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CAP WATER and GREEN VALLEY PIPELINE
Rosemont plans to get their water by pumping it from the
Santa Cruz Aquifer. They are purchasing CAP water to offset their
groundwater pumping. The problem is the locations the CAP water is
recharged is "downriver" from their pumping wells. To
mitigate this problem they proposed to finance a pipeline that would
deliver water "upriver" of their pumping wells.
Relationship to Rosemont: The public feels this project should not be separate from
the Mine proposal. Both
the Proposed CWC Pipeline and the proposed Rosemont Copper Mine are
“connected actions” under NEPA that require joint review in a single
NEPA process conducted by the Coronado National Forest.
How much will Rosemont pay for their water if they put
in the pipeline?
The proposed Pipeline is estimated to cost between $15 to
$18 million dollars. Rosemont's 2007 and 2008 CAP excess water
purchases cost $3.3 million dollars for 30,000 acre feet. Lets
estimate they
spend $12 million on the water they plan on purchasing (105,000 acre feet)
for a maximum total of $30 million for the pipeline and the
water. This would be an average cost of about 286 dollars per acre
foot or 1,139 gallons per dollar.
What does CAP propose for us in the future?
from an article
in the Sahaurita Sun "CAP policies greatly affect our state at
this time of diminishing water supplies, climate change, and shifts in the
pricing and supply of energy. CAP officials have acknowledged that the
amount of Colorado River water available to Arizonans may diminish in the
future and that CAP is looking to acquire new water supplies, including
desalination plants." Lets take a look at this one option for
our "future" water supplies.
In a document by the California
Coastal Commission on desalination plants they discuss the technology,
energy use, and cost per acre foot which range from $700
to $6,000 per acre foot. The median cost was around $2,000 per
acre foot. This is almost 20 times the cost CAP charges Rosemont for
an acre foot. If you allow for the $18 million in pipeline for the
Green Valley community water project they are still paying less than 15%
of the cost for the desalinated water. And remember, we have not
even considered the cost to pump the desalinated water to Arizona.
I think the public that rely on the water in the Santa
Cruz Aquifer may find it cheaper to pay for their own pipeline and place
their allocation and perhaps purchase their own excess CAP water for the
future. If water were a commodity it would sure be worth more in the
southwestern United States. Recently Fico
and ANC announced a joint effort to extend the current CAP pipeline to
meet the needs of the water companies.
These are the oral comments made by Dick Walden and
Nan Walden at the Bureau of
Reclamation's Environmental Assessment (EA) public scoping meeting ,
held Tuesday, August 26 in Green Valley. FICO will be submitting formal
written comments on September 12, 2008
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SANTA CRUZ RIVER NAVIGABLE DESIGNATION
There has been a great deal of controversy over the designation
of the Santa Cruz River as a navigable river. This designation affords the
river the protection provided by the federal government in the Clean Waters
Act. Here is a great article
from the Arizona Daily Star that discusses this.
While it is difficult to classify the Santa Cruz as navigable
today, we must remember that not too long ago it was! According to the
article "At stake is how much authority public agencies have to control
which pollutants are dumped or discharged by sewer plants, industries,
individuals and others into such Santa Cruz tributaries as the Rillito River,
Pantano Wash, Davidson Can-yon, Tanque Verde Creek and Cienega Creek.
Biologists have long said these washes offer some of the best havens in the
Sonoran Desert for mammals, birds and other wildlife. But most of these streams
— about 95 percent of all rivers and washes in the entire state, in fact —
don't carry water year round and usually have water only after big storms."
If the Santa Cruz loses this status Tucson loses! Whatever
happened to common sense! Whether or not they are navigable they are
important water sources for the Tucson region and should be protected from
pollution! If the Feds won't do it we need to get busy as a state and
protect our own water! If The Santa Cruz river loses the federal
protections we must be ready to pounce on our State legislature to act quickly
with great detail to create state laws equivalent to the federal laws.
Relationship to Rosemont: The public questions the
timing of the proposed declassification as a navigable stream. If the
Santa Cruz loses the federal protections provided by the Clean Waters Act the
Proposed Rosemont mine would have less legal requirement to control pollutants
into the Santa Cruz and its Tributaries
TEP MOUNTAIN VIEW SUBSTATION
TEP proposed construction of a substation near Scenic Route 83
and I-10. After a great deal of effort by several community activists it
was not approved by the Arizona Corporate Commision (ACC). TEP could not
prove a need for the substation.
Relationship to Rosemont: the Public suspects it would have been used for
Rosemont if the mine is approved. Thanks to all the activists who
convinced the ACC that the public should not be forced to finance the electrical
requirements for a proposed mine that we oppose. Read more about it in an article
in the Arizona Daily Star
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