12/18/2007 8:38:00 AM County funds water resource analysis
Leslie Meyers, a water resources planner for the Bureau of Reclamation, presented the Board of Supervisors with an overview of an analysis of supplies and demands the bureau will conduct over the next three years. Meyers will serve as the manager for the estimated $600,000 study set to identify possible solutions to the county’s current and future demands for water. VVN/Steve Ayers
After paying for several studies that help to understand the county's water problems, the Yavapai County Board of Supervisors will spend some money studying possible solutions.
The board voted on Monday to enter into a cost-sharing agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation to conduct an analysis of its water supplies and demands, both current and future.
With a lofty $600,000 price tag and the equally lofty title of Central Yavapai Highlands Water Resources Management Study, it has the lofty aspiration of finding solutions.
The federal government will pay for half, in this case through the Bureau of Reclamation.
The state, through the Arizona Department of Water Resources, and the county through its Water Advisory Committee (WAC), will pick up the other half.
The study is only an appraisal that will answer the questions: Is there an unmet demand for water? Is there at least one possible solution? Would the federal government have an interest in any of the solutions?
If those questions are answered in the affirmative, the next step would be to explore the feasibility of any solutions identified by the study.
"I think we are at that point where we need to start looking at solutions," County Supervisor Chip Davis said.
The study would use existing data, be conducted by the Bureau of Reclamation and take about three years to complete.
The $600,000 price tag is not fixed.
"We can tell you how much the engineering and research is going to cost. We can't predict how much it will cost to gather the public input," said John Rasmussen, coordinator of the WAC.
Similar studies have been completed in Coconino County and in the Payson-Pine-Mogollon rim area in the last couple of years.
Payson has since gained access to water out of Blue Ridge Reservoir, and Coconino County is exploring options for a pipeline and tapping a regional aquifer.
According to Rasmussen, the Yavapai County study will begin sometime in January.
