11/28/2009 3:40:00 PM ADWR upholds decision on Big Chino pumping
By Cindy Barks Contributing Reporter
PRESCOTT - Two years of application preparation, a year of state review, and another year of appeals regarding Prescott's right to pump Big Chino water concluded this past week with a final affirmation by the state.
In a 24-page decision and order, Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Herb Guenther agreed both with his department's earlier approval of Prescott's right to pump Big Chino water, as well as an administrative law judge's later reaffirmation of that decision.
The one exception involves Administrative Law Judge Thomas Shedden's recommendation in October that the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) should increase Prescott's entitlement to Big Chino water by 500 acre-feet.
ADWR originally had set the amount that Prescott was entitled to pump at 8,067 acre-feet per year. Shedden recommended that the amount be 8,567 - reflecting an additional 500 acre-feet allocation from the Yavapai-Prescott Tribe.
But Guenther disagreed, maintaining that "Prescott is not authorized to import groundwater from the Big Chino sub-basin to replace the Yavapai-Prescott Indian's tribe's (Central Arizona Project) allocation."
Either way, Prescott officials term the decision as a significant step toward plans to build a 30-mile pipeline to import water from the Paulden-area Big Chino sub-basin.
"This concludes a four-year effort to modify the city's assured water supply," Jim Holt, water resources manager for the city, said, noting that the order quantifies the available Big Chino water and authorizes the city to withdraw it from the sub-basin.
The city began work on its application for modification in its assured water supply in about 2005, and ultimately submitted its application in 2007.
ADWR issued its 8,067-acre-feet ruling in 2008 - a decision that generated a host of appeals from individuals and organizations that objected to plans by Prescott and Prescott Valley to pump Big Chino water.
Most objections centered on claims that the pumping would reduce the flow of the Verde River, which originates about 20 miles from the city's Big Chino Water Ranch.
In response to the objections, the matter went to the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings, which scheduled a series of hearings throughout February, April, and June to review the ADWR's decision.
After Shedden's recommendation, Guenther then had 30 days to make a final decision on the recommendation.
Gary Beverly, one of the local residents who appealed the original ADWR decision, continued to express little surprise this week at ADWR's interpretation.
"Again, this is pretty much what we expected," Beverly said, maintaining that the state water laws that ADWR used to come to its conclusion "are very much anti-environmental."
To combat that, Beverly said, plenty of litigation is still to come on the issue.
A number of lawsuits already are making their way through Maricopa County Superior Court, Beverly said, including one that challenges the constitutionality of the legislation that gave Prescott the right to import water from the Big Chino.
The Salt River Project (SRP), the Phoenix-area utility company that has taken a stand against Prescott's Big Chino plans, expressed similar views, noting that Guenther's decision "is exactly the same as his original decision."
Currently, Lane said, SRP is evaluating its options on how to proceed.
"What we can say is that all the experts who testified in the (Office of Administrative Hearings) proceeding agreed that the Big Chino Aquifer was the primary water source for the Verde Headwater Springs," Lane added.
The debate dates back to 2004, when Prescott and its partner Prescott Valley bought ranchland northwest of Paulden for the Big Chino Water Ranch.
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, November 30, 2009
Article comment by:
James R. Thacher
ALL I WANT TO KNOW IS: Are those of us who live in the Paulden, Big Chino Road area, and depend on well water, going to be in danger of running dry due to one too big and too thirsty straw in the drinking cup? And if so, can we depend on the residents of Prescott to provide us with what we had that was taken away. Or will we be on our own and left to make do in the same way as the longhorn skeletons that rest in peace as the high noon sun in the sky shines upon them and cast's no shadow across the high mountain desert plain?
