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Pipe dreams start at $13.1 million
By CYNDY COLE
Sun Staff Reporter
Tuesday, December 04, 2007
http://www.azdailysun.com/articles/2007/12/04/news/20071204_front%20page_2.t

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That's how much it will cost just to study a pipeline from Lake Powell;
building it could cost up to $650 million.

The city of Flagstaff, the Navajo Nation, Coconino County and others are
lobbying Congress for as much as $13.1 million to study the feasibility of
drawing water from Lake Powell to supply northern Arizona.

The proposed pipeline would potentially take water from Lake Powell and
send it to the western edge of the Navajo Nation only, or include Moenkopi,
Flagstaff, Tusayan and Williams. No destinations are set.

The preliminary estimated cost of building a pipeline to Western Navajo,
Hopi, Flagstaff, Williams, Grand Canyon and Tusayan is pegged at $650
million.

"We think that if we plan regionally, there'll be efficacies that can be
gained," Coconino County Supervisor Liz Archuleta said.

This comes on top of a Bureau of Reclamation analysis that finds a number
of local communities are expected to either fall short of the water they
need or pump an unsustainable amount from local aquifers in the coming
decades.

Environmentalists gave the plan mixed reviews, saying the Colorado River is
already over-allocated.

The Grand Canyon Trust would support a pipeline to Hopi and the Western
Navajo Nation to give the tribes an opportunity to receive water and spur
economic development.

"Even from an equitable point of view, they should be first in line for
water," said Nikolai Lash, of the Trust.

Flagstaff and other communities should use ground water, the Trust says, as
long as it doesn't impact springs and riparian areas. Whether more people
are allowed to move into northern Arizona should depend on whether there is
water available, Lash and the Sierra Club said.

"The pipe dreams occur throughout the state. And everyone still looks to
the Colorado, which is an overallocated, overplumbed, overworked river,"
said Sandy Bahr, of the Sierra Club. "...We can't have unlimited growth."

Climate change and continued drought also might make the river a less
stable water source, she said.

If Flagstaff were to grow at the same 2 percent annual rate it expanded
from 1992 to 2002, the population would be 156,099 by 2050, according to a
Bureau of Reclamation report.

Flagstaff has adopted a number of water conservation measures and might be
reaching a point of diminishing returns, Lash said.

The Colorado River is the main plan for the future.

"This, right now, seems to be the best in terms of increasing our water
supply," Archuleta said.

But she added, "There is no guarantee."

If a Colorado River pipeline is not built, Flagstaff plans to pump
groundwater from Red Gap Ranch east of the city in coming decades, provided
it finds a way to pay for a $100 million pipeline to bring it to town.

Cyndy Cole can be reached at 913-8607 or at ccole@azdailysun.com.

If you go

The Board of Supervisors is holding two work sessions on water management
and water adequacy, to provide information to the public. They will be Dec.
18 from 10 a.m. to noon and on Jan. 22 from 1:15 p.m. to 3:15 p.m. at the
County Administration Center, 219 E. Cherry, Flagstaff.