BRUCE BABBIT YOU'RE NOT TRANSPARENT

Whetstone well a worry… Residents concerned about impact on their community…By Dana Cole…Herald/Review…Published on Tuesday, April 15, 2008…WHETSTONE — For three days, Gary Miller watched in dismay as water poured out of a large pipe along West Oak Street in Whetstone. Over the course of 72 hours, nearly four million gallons of water ran along the side of the road and flowed into a drainage basin on the west side of Highway 90. Part of a 72-hour adequacy test, the water originated from a newly constructed commercial well that has been creating quite a stir within the community, especially among those with private, domestic wells. Owned by former Arizona Governor Bruce Babbitt and a group of investors, the well is destined to supply water to a future subdivision in the Rain Valley Ranch area. The investors purchased 5,000 acres from the ranch, which will be developed in stages. According to county officials, about two-thirds of the acreage lies in Cochise County, with the remaining one-third in Santa Cruz County. “I was shocked by the amount of water that was being used for that test,” Miller said. “I’ve spoken to several people in our area, and everyone is concerned about this commercial well and the impact it’s going to have on our wells.” Arizona Department of Water Resources requires a 72-hour constant yield pumping DeWitt said. Tests on the well started on March 31. “The first two days that were out there, we were developing the well by pumping it. The second day of testing was a step discharge test. We pump the well at four different pumping rates to evaluate what impact those different rates have, so we can design the optimum rate for the 72-hour test.” The actual 72-hour test started on Wednesday and ended Saturday. At the rate of 925 gallons per minute, approximately 3,996,000 gallons of water were pumped out of the ground. Residents in the area saw the flow and expressed concerns about the well and its purpose. Questions were raised about the well’s impact on the community’s private wells, along with the San Pedro River. “In order to get approval for a subdivision, you have to demonstrate to ADWR that you have a 100 year water supply, which is called a water adequacy study,” DeWitt explained. “The 100 year study is to determine what the overall impact on the aquifer would be for the entire area. This includes all wells in the area, even the domestic wells.” A large percentage of the water from the test infiltrates back into the aquifer, DeWitt stated. Some will be lost to evaporation and some to plant transpiration.A report will be presented to the ADWR for review. “At that point, we’ll address all questions and concerns,” DeWitt said, explaining the process. Once all requirements are satisfied, ADWR will issue the water adequacy report. “We’re required to prove that there is enough water to meet the 100-year water requirement without drying up all the wells in the area. The subdivision that Bruce Babbitt is putting in is going to be a low-water-use development,” he added. Currently, Algonquin Water Resources Inc. is putting together a request to expand its service area, something that will be going before the Arizona Corporation Commission on July 8. If approved, Algonquin will be the public utility servicing the Rain Valley Ranch development. Algonquin’s docket number with the ACC is W-20453A-06-0247.

I don’t care who owns the project, we’re all sticking our straws into the same drink of water all the while conveniently playing the stupid 100 year assured ADWR water supply game…?

OK … Bruce … prove to us that your project will not negatively impact the aquifer serving this area of the State you once governed. Bruce neither you nor can anyone concretely prove that additional straws all sucking from the same water supply will not have a negative impact. The ADWR 100 year assured water supply is nothing but a mathematics’ game wherein applicants gerrymander the aquifer boundary, pull water from deeper levels, nip and tuck here and there and “presto” magically former Gov. and former Sec of Interior Bruce Babbitt has a subdivision with an assured 100 year supply of artificial water.

And you know what, “we” believe it too… now that’s transparency…?