month comparison vs. the previous program

Raise Your COCs and Get Into Compliance With ProChemTech

Arizona’s new COC requirements are now in effect, and the compliance gap for most Phoenix-area facilities running standard water treatment programs is substantial. Annual reporting to ADWR means that the gap will not go unnoticed.

ProChemTech offers two patented technologies built for Arizona water conditions that bring facilities into full compliance while reducing total water, sewer, and chemistry costs. Both technologies reduce total program costs while meeting the new standard.

Click below to learn more and speak to one of our chemists.

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