MINUTES
Coconino Plateau Water Advisory Council
March 28, 2008
USGS Building #3
2255 N Gemini Drive,
Flagstaff, Arizona 86001
Water Advisory Council Members Present
Liz Archuleta, Chairman, Coconino County
Joe Haughey, City of Flagstaff
John Kocjan, City of Page
Dennis Wells, City of Williams
Tom Whitmer, Arizona Department of Water Resources
Brenda Smith, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Bob Michaels, Bureau of Reclamation
Bob Hart, USGS
Joe Stringer, Coconino National Forest
Mike Macauley, Coconino NRCD
Robert Kirk, Navajo Nation
Liz Archuleta, WAC Chairman, opened the meeting and explained that there were several other conflicting meetings that happened to be at the same time, resulting in a smaller attendance than normal.
On a motion by Joe Haughey, seconded by Bob Michaels, the minutes from the February 29 meeting were approved as submitted.
Liz welcomed Dennis Strong, Director of the Utah Division of Water Resources, who gave a presentation on the proposed Utah Lake Powell Pipeline. Dennis gave a power point presentation that addressed the project location, history, water supply and water demands, proposed alignments, agency and tribal involvement, and funding.
The pipeline is intended to serve the future demands for the greater St. George/Cedar City region. Utah passed the Lake Powell Pipeline Development Act in 2006 with appropriations for acquisition of right-of-way. The plan is to utilize 100,000 acre feet from Utah’s Colorado River allocation which is 1.4 million acre feet. Dennis said that the demands will be offset approximately 25% by conservation and new landscaping requirements--the current use is 350 gallons per capita per day.
Since there is a hydropower component to the proposal they are required to go through the FERC Integrated Licensing Process (ILP) which is anticipated to take about 4 years to complete. He said that the FERC permit schedule include scoping meetings in June, and then ready to construct sometime in 2012-2015. The 2003 estimate was $600 million, but they are working on an updated cost estimate to be completed this summer.
The statute allows Arizona to participate in the pipeline if it chooses to, and it would require use of Arizona’s allocation and be based on equitable cost-sharing measures.
In regard to funding the project Dennis explained that the state will cover the costs initially, but the users will repay the state through the water purchase and it will include costs plus interest. He reviewed three sources of funding including local-with as much as 1/3 of the project costs covered through Washington County impact fees; use of State general obligation bonds; or state borrowing against future revenues.
In discussing public acceptance, Dennis noted that there has been some opposition related to growth, reliable supply, cost, and effect on natural and cultural resources. He said that they are trying to follow existing disturbed areas for the pipeline route, noting that it will be buried with some structures above ground.
Chairman Archuleta asked how the county conservation Districts are funded. Dennis explained that a property tax is collected and goes to the water conservancy districts, and they are supported through sales of water and a county impact fee assessed with building permits.
Joe Haughey asked if they had considered working with the federal government to fund the project. Dennis said they have chosen to make it a state project and not request any federal money. He explained that they think it is in their best interest to have it be a state project concerned with possible Federal requirements if they funded it. He did state that the decision is not final and they could still go in that direction.
There was further discussion regarding where they are in the project, projected costs and funding, depletion of groundwater, and removal of agricultural lands from production in favor of more housing.
The CPWAC thanked Dennis for coming and making the presentation.
Don Bills provided an update for the TAC committee, noting that the At-risk water resources workshop is scheduled for April 30 and May 1. Don also reported that the TAC is working on the scenarios for the USGS regional groundwater model test run. He said that the scenarios are based on the recommendations of the BOR appraisal level study.
There was no report from the Government Affairs Committee.
Don Bills also gave the report from the Public Outreach Committee. He said that the website is up and running at www.cpwac.org and the committee decided that all materials proposed to be added to the website will be vetted through the WAC, that minor changes can be done by Brenda Grey at the County who is serving as the webmaster. He said they were attempting to develop a study area map, but decided not to due to conflicting boundaries with the various study areas so instead they are referring to the “area under the influence of the CPWAC.” He also mentioned that the POC is working on developing a speaker’s bureau and a draft pamphlet for CPWAC which will be available for WAC review in a couple of months. He said the POC requested the WAC suggest ways to disseminate it. They were suggesting an initial printing of 500, but WAC would need to identify means to fund the printing.
Tom said that the Executive Committee is addressing funding and it will be a topic for discussion at the retreat.
Next was a report from Tom Whitmer on state legislative issues. Tom and Dennis Wells both discussed the proposed bill to address the Williams well that was erroneously developed south of the basin divide. Dennis said they have been working since January to resolve this issue.
Tom Carr, ADWR, apprised the WAC of a proposal for funding the Water Development Fund. The concept paper that will be presented to the SWAG considers a variety of revenue sources and the recommendation is to draw from more than one. The proposed sources include water withdrawal (well) fees, transaction privilege tax of 5-10 cents per 1000 gallons (sales tax on water use), impact fees for new housing starts, well impact fees for new wells, and appropriation from general fund and from the interstate water banking program. He suggested that if they used sales tax, impact fees, and interstate water banking program they could raise $700 million to $1.2 billion by 2025. Tom Carr asked the group to review the proposal and provide any comments.
The meeting adjourned at 12:00 p.m.