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June '09 Newsletter, Yavapai Group
Yavapai Group News
MEMBERSHIP REPORT:
503 memberships, 598 members in Yavapai Group.
NEW WEB SITE:
We have an updated web site! For the first time in over a year, the Yavapai Group website http://arizona.sierraclub.org/yavapai/ has been rebuilt and updated. We have added a listing of current events, descriptions of our outings, all the past newsletters, plus a section describing the conservation issues we are working on (some pages remain to be completed). Our goal is to maintain the site so the public can see what we do and learn about the issues that effect our quality of life.
BUS TOUR PROTEST:
The City of Prescott ran a PR tour for their destructive Big Chino Water Ranch on June 1. Your Sierra Club was both inside and outside the bus. Inside, we asked probing questions of PV and COP officials. Outside the bus, we stationed several members holding "Burma Shave" style signs along the bus route with messages like "Save The Verde", "Trust Us is not good enough", "Mitigation Now", "Remember the Santa Cruz", "Remember the San Pedro", "HCP Now", and "Water Rustlers". We made the newspaper, so it was worthwhile even though it was very hot and stuffy inside, and very dusty outside. Tom Slaback organized this demonstration. Joe Zarnoch, Connie Eichenlaub, and Mike Damiano held signs.
SAVE THE VERDE ALLIANCE:
We have joined the Save The Verde Alliance, an informal group dedicated to protecting the Upper Verde River, supported by individuals and organizations including Sierra Club, CWAG, and Center for Biological Diversity. The Alliance will coordinate actions relating to preserving the base flow and habitats in the Verde River.
SAVE THE VERDE SIGNS CONTEST:
Once upon a time, Burma Shave signs were a marketing sensation along American roadways. Six signs were placed along the road about 100 yards apart, each with a fragment of a jingle. As you drove past the series of signs, you got the whole message. For example: "TRAINS DON'T WANDER", "ALL OVER THE MAP", "FOR NO ONE", "SITS ON THE", "ENGINEER'S LAP", "Burma Shave."
Help us have some fun with a series of signs bringing attention to our Save The Verde campaign. We want to erect a series of signs ending with "Save The Verde". Will you enter our contest and suggest some creative signs?
Rules: The wording must fit on a 18x54 inch sign; contest ends Aug 31, limit three entries per person; the last sign must always be Panel of judges to be composed of the Excomm with their decisions final. Only one prize awarded per individual, consisting of a one year Sierra membership or renewal. Winners will be published on the website. Send entries to Tom Slaback by email to prescottkid@peoplepc.com.
We are looking for landowners to allow us to put up the signs, especially along Hwys 89, 89A, and 69 and will give extra credit in the judging (or one of the memberships) if the entry includes the place to install the signs.
Awful Arizona Water Law
By Gary Beverly
We are in the thick of battle to Save The Verde. Groundwater mining in the Big Chino Aquifer (BCA), the source for 86% of Verde Springs and the base flow of the Upper Verde River, will eventually reduce the Upper Verde to a dry wash flowing only in flood. The BCA is in approximate hydrologic balance now so all future groundwater pumping will further harm the Verde. Pumpers include local residents, very large pending subdivisions, and the City of Prescott.
State law granted Prescott the ability to transfer water from the BCA to the Prescott Active Management Area (AMA) and now the AZ Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has written a draft approval for adding that water to Prescott’s Assured Water Supply (AWS). We are appealing that draft; the hearings have taken 6 torturous days and will conclude on June 15/16 in Prescott. Appeals to higher courts will continue for many years.
During the hearings, I charged that that ADWR was only concerned with "mechanically applying their rules and didn't care about the river", they responded with "we care about the river but all we can do is to implement our rules". The nature of those rules became clear: Our state water law and the regulations devised to administer it are incredibly awful.
In general, Arizona water law is based on an artificial and unscientific distinction between groundwater and surface water. Restrictions on growth are minimal, if any. ADWR is under funded and unduly constrained by regulations. Conservation, sustainability, and environmental concepts are ignored. There are no mitigation requirements. The Gila Adjudication is 30 years old, moves at a snail's pace, and will likely never conclude.
Within an AMA, environmental considerations are not allowed in permitting processes. There are no substantive water conservation requirements. Safe Yield by 2025 is a goal not a requirement. Posing as a lofty aim, it permits sacrifice of all natural discharge to springs and rivers; Safe Yield is a joke, a sham, a crumb sold as a loaf. For a 100 year AWS certificate, evaluation criteria are based on current conditions only; future conditions (e.g. climate change) cannot be considered! No AWS has ever been revoked - has one ever been denied? If an AWS is revoked, the lone, weak restriction preventing pumping below 1000' below ground surface disappears, allowing pumpers to mine groundwater as deep as they choose. Delays and weaknesses are built into the permitting process: eg allowing 30,000 new lots after declaring the Prescott AMA out of safe yield.
Outside an AMA, water law contains no consideration for pumping effects on neighboring groundwater users, plus even the weak AMA controls don't exist. There is no requirement for subdivisions to have an AWS, and there are no requirements for sustainability or environmental preservation.
Arizona water law is worse than clueless – it is actively anti-environmental. It institutionalizes growth while sacrificing our rivers and springs. Arizona’s awful water law is an enormous obstacle to our efforts to Save The Verde.
The Prescott Pipeline controversy is merely the first skirmish in a long campaign. After we stop the pipeline, we need to begin acquiring conservation easements on several large ranches destined for development. The campaign to Save The Verde will last for decades, but The River is worth it.
