A 41-member Blue Ribbon Panel on Water Sustainability is looking at future water demands across the state. It is comprised of state and federal officials as well as representatives from trade associations, utility corporations, cities and counties, agriculture trades, corporations and developers - and not one represents Northeastern Arizona. At the end, the panel will make recommendations on policies and possible legislation related to their study.
According to a report of a meeting held by the panel on Jan. 8, the purpose is "to find ways to conserve, recycle and reuse water so Arizona can move toward obtaining a sustainable water supply."
'It's interesting that the Arizona Department of Water Resources, the prime source of information, has done eight volumes but hasn't done No. 9 which would tell the conclusions," Taylor Town Engineer Stu Spaulding says. "One of our concerns is how ADWR, the University of Arizona, the Bureau of Reclamation, will look at future water demands.
"If they are reasonable, that's good. If not, we need to be assured of a 100 year supply that would allow us to grow. We have the water and we want to make sure the won't limit us too much."
Taylor Town Manager Eric Duthie adds, "Something we're concerned about is if they develop a water use policy tied to population - saying, as an example, one well for every 1,000 people. In Navajo County we would have a total of 100 wells throughout the entire county. Maricopa County would have 200,000 wells.
"They can't get water from under their feet but they could say there was an exception, that they could use our water. We don't want anyone to drink out of our straw with no say.
One of the stated goals of the panel is to support more conservative ways to use water, something Taylor is already doing, Spaulding says they support conservation but they don't think other areas should have unlimited access to this part of the aquifer. If there are restrictions on water use, this area should at least have a 100 year supply based on growth, Spaulding says.
"We're perched on top of the Malapai ledge," he says. "If we drill all the way to the Coconino aquifer, we have pristine pure water right under our feet."
The Coconino-C aquifer goes from the White Mountains to Holbrook to Winslow and, to some extent, to Flagstaff, he says. The great difference is that in the White Mountains and Silver Creek Valley, water is available at 350 feet. In Flagstaff, drilling would have to be done down to 1,500 feet and at Williams it is even deeper at 2,500 feet. Essentially the water is more difficult to get, Duthie says.
"It is estimated that by 2050 Flagstaff will not have a sustainable water supply," Spaulding says. "It must be a concern to them that if we develop upstream, they won't have water they need downstream.
"We don't have one single representative as the talk goes. We have to ensure that the ADWR will allot a 100 year supply to us. In the Valley, Cave Creek and some other communities can't develop without another water source. It behooves us to let people know where we stand."
Duthie says it was wonderful to be cooperative and share the water but people in our area do have to have a say in what is being decided. The only representatives from this are from the Hopi Tribe and the Navajo Nation but they are on the Coconino-N aquifer which isn't charged the same way Coconino-C is.
Duthie and Spaulding says they first learned about the blue ribbon panel through reading a newspaper account of the upcoming Agribusiness Council meeting at which members of the panel are to attend. Spaulding plans to attend the meeting to learn more about what the panel is trying to recommend.
"We need to get a voice or two on the panel," Duthie says. "Currently we don't have a say and are on the outside looking in."
He says they don't want to serve on sub committees or working groups, that they want to be on the panel itself.
"I think that for something this important, they should have sent us something about it and its focus sooner," Spaulding says with Duthie adding that he thought this area is being shut out.
Although all the golf courses in Maricopa County might be seen as extravagant, Spaulding says that isn't really so. The large majority of the more than 200 golf courses in the Valley use reused water that has come through wastewater treatment plants. Golf courses are a good place to use that water. If it isn't reused, it will just be dumped into a stream.
Through its new wastewater treatment plant, Taylor has become as "green" as any municipality in Arizona, Spaulding says. They have an agreement with local rancher Alma Saline to use their effluent, pumping it into trucks and then pumping it in to his land so it's underground. That means no flies and no smells which occur when the sludge is placed on top of the soil as is done in other nearby areas, he says.
"We're a model for being green," Duthie says. "I think it would be valuable to the others to get us into the discussion. We know what we're talking about. We're not novices at this and we're doing something worthwhile."
The anticipated recommendations of the panel include that all the state aquifers be shared, that those with unlimited access to the state's aquifers will have legal limited access to the water and that enhanced reuse and conservation be encouraged.
"Our concern is that we will not be left with legal access to a 100 year assured sustainable water supply," Duthie says.
He says the blue ribbon panel may not estimate the area's future population growth and our future per capita water needs the same as those here do. Their estimated future water demands may not be sufficient for the area's needs.
"The aquifer is our hope for the future," Spaulding says.
Duthie and Spaulding will be on the road for the next few months, making presentations to municipal councils, the board of supervisors, chambers of commerce and any other organizations that would be willing to hear it. Anyone interested in the presentation or in learning more on an individual basis should contact Duthie at (928) 536-7366.
"We must resolve to work with each other and with the blue ribbon panel to develop an accurate model to estimate our future water demand," he says. "We also have to ensure the blue ribbon panel recommends we maintain legal access to a 100 year assured water supply."