PRESCOTT - If the Yavapai County Water Advisory Committee's discussion on Wednesday is any indication, attempts to get local government water groups to work more closely together won't be easy.
The county water committee, Verde River Basin Partnership and Upper Verde River Watershed Protection Coalition all are government-organized local water groups, but they operate on different geographical scales.
Leaders of these groups and their technical advisers met privately for three hours this past week to talk about working more closely together, said Clarkdale Mayor Doug Von Gausig, who heads the basin partnership's coordinating committee and is a county water committee member.
He said he organized the informal meeting to talk about "unifying or assimilating some of the water groups."
Officials want to continue the informal talks, but asked the county water committee Wednesday for permission to continue to keep their paid technical advisers involved.
The basin partnership has long been a sore topic for Prescott-area elected officials, who generally say it needs to have more representation from elected officials before they will join. Sen. John McCain created the partnership by attaching the language to the Yavapai Ranch Land Exchange bill several years ago, but Congress appropriated no money for its required water studies.
Yavapai County Supervisor Carol Springer asked what had changed to make others think it was time to bring up the subject again.
"The realization that missions have become very similar," Von Gausig responded, as well as their "considerable overlap." Also, money is getting tight, he said.
"I would disagree that the missions are similar," said Springer, who lives in Prescott.
If the groups somehow combine, the best solution would be to put the basin partnership under the county water committee since the committee members are mostly elected municipal and county officials, Springer said.
All the groups are trying to provide enough water for their citizens in the future, said Cottonwood Mayor Diane Joens, who co-chairs the county water committee. Cottonwood also is in the basin partnership.
"We're just asking, 'How can we work together? Why do we have to fight?'" Joens said.
Verde Valley communities have long-standing concerns about Prescott-area plans to pump groundwater from the Big Chino Sub-basin that supplies most of the baseflow for the Upper Verde River, for example.
Springer said she thought the various municipalities already work together via the county water committee, but acknowledged that is not always the perception.
"We have a reputation outside our cities that we fight, so the proposal is, how can we show a united front?" Springer said.
"The bottom line is, we're talking about water," said Prescott Valley Council Member Mike Flannery, who is a county water committee member. "We're supposed to fight about water."
However, "We have an image problem, and we need to work on that," Flannery added.
It might help get federal money for water studies if all three water groups join in one project, Jerome Town Council Member Jane Moore said.
"They all have a common theme in the long run, and that is to keep the Verde River" flowing, Camp Verde Mayor Tony Gioia said.
In the end, water committee officials agreed to let their employees join the talks.
Flannery and others urged people to avoid past sticking points, however.
"There are land mines from the past, and we know what they are," he said.
Contact the reporter at jdodder@prescottaz.com
Reader Comments
Posted: Sunday, April 20, 2008
Article comment by:
edna moglewer
When someone close to water considerations for a very long time asks "how reliable is the USGS?" (US geological Survey), there is either extreme ignorance or chicanery afoot. Carol Springer knows full well how significant and reliable the USGS studies are and must have had other purposes in asking such a question. It's time to elect someone who can better serve us in the County Supervisor's seat.
Posted: Saturday, April 19, 2008
Article comment by:
Tom Steele
The basic "sticking point" is the developers and Land Barons West of Mingus want to control the process through their elected officials. Then, the resources of the government can be spent to bring water, or, allow development without water safeguards.
Remember the elections are coming.
