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County opts not to drain water funds
Wed, 06/23/2010 - 00:01
By Shar Porier /Herald/Review
BISBEE - Two water conservation projects were saved from budget cuts as the Cochise County Board of Supervisors reasoned through the logic behind each one.
During Tuesday's budget meeting, $56,500 for the WaterWise Program was saved from elimination, at least for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
Susan Pater, county director of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, was hit by a bombshell last week when Supervisors Ann English and Richard Searle said they wanted to cut WaterWise funding. Searle later asked that Pater submit a budget showing at least a 10 to 13 percent reduction
in funding, just as all county departments had been required to do.
WaterWise provides educational literature as well as demonstrations, workshops, tours of rainwater harvesting systems and xeriscaping (native desert species plantings). A new program was started that includes providing county troubled juveniles with instruction on rainwater harvesting construction and practices, explained Cado Daly of the program.
Pater came back with a 13 percent budget reduction in WaterWise and no cut from the $65,000 base budget of the extension office.
Searle, who represents the northern part of the county, apologized for blindsiding her and accepted the new $114,254 budget as presented. "Our departments are severely understaffed, as we have heard in these budget talks. It's a matter of prioritization. It's not a question of the value of the WaterWise program. It's getting back to priorities. Is this something we should phase out? How long do we keep this going? My constituents in Benson and Willcox don't take advantage of it. "
English, who serves an area from Hereford to the New Mexico border, told Pater and Daly she has never heard any constituents talk about the program.
Supervisor Pat Call, who serves the Sierra Vista area, said the county should remain at the forefront on water conservation and he sees the program as a viable educational tool to help residents conserve water, particularly in the Sierra Vista subwatershed. "We will always have to be focused on efficient and smart use of water. It would be a big step backward if we get out of (the water) business."
Supervisors agreed to fund WaterWise for one more year, but made no commitment beyond that.
On another water matter, supervisors were again at odds concerning the long-awaited rural water use study that had been approved three years ago. The county put up $100,000 and the University of Arizona added $60,000 in the joint agreement for the university to conduct the study.
Professor Gary Woodard told supervisors the study was held up by technology problems with the remote-read meters caused by nonstandard rural water lines, lack of high-speed communications and a low volume of volunteers.
The idea was to get rural residents who use wells to volunteer to participate in the study so the county would have a solid figure on which to base future water needs, Searle said. The county has been using figures compiled by the Arizona Department of Water Quality, which sets an average daily per person use of 315 gallons a day. Some in the rural areas thought that was an inflated figure and asked the county to establish new averages.
Though Woodard's team sent out letters to 8,900 people in the rural areas explaining the study and how to participate, only a smattering of residents responded. As of now, there are only five remote-read meters installed, with eight more to go, Woodard added. That's only in the St. David area.
To provide accurate figures that show water use throughout the year, a minimum of 250 residents across the county would have to participate.
The meters can be placed on indoor lines and outdoor lines.
Woodard is relying on plumbers, well maintenance contractors and drillers to spread the word.
Call was ready to suspend the survey, since little had been done. He suggested the board use the remaining $86,000 of county money for a study on rainwater detention basins to put water back in the ground and in the San Pedro River.
Searle wasn't ready to end it, though. He asked that the study continue because the county needed hard facts.
In the end, the study will continue, with hopes that more people will volunteer. But supervisors want a deadline and a solid commitment from the university that staff support it and will bring it to a completion.
"It's still a good idea. The information from this study could apply to rural areas across the state," Call said.
By Shar Porier /Herald/Review
BISBEE - Two water conservation projects were saved from budget cuts as the Cochise County Board of Supervisors reasoned through the logic behind each one.
During Tuesday's budget meeting, $56,500 for the WaterWise Program was saved from elimination, at least for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
Susan Pater, county director of the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension, was hit by a bombshell last week when Supervisors Ann English and Richard Searle said they wanted to cut WaterWise funding. Searle later asked that Pater submit a budget showing at least a 10 to 13 percent reduction
in funding, just as all county departments had been required to do.
WaterWise provides educational literature as well as demonstrations, workshops, tours of rainwater harvesting systems and xeriscaping (native desert species plantings). A new program was started that includes providing county troubled juveniles with instruction on rainwater harvesting construction and practices, explained Cado Daly of the program.
Pater came back with a 13 percent budget reduction in WaterWise and no cut from the $65,000 base budget of the extension office.
Searle, who represents the northern part of the county, apologized for blindsiding her and accepted the new $114,254 budget as presented. "Our departments are severely understaffed, as we have heard in these budget talks. It's a matter of prioritization. It's not a question of the value of the WaterWise program. It's getting back to priorities. Is this something we should phase out? How long do we keep this going? My constituents in Benson and Willcox don't take advantage of it. "
English, who serves an area from Hereford to the New Mexico border, told Pater and Daly she has never heard any constituents talk about the program.
Supervisor Pat Call, who serves the Sierra Vista area, said the county should remain at the forefront on water conservation and he sees the program as a viable educational tool to help residents conserve water, particularly in the Sierra Vista subwatershed. "We will always have to be focused on efficient and smart use of water. It would be a big step backward if we get out of (the water) business."
Supervisors agreed to fund WaterWise for one more year, but made no commitment beyond that.
On another water matter, supervisors were again at odds concerning the long-awaited rural water use study that had been approved three years ago. The county put up $100,000 and the University of Arizona added $60,000 in the joint agreement for the university to conduct the study.
Professor Gary Woodard told supervisors the study was held up by technology problems with the remote-read meters caused by nonstandard rural water lines, lack of high-speed communications and a low volume of volunteers.
The idea was to get rural residents who use wells to volunteer to participate in the study so the county would have a solid figure on which to base future water needs, Searle said. The county has been using figures compiled by the Arizona Department of Water Quality, which sets an average daily per person use of 315 gallons a day. Some in the rural areas thought that was an inflated figure and asked the county to establish new averages.
Though Woodard's team sent out letters to 8,900 people in the rural areas explaining the study and how to participate, only a smattering of residents responded. As of now, there are only five remote-read meters installed, with eight more to go, Woodard added. That's only in the St. David area.
To provide accurate figures that show water use throughout the year, a minimum of 250 residents across the county would have to participate.
The meters can be placed on indoor lines and outdoor lines.
Woodard is relying on plumbers, well maintenance contractors and drillers to spread the word.
Call was ready to suspend the survey, since little had been done. He suggested the board use the remaining $86,000 of county money for a study on rainwater detention basins to put water back in the ground and in the San Pedro River.
Searle wasn't ready to end it, though. He asked that the study continue because the county needed hard facts.
In the end, the study will continue, with hopes that more people will volunteer. But supervisors want a deadline and a solid commitment from the university that staff support it and will bring it to a completion.
"It's still a good idea. The information from this study could apply to rural areas across the state," Call said.
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