PRESCOTT - With the deadline for appeal now lapsed, the Arizona Department of Water Resources' recent ruling on Prescott's assured water supply ended up generating a number of requests for a hearing.
"We received about a half-dozen appeals from the parties with legal standing," Sandy Fabritz-Whitney, ADWR assistant director for water management, said this past week.
She added that several of the appeals came from groups of individuals and organizations that initially filed objections to the city's application to modify its assured water supply.
For instance, the 49-page appeal from the Center for Biological Diversity came on behalf of the Center, the Sierra Club, and 11 people who live in the Prescott Active Management Area.
The appeal, which expressed concerns that Prescott and Prescott Valley's planned pumping from the Paulden-area Big Chino Sub-basin would "eventually reduce the base flow of the upper Verde River..." listed local residents Doris Cellarius, Audrey Clark, Edith Dillon, Thomas Fleischner, Santiago Galvis, Leslie Hoy, Harry Hollack, Charles A. Johnson, Jo Ann Johnson, Joanne Oellers, and Chris Rigby.
In addition to the appeals from groups and organizations with "legal standing," ADWR also received a number of requests for hearing from organizations that the department earlier determined did not have legal standing.
One such appeal came from the Salt River Project, which disputes ADWR's determination that it does not have legal standing.
"ADWR wrongly excluded SRP from participating as an objector in the administrative proceedings on Prescott's application," the appeal states. "While not a resident of the AMA, SRP has interests that would be actually and irreparably impaired by a decision of ADWR granting Prescott's application."
According to SRP's appeal, those interests include: senior downstream rights to Verde River water; and its interest in implementing the terms of an incidental take permit "issued to SRP by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service" regarding the federal Endangered Species Act.
While Fabritz-Whitney maintained that state statute "says very clearly" that objectors to the city's application must be residents of the AMA, she noted that a hearing officer from the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearings would review that finding.
"We just set the hearing date, and we're a party to the hearing," Fabritz-Whitney said of ADWR's involvement.
The hearing officer will be responsible for evaluating the information, conducting the hearing, and making a recommendation to ADWR Director Herb Guenther on the matter.
Fabritz-Whitney said the hearing would take place in Prescott - probably in February, although she noted that the location and exact date have yet to be determined.
The hearing will review the decision that ADWR released in November, finding that the City of Prescott is entitled to pump 8,067 acre-feet of water per year from the Big Chino Sub-basin.
The city applied to ADWR more than a year ago to modify its assured water supply to reflect the water it intends to import, along with its partner Prescott Valley, from the Big Chino.
Prescott, which originally requested 9,500 acre-feet per year from the Big Chino, was one of the entities to request an administrative appeal of the ADWR decision.
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: Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Article comment by:
Gwen, Paulden
It is not realistic to only take appeals from people in the AMA as there are many in the area that have grandfathered rights as well as dated rights that are not in the AMA
and have a stake in how much water is pumped out of the Big Chino Aquifer. SRP certainly has dated rights to the water in the Verde as do some people in the area that are outside the AMA. You cannot silence us all forever. We are tired of everyone that has never had rights to the water making decisions that affect the rest of us.
Posted: Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Article comment by:
The conclusion is foregone
This is just beginning. SRP hasn't yet even drawn its guns. They can out spend and out lawyer the state 10 to 1. ADWR is like a babe in the woods is this fight.