Chino Valley - US Fish & Wildlife Agreement
by Gary Beverly
The Town of Chino Valley has purchased acreage in the Big Chino Valley that was historically irrigated. CV intends to retire those lands from irrigation and use that quantity of water (HIA water) for a municipal water supply. These lands are located within a few miles of the Verde Springs, considerably closer than Prescott Water Ranch, thus having a more immediate effect on the base flow. CV is considering a new water use protocol that prevents using this Big Chino water for landscaping use and plans on recovering all domestic household water in the sewer system, treating the effluent, and recharging it into the Big Chino Aquifer down gradient from their production wells. This scheme holds promise of minimizing the consumptive withdrawal of water from the aquifer thus mitigating damage to the Verde base flow.
At the last CV Town Council meeting, Director of Water Resources Mark Holmes presented two agenda items relating to this water plan, and both were enthusiastically approved by the council.
Low Water Use Landscape Project:
Holmes presented a proposal for a private-public partnership between CV and T. Barnabas Kane and Assoc, a local landscape architect. At no cost to CV, Kane is designing and installing a new landscape in front of the Town Hall that utilizes low water use and drought tolerant native landscape materials in tandem with a rain capture system as a demonstration project. The existing high water use turf based landscape will be removed. CV gets a working example of how to comply with their new landscaping code and Kane gets the publicity. Holmes has drawn heat from the local landscapers and residents for the landscaping code. This project will be a very visible demonstration of how to do it, showing that it is possible and that it looks good. The prelim renderings looked very nice. Three landscape themes will be demonstrated.
I see this demonstration project as a creative and positive response to vigorous criticisms of the landscape water restriction by local landscape contractors and some residents.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
Holmes introduced John Nystadt of the USFWS and described the MOU as a monumental step in the local water controversies, as setting a precedent and good example for other local governments to ponder, pointing out that CV should be proud of it's role in regional municipal leadership.
Generally, in this voluntary agreement CV declares its intent to do no harm to Verde habitat and the USFWS recognizes CV's need for a reliable water supply. CV recognizes that pumping will effect the river, and the parties agree to work together on water development plan to conserve native species and habitat and to conserve consumptive water use. They declare that transparency in monitoring, planning, data exchange - working together - saves time and money and is more efficient use of taxpayer resources. The parties agree to confer to develop plans to preserve Verde habitat including: a monitoring plan. info exchange, joint funding grants, mitigation plan, effluent recharge study, and a general groundwater model to describe the effects on the river including reflecting effects of climate change and the presence of other water pumpers. If groundwater model indicates a take, CV will consider a HCP/Take permit, agrees to cooperate with USFWS.
By approves the MOU, CV may avoid a future potential problem, it's INSURANCE. The MOU/HCP will protect CV from risks caused by Prescott. There were several critical comments about the wrong path Prescott/PV are taking by refusing to prepare a mitigation plan. Karen Fann spoke at length saying that CV will use their BCA water, but they don't want to impact "their neighbors to the north - Paulden - or the Verde Valley Communities. She pointed out that getting sued is expensive, that it is best to work with others so everybody wins.
Seems to me that Mayor Karen Fann sees this MOU as the crowning achievement of her service (her term expires soon). The incoming Mayor, Keith Bunker, spoke very approvingly of the agreement. The entire council is very pleased. The MOU was unanimously approved. They gave Mark Holmes a round of applause for the landscape PPP and the MOU.
The MOU is tentative in that it does not commit CV to an HCP but it represents tremendous progress.
We commend Director Holmes and the CV Council for their cooperative attitude and for acting on their express intent to do no harm to our Verde River.
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We Need Help!
By Gary Beverly
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Your local Sierra Club group needs help! We need more folks to get involved with our efforts to improve our quality of life. We have an impressive list of important projects:
Monitoring Verde River water quality and flow
Preventing water pollution from sewage sludge and effluent recharge
Preserving open space
Cleaning up litter in the Prescott National Forest
Maintaining trails in PNF
Watching over the Travel Management Plan in PNF to assure a fair
allocation of uses
Monitoring illegal OHV access into sensitive riparian areas
Assisting PNF with native fish survey
Preserving the base flow of the Upper Verde River
Winning designation of the Upper Verde Wild & Scenic River
Assuring that new road construction is environmentally sound
Guiding citizens on educational hikes in PNF and along the Verde River
Supporting local political candidates that are environmentally aware
Promoting energy and water conservation
Supporting the Taxpayer Protection Initiative
Supporting the SaveTheVerde Alliance
You can choose any project you favor! We'll help you get going. Call or
email any Executive Committee member listed below to get started. THANKS!
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You Can Help:
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JOIN: Be sure to join or renew your membership in the Sierra Club.
https://tioga.sierraclub.org/joinorgive/member1.htm
PARTICIPATE:
Attend our Executive Committee meeting, learn what we're doing, help us out!
If you have a special project that is dear to your heart and consistent with
Sierra Club goals, we'll help you work on it.
SIGN PETITIONS (Two of them!):
** Asking local cities to Keep the Verde River Flowing
** Asking Prescott National Forest to better manage the Upper Verde and to
support Wild and Scenic designation.
To sign a petition, email us so we can mail you the petition for your
written signature.
WATER TESTING: Our Water Sentinels need help once a month with water flow
and water quality monitoring of our three sites in the Upper Verde River.
It is easy, fun, and a great way to spend the day in beautiful surroundings.
Contact Tom Slaback to find out more about this project.
Learn about the Verde River! Sign up for one of our informative day hikes
listed above.
This page was last updated on May 26, 2009