PRESCOTT - In an attempt to preserve its right to participate in an expected review of a state ruling on Big Chino water, the City of Prescott filed a request for administrative appeal of the decision this week.
The city's water attorneys filed the one-page "notice of appeal of agency action" with the Arizona Department of Water Resources Friday afternoon.
Among the points that the city is questioning in its notice is the determination by ADWR that Prescott has the right to 8,067 acre-feet of water per year from the Paulden-area Big Chino Sub-basin.
That was considerably less than the 9,500 acre-feet of Big Chino water that the city requested in its 2007 application to ADWR.
Even so, local officials - including those from Prescott's partner on the pipeline, Prescott Valley - have been relatively positive about the ADWR decision. All along, however, officials have stressed that they were mulling over the possibility of seeking a review.
On Friday morning, City Manager Steve Norwood noted that, while city officials were "still pleased with the decision, there were a couple of items we're going to ask for."
A joint statement that mayors from Prescott and Prescott Valley released this week expressed a similar view.
"The significance of this water supply to both Prescott and Prescott Valley requires us to actively participate in all levels of the administrative and legal review of Prescott's right to transport water from the Big Chino Sub-basin," Prescott Mayor Jack Wilson and Prescott Valley Mayor Harvey Skoog said in the joint statement.
And in a telephone interview Friday evening, Michael Pearce, one of the city's water attorneys, pointed out that the notice of appeal would make Prescott an active participant in the review process.
"We would like to be a full party and have an opportunity to tell our side of the story," Pearce said.
Along with a review of the amount of Big Chino water available to it, the city is asking ADWR to look at:
• The calculation of projected effluent long-term credits.
• The recitation of the city's contractual obligation to the Chino Valley Irrigation District.
• Clarification on the recovery of surface water.
Several dozen area residents earlier filed objections to Prescott's application, and many of those people have the right to file a similar notice of appeal to ADWR.
Along with the city's notice, ADWR reportedly received several others this week.
For instance, the Center for Biological Diversity sent out an e-mail late Friday, reporting that the Arizona Center for Law in the Public Interest had filed an administrative appeal on behalf of the Center, the Sierra Club, and 11 people who live within the Prescott Active Management Area.
According to the Center for Biological Diversity's press release, "The groups and individuals are concerned that the proposed pumping will eventually reduce the base flow of the upper Verde River, destroying the first 25 miles of the river's habitat and eliminating dependent wildlife."
Officials expect the administrative hearing to take place before an administrative law judge in the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings by mid-February.
Since 2004, when Prescott bought land northwest of Paulden for its Big Chino Water Ranch, the city and the Town of Prescott Valley have been planning for a 30-mile pipeline to transport Big Chino water to the tri-city area.
Contact the reporter at cbarks@prescottaz.com
Reader Comments
Posted: Sunday, December 14, 2008
Article comment by:
Get the facts straight
I'm guessing "No name provided" is the paid-for-with-our-tax-dollars blogger Prescott and P.V. hired to sell us the Big Cheesy Pipeline. But let's get the facts straight. ADWR said in their ruling on the assured water supply modification that the impact of Prescott's pumping on the baseflow of the Verde River is outside their purview. They made no statement about "minimal effects on the Verde." It's not the Center for Biological Diversity that is using scare tactics instead of facts, it's the City of Prescott, the Town of P.V. and "No name provided," their hired P.R. gun.
Posted: Sunday, December 14, 2008
Article comment by:
It is all about the money
No name provided is probably one of the followng: developer, large land owner, business owner, or city official. Only the money grubbers would try to smear the Center for Biological Diversity. Their fight is not about money. Lets hope SRP and The Center save the day and file lawsuits that will keep this tied up in litigation for eternity. That will be the only way to keep the greedy money grubbers from drying up the Verde and leaving Paulden residents without any water.
Posted: Saturday, December 13, 2008
Article comment by:
Water = Money for the Rich!
Decisions are made without the voice of the majority. Landowners and developers with the aid Good Ole Boy Lapdog politicians are out to make money. This they will accomplish by a $100,000,000.00+ water pipe line paid for , not by the land owners or developers but by you the taxpayers. The demise of the headwaters of the Verde River is real. Shell groups have been set up, hired gun "experts" testify and yet the project goes full bore ahead damm the taxpayers. I guess with the news from Chicago can we now assume this is fast becoming a country governed by gangsters? Prove it otherwise , lets have a vote on this issue.
Once the river is gone , its gone. Remember : " WATER = MONEY" they will try and get it at all means.
Disgusted
Posted: Saturday, December 13, 2008
Article comment by:
No name provided
Biodiversity and these other fringe groups use scare tactics instead of facts. ADWR made the right decision regarding our water rights and its minimal effects on the Verde.
