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The city of Phoenix is declaring its water supply clean and drug free.
Tests were conducted by an independent lab at each of Phoenix's six water-treatment plants. And Mayor Phil Gordon says the results showed no traces of pharmaceuticals while meeting all standards of the Environmental Protection Agency.
The city tested the water after a series of stories by The Associated Press said that pharmaceuticals have been identified in Lake Mead's water. Some of the lake's water reaches the Phoenix area by way of the Central Arizona Project canal.
The AP report said the chemicals were in tiny quantities.
Drugs are thought to enter the water supply after being ingested by people and passed into the sewage system. Other drugs get flushed into the system. No one knows whether exposure to small quantities of these drugs can cause problems.
The AP has the full story.
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In the desert, arguments opposing the city's proposed graywater-harvesting ordinance simply don't hold water.
The City Council should acknowledge that fact at its meeting today and pass the measure, which would require that all new homes built in Tucson after June 1, 2010, be plumbed for graywater-recovery systems.
The arguments in favor of the water-conservation measure are compelling. The Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, which initially objected to the proposal, now supports it.
Graywater systems conserve used household water so that it can be re-used outdoors. The Water Conservation Alliance of Southern Arizona says a graywater system can meet all of a typical household's outdoor water needs if it has low-water-use landscaping.
"Gray" water comes from showers, bathtubs, bathroom sinks and laundry rooms — but not from toilets and kitchen sinks.
The ordinance would require graywater plumbing only on new-home construction, and if a homeowner builds an addition with a new bedroom, bathroom and kitchen, the Star's Rob O'Dell reported Sunday. Graywater plumbing, or stub-outs, would also be required in new guesthouses.
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DWR Sued over Out of State Water Transport |
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Here's an interesting update from the AP.
"Arizona is trying to fend off a lawsuit in which a company is suing the state over its refusal to allow ground water to be piped to neighboring Nevada to support new development.
The lawsuit pending in federal court in Las Vegas contends, among other things, that the denial interfered with interstate commerce and that Arizona officials violated a federal racketeering law by conspiring with project opponents and by purposely stringing out consideration of the application to "throw up numerous costly bureaucratic hurdles."
The state's alleged intentional mishandling of Wind River Resources LLC's application left then-majority owner Erika Van Alstine financially insolvent, forcing her to sell a majority stake in the Arizona-based company, according to the lawsuit.
Lawyers for the state Department of Water Resources have yet to respond to the lawsuit's charges, instead asking that the lawsuit be thrown out on jurisdiction and other legal grounds, including Wind River's failure to appeal administratively. If the case isn't dismissed, it should at least be transferred to federal court in Arizona, the state's lawyers contend.
Wind River, whose lawsuit seeks unspecified damages, sought to pump water from the Muddy Creek aquifer in the Mormon Wells area north of Beaver Dam and transport it to the Virgin Valley Water District in nearby Mesquite, Nev.
The March 15, 2005, application was the first submitted to the Department of Water Resources for a decision under a 1989 state law that set criteria for transporting water out of Arizona. The law was enacted seven years after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that groundwater is subject to the U.S. Constitution's protections for interstate commerce."
Forbes has the full story.
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Queen Creek Water Sale Final |
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Queen Creek spent nearly $37 million to buy Queen Creek Water Co. but now taxpayers are on the hook for millions more to fulfill developer agreements the private company used to expand the system.
The company entered into "mainline extension agreements," which allowed developers to come to town, put in water infrastructure needed for their projects and recover a small fraction of their costs, said Paul Gardner, Queen Creek water director.
"At the end of the day, because of where the rate structures are, the developer gets back 25 to 40 percent of what they put in," Gardner said.
The agreements generally last 10 years, with the developer being paid from a percentage of water proceeds coming from their project.
There are 130 agreements in place right now, Gardner said.
"We are required to pay the developers back what the company owes them," said Assistant Town Manager Patrick Flynn. "It was a good deal for the company when they did this - they got millions in infrastructure and what they pay back is ultimately less than that."
The Tribune has the rest of the story.
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 Thank you to all the WUAA members who participated in our most recent Technical Conference. And a special thanks to SDWIS Coordinator, Laurie Gehlsen and Donna Calderon, Manager of the Drinking Water Monitoring and Protection Unit at the Department of Environmental Quality for their valuable their willingness to take a few hours and walk us through the compliance issues associated with delivering clean water.
We would also like to thank CAWCD Board Member Paul Hendricks for profiding an update on the ADD Water Process. |
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