PRESCOTT - With six days of hearings already behind them, the various sides in the debate over Prescott's use of Big Chino water will be back on center stage this week.
Continuation of the hearing on the Arizona Department of Water Resources' earlier ruling on Big Chino sub-basin water is set to begin at 9 a.m. Monday at the Community Room (building 19, room 147) at Yavapai College, 1100 E. Sheldon St.
The hearing pits more than a dozen appellants against the City of Prescott and ADWR over the state's decision that Prescott was entitled to pump 8,067 acre-feet of water from the Paulden-area Big Chino sub-basin.
When the sides last argued their cases in mid-April, it appeared that the marathon hearing was ready to wrap up. At that time, Administrative Law Judge Thomas Shedden set two more hearing days on June 15 and 16, with the hopes that the proceedings would require less than two full days.
But on June 10, just days before the planned Monday-morning start of the next round, attorneys for three of the local appellants filed a list of witnesses and exhibits for the upcoming hearing, setting off a new round of debate with attorneys for the City of Prescott.
In six new postings on the Arizona Office of Administrative Hearing's electronic case file this past week, the city and the attorneys for local appellants Gary Beverly, Tom Atkins and Anthony Krzysik argue over how this week's hearing will proceed.
ADWR's 2008 ruling on the city's proposed Big Chino pumping generated a number of objections, which prompted the appeal hearing that began in February and continued in April.
By the end of the most recent hearing on April 15, all sides had completed their arguments, and the proceedings had entered the rebuttal stage.
While the electronic case file had been relatively inactive since April, a flurry of filings occurred this past week.
On June 10, the local appellants' law firm Salmon, Lewis & Weldon filed an initial list of rebuttal witnesses, which noted that the appellants planned to call groundwater consultant Jon Ford and civil engineer Hjalmar "Win" Hjalmarson to the stand as part of their rebuttal of testimony that city and ADWR witnesses had made in earlier rounds of the hearing.
That prompted a June 11 objection by the city, which maintained, "No provision has been made in this proceeding for the introduction of new witnesses or exhibits..."
That, in turn, led to a June 11 response by the local appellants claiming that Ford and Hjalmarson and all of their exhibits were "for the express purpose of countering new facts and allegations Prescott presented in its own case."
On June 12, Shedden weighed in, ruling that, "Because the evidence at issue is being offered as rebuttal evidence, the Administrative Law Judge overrules Prescott's objection."
The case centers on the plans by Prescott and Prescott Valley to build a 30-mile pipeline from the Big Chino Water Ranch northwest of Paulden for importation of thousands of acre-feet of water per year.
Opponents have maintained that the pumping would affect the flow of Verde River, which originates in the Paulden area. Prescott and Prescott Valley, on the other hand, have argued that their pumping would fall within the parameters that the state allows.
