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SIERRA VISTA — The U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources on Wednesday approved a bill that would authorize the government to study ways to add to the water supply in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed.
The Sierra Vista Subwatershed Feasibility Study Act (S. 1929) was authored by U.S. Sens. Jon Kyl and John McCain, both Republicans from Arizona.
“The feasibility study authorized under this bill is the next step in the process of determining how to best address the water challenges facing the Sierra Vista Sub-watershed,” Kyl said when he introduced the bill.
According to Kyl’s office, the bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a feasibility study of the alternatives recommended in a U.S. Bureau of Reclamation appraisal level report released last year.
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The bill authorizes $1.26 million to pay for the federal government’s share of the study’s cost. The bill requires the non-federal cost share to be at least 55 percent.
The total cost of the study is $2.8 million.
So, who will pay the 55 percent balance — or $1.54 million?
“That’s a very good question,” said Pat Call, a member of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors, when contacted for comment late Wednesday.
“We have raised that question back in Washington,” Call said. “They’ve assured us … ‘Oh don’t worry about it.’ ”
Sierra Vista Mayor Bob Strain responded similarly when he was asked about the local match.
“Your guess is as good as mine,” the mayor said Wednesday evening.
Strain noted, like Call, that funds are tight these days. Nobody has $1.5 million to spare.
Both officials did, however, note that in-kind services, such as work by city and county engineers, including work that has already been completed, will probably be factored into the final bill.
Sierra Vista City Manager Chuck Potucek testified before the U.S. Senate Committee on Energy & Natural Resources on Feb. 28.
He represented the Upper San Pedro Partnership, a consortium of 21 federal, state and local governmental entities, non-governmental organizations and private companies.
Potucek told the committee that partnership’s “strategies include reducing consumption (conservation), reclaiming effluent and reusing or recharging it, and augmenting existing water resources through improved rainfall harvesting and the importation of additional ones.”
Augmentation of existing water supplies was the goal behind the Arizona Legislature’s establishment of the Upper San Pedro Water District.
If approved by local voters, that political entity would become the first of its kind in the state, granting local control to local water issues.
About 14 augmentation ideas have been floated — some of them “half-baked,” Strain said — but only three are currently being pursued. Those are: importing water from the Colorado River via the Central Arizona Project, pumping water out of the old Copper Queen Mine in Bisbee and capturing storm water.
“I don’t support CAP water,” Call said.
“It makes no sense at all. We have enough rainwater. If we could just capture 3 to 5 percent of it, we’d never have a water problem again.”
Call likes the fact that rainwater harvesting is “very green” and “it lets us solve our problems locally.”
Maybe it is not a silver bullet, Call said, but it is “a real good possible answer.”
Augmentation strategies aim to protect two valuable assets in this community: Fort Huachuca, considered vital in defense of the nation, as well as one of the top employers in the state; and the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area, life-giver to myriad biological species.
Col. Melissa Sturgeon, the Fort Huachuca garrison commander, provided a comment on the issue when contacted Wednesday evening: “We are pleased to see this legislation move forward. This bill recognizes the importance of water conservation on Fort Huachuca’s future and on the Sierra Vista Subwatershed. It will truly take a collaborative, partnership effort to deal with water challenges in our community.”
The Senate measure has a way to go.
It faced opposition from the Bureau of Reclamation. During the Feb. 28 hearing before the Energy & Natural Resources Committee, the bureau’s director of operations, Robert J. Quint, testified and advocated for an expedited process of bringing CAP water to the Sierra Vista area, to save on the future cost of studies.
Call said, “The Bureau of Reclamation likes to do big things ... they like CAP water.”
The measure must pass through the full U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives.
“We’ll probably send somebody out to make the same presentation to the House committee,” Strain said.
Potucek agreed.
“One of us will need to go back to Washington and go before the House,” the city manager said.
“It’s a big project, and one of the only avenues through the federal government to get funds for large-scale projects.
“It’s going to be a long process. This is just another hurdle to cross along the way.”
Herald/Review City Editor Ted Morris can be reached at 515-4614 or by e-mail at cityeditor@svherald.com.
SoAZNative wrote on May 8, 2008 9:48 PM: