County landscapers want Chino Valley to consider educating residents about proper use of water in their houses and their yards instead of mandating limits.
Charlie Hildebrand, Yavapai County Nursery and Landscape Association chairman, said, "The (town's) current proposed water conservation ordinance implements dramatic principles as law prior to completing or even beginning a longterm test as to the practicality or feasibility of operating an entire community's external water needs on rainwater harvesting in this basin."
Hildebrand said the nursery association's proposal calls for expanding the town's water conservation program to include:
• A water education and research committee consisting of three Chino Valley homeowners, two representatives of the business community, two representatives of the real estate profession, two representatives of the horticulture industry, two representatives of developers, and one elected town councilmember.
• A horticultural advisory panel, which will consist of five representatives from the horticulture industry, one representative from the irrigation manufacturing industry, two representatives from horticultural academia, and one town council elected official.
He said the education program the nursery association proposes has had proven results. "What we've done for Prescott is huge. Through our audit program alone, in the City of Prescott, over 18 acre-feet of water was conserved in a small half-year pilot program," he said.
Hildebrand said that in Chino Valley, people use their wells to irrigate and don't have to answer to anyone about how much they use.
He said they showed homeowners through a two-hour audit how much water they are using.
In Prescott, he said, they were able to get individual homeowners to save 60,000 gallons of water.
The town could implement a water conservation audit program if it could find a way to pay for it, Hildebrand said.
Mark Holmes, Chino Valley's Water Resources director, said he has worked with the Parks and Recreation staff to do water audits at the Community Center Park ball fields to help them come up with a water budget, improve watering techniques and get better equipment.
He wants to see Chino Valley incorporate Project WET, a University of Arizona project, to educate the town's youths on ways to conserve water. "Our youths are our up-and-coming property owners, and so need education on conserving water," he said.
Holmes said he is a certified facilitator with Project WET, and has talked to youngsters at the library about the town's rainwater educational project at Town Hall.
The town's water rate structure also is important to get people to conserve water, he said.
Another educational program Hildebrand would like to see Chino Valley use more than it is now is the Water Smart Program. This program provides homeowners with 12 educational cards on ways to conserve water around the home. One card, he said, offers a fast way for a homeowner to winterize his home.
Holmes said the town currently has these water conservation tips at town hall, the library, the post office and Public Works office for people to pick up.
The town also has water conservation information on the Water Resources page on the town's website.
Once a year, he said, the town also sends out water conservation information in the town's water consumer confidence report.
Hildebrand said the Education and Research Committee would also work with others in the town to start a research and development program to gather information and data necessary to develop proven techniques in large scale rainwater harvesting.
He would like Chino Valley to work with the Upper Verde River Watershed Protection Coalition, which the town is a member of, in its rainwater harvesting experiments. The coalition is doing an experiment in Chino Valley on the Old Home Manor; in Prescott Valley in the Viewpoint subdivision; and at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott.
At the OHM site, Hildebrand said, they would be doing experiments on how best to treat the soil to get the most runoff. The site consists of a hard dirt site, a site where they treat soil with soy oil to prevent water from penetrating the soil, and one site where they treat the soil with salt.
The pilot study is currently in the works to see which site and design will produce the best results.
Holmes said the town is working with the coalition because this would fit in the town's stormwater master plan. "This study will provide additional information on a development-wide rain capture system."
Hildebrand said his association looks forward to working with the Chino Valley Town Council during the first six months of 2010 to come up with a workable water conservation ordinance.
Holmes said, "We want everyone to understand all parts of the ordinance before it is sent to the council for final approval. I don't know if that will take six or 18 months."
Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
George, you are talking about new growth, landscaping business and the construction industry. How about the citizens of Chino Valley? They need to be educated along with everyone else no matter what happens in the future. Imported water or not. Education is the answer to the problem, not some "over the top" water police state.
Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Article comment by:
No name provided
Prescott for years has had incentives to use low water use toilets, shower heads, and irrigation. They also will give you credit towards synthetic turf if you pull out real grass. I know money is tight for Chino Valley so this may not be possible but it would help get usage down.
As a former real grass owner in Chino and now a synthetic turf owner, I would like to see Chino ban real grass as a first step. I have also had recirculating hot water in my last two houses which easily pays for itself in a year. This should be mandatory for all new homes.
I don't like the gov't imposing more laws like this but a compromise is the best option and hopefully avoids an all out ban on outside water usage.
Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Article comment by:
Wasting water to save the town.
This water conservation thing is starting to bother me. Why should we save water? Why do we want more people moving into town? Won't this increase in population lead to further water restrictions? I say we all go out in our front yards and turn on our garden hoses before we go to work.
Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Article comment by:
George Seaman
Hildebrand doesn't seem to recognize the basic situation that Chino Valley is in. The town is in the process of developing an importation project that will bring new water into the area for future growth. Of course education and conservation are important factors when dealing with the overuse of water, but what the town is proposing is being able to increase the number of homes that will be serviced with the new imported water. This is the conundrum: eiher regulate the use of that water, or else not have enough money to do the project to begin with. If the town can not increase the units served, it will not be able to afford to import ANY water! How will that affect the nursery and biulding trades?Education will simply not get the town the needed level of conservation. Mandated conservation of new water to increase the number of units to be served and therefore the number of units to pay for the project, or else not be able to afford to import the water to begin with. Now what does Mr Hildebrand think? If he wants new jobs and homes in the future he will have to accept that Chino Valley can not afford to pay for it any other way? or maybe he would suggest that the landscape industry should pay the bill for the project?
Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Article comment by:
Kale
Holmes already has this all figured out. He's way ahead of those who are freaking out because the logical, needed directives may infringe on their businesses.
Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Article comment by:
MIKE B.
I WOULD SUPORT THIS NEW APROACH WITH EDUCATION 100% COMPAIRED TO THE CITYS PLAN.I HAVE LIVED IN THE SOUTH WEST DESERTS FOR MOST OF MY LIFE. WHEN I FIRST MOVED TO LAS VEGAS IN THE 70's
I TOOK A CLASS OFERED BY UNLV EXTENSION ON WATER MANAGEMENT. IT HAS SAVED ME LOTS OF MONEY AND MOST IMPORTANTLY WATER.
Posted: Tuesday, November 24, 2009
Article comment by:
Can't See the Desert for the Trees
I hope Chino Valley officials or smarter than PV officials. They force new businesses to excessively landscape thus using precious water supplies while telling residents to cut down on water use. We live in the high DESERT. Landscaping should be allowed to reflect that.
