Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Water Management topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Council approves $89,873 water-conservation contract amid questions over safe-yield scope
Summary
The Prescott Valley Town Council approved Amendment No. 1 to a water-conservation contract with Modest Water Management, Inc. for $89,873. Some council members said the study lacks the scope to map a path to safe yield; staff said the contract is a conservation-planning tool, not a full safe-yield solution.
The Prescott Valley Town Council voted to approve Amendment No. 1 to a professional services agreement with Modest Water Management, Inc. for Water Conservation Master Planning in the amount of $89,873, a motion that passed by a 6-to-1 recorded vote.
A council member who asked that the item be removed from the consent agenda said the study as scoped does not include the specific steps the town would need to reach "safe yield" for the aquifer and warned the contract could amount to "feel-good window dressing" unless that work is added. Miss Lind, a town staffer, replied that water-conservation planning is a useful tool that can help move the town toward safe yield but noted the current contract does not include a full safe-yield action plan and will not by itself solve the town's long-term overdraft problem.
The discussion over water contracts extended to a related consent item proposing an agreement with Matrix New World Engineering to expand the town's wastewater effluent recharge facility. One council member voiced concern that a significant portion of town effluent is used for irrigation (including at Stone Ridge Golf Course and Mountain Valley Park) and that effluent contains PFAS contamination that should not be introduced into drinking-water supplies. The speaker also noted that in 2007 the town sold 2,724 acre-feet of water rights (recorded in the meeting as 887,615,400 gallons) to Water Asset Management LLC, which the speaker said reduced the town's ability to control certificates of assured water supply.
Town staff responded that the Matrix project is intended to extend recharge in areas already receiving effluent (for example, parts of Mountain Valley Park) rather than expose new parts of the aquifer to treated effluent. Staff said expanding the recharge footprint would increase the town's annual recharge credit potential but noted the town is currently capped at approximately 1,600 acre-feet under existing sale commitments and that implications for any sales to Water Asset Management can be discussed separately.
The council voted separately on the Modest Water Management amendment (the $89,873 contract) and approved it 6-1. The remainder of the consent agenda (with the exception of items removed earlier) was approved in a consolidated vote the same evening.
What happens next: Staff said the water-conservation planning work will proceed under the approved contract; council members who criticized the scope suggested bringing back language or an expanded scope to explicitly address steps to reach safe yield if council wishes to require that from the consultant.
