Flagstaff Water Commission discussing whether to amend a contract with Snowbowl (Patrick Walker/NAZ Today)

FLAGSTAFF (NAZ Today)– The Flagstaff Water Commission has voted to support a contract giving Snowbowl the option to use reclaimed or recovered-reclaimed water  for snowmaking.

Four options were discussed.  One of the options was to simply do nothing and let the Flagstaff city council decide on their own what water would be provided to Snowbowl.  The other options were using reclaimed water for snowmaking, which would be water pumped directly from a treatment plant to Snowbowl; recovered-reclaimed water, which would be water that was treated and allowed to seep into the ground and then be captured from a well and pumped to Snowbowl; or to provide potable water directly from wells.

Commissioners heard from city staff, Snowbowl representatives, elected tribal representatives, and dozens of concerned audience members during a four-hour meeting at Sinagua Middle School. Commissioners deliberated for over an hour before coming to the decision.

The nine-member commission voted 5-4 to recommend to the city council to amend the contract to allow for the use of either directly or indirectly-delivered reclaimed water. This means that Snowbowl will get to decide whether to use reclaimed or recovered-reclaimed water for snowmaking purposes. Commission chairman Patrick Hurley cast the deciding vote, breaking the 4-4 tie.

A motion to deliver drinking water was denied 6-2, and a motion that had the option of delivering only reclaimed water directly from the treatment plant, which is what the original contract from 2002 would have provided, was denied 5-3.

A lawsuit questioning the health effects and safety of reclaimed water has been filed by attorney Howard Shanker on behalf of several Arizona tribes.  Utilities Director Randy Pellatz responded to concerns from the commission questioning whether the lawsuit would affect any of tonight’s decisions. “This lawsuit is based on emotion. You would have to drink one gallon of water a day for 4,000 years to (drink) the equivilant of one Tylenol.  The science just doesn’t justify it,” said Pellatz. “It’s just meant to delay the construction (of the pipeline).”

The federal government is showing support for the use of recovered-reclaimed water in the project. The US Department of Agriculture has committed approximately 11 million dollars in subsidies to the City of Flagstaff to help deliver the water.

A few members of the audience shouted out in displeasure to the decision. “You’ve sold your souls,” said one woman.

The water commission’s recommendation now moves to the city council, which will decide whether or not to adopt the commission’s decision.

The town is rushing to drill a new well at one of nine other well sites that have been identified. That project could cost water users in the town of about 9,000 residents about $200,000.

Public Works director Ron Grittman says the well now in service began producing sand and its pump began using twice the electricity and pumping less than half its normal output beginning in November.

Grittman says the situation qualifies as an emergency.

The town is rushing to drill a new well at one of nine other well sites that have been identified. That project could cost water users in the town of about 9,000 residents about $200,000.

Public Works director Ron Grittman says the well now in service began producing sand and its pump began using twice the electricity and pumping less than half its normal output beginning in November.

Grittman says the situation qualifies as an emergency.

Yavapai County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Dwight D’Evelyn says the boy’s parents tried to bring the sick child to a hospital during a powerful storm on Thursday night.

The parents loaded the boy and his 8-year-old sister into a pickup truck at their home about 70 miles north of Phoenix. Floodwaters disabled the truck and pushed it off the road.

The mother somehow made it to higher ground, while the father and two children got into the truck’s bed.

The three were swept from the truck bed. The father managed to get to safety with his daughter, but the boy remains missing.