Payson will maintain emphasis on conservation

By Matt Brabb
Mogollon Connection Editor

According to Payson’s 2010 Water Status Report, a wet winter and conservation efforts have combined to raise well levels nearly everywhere in Payson, in contrast to the declines they have seen in recent years.

The report states, “Most groundwater levels are actually higher than last year’s levels.”

Though Rim Country experienced an abnormally dry summer in 2009, El Nino conditions during the winter positively influenced precipitation. The town ended up receiving nearly 22 inches of rain between April 2009 and March 2010, which is essentially the long-term average.

The report also noted that on average, Payson residents consumed 81 gallons of water per day, which is below the town goal of 89 gallons per day. That figure is somewhat statistically skewed however. On any given day 15 to 20 percent of Payson homes are empty because many of them are second homes for Valley residents; owners do not live in them fulltime. The report also noted that because of the economy “fewer visitors and part-time residents came to Payson in 2009 than in previous years, along with an obvious increase in unoccupied homes (foreclosures and the like).”

The water department recommended the town stay on water conservation level one. That level includes a ban on washing paved areas such as sidewalks and driveways, and limiting outside water use to certain days of the week depending on the address. In addition, no new grass or expansion of existing grass areas from seed or sod are allowed, there is to be no watering of native plants or pine trees, and the ban on new outdoor swimming pools remains in place.

Last year the town consumed roughly 1,650 acre-feet, or almost 540 million gallons of water. That usage level has stayed fairly consistent for the past decade, and represents a usage rate of 62 percent of the “safe yield” of the town’s wells. Safe yield is a measure of how much water is normally replenished by Mother Nature to a community’s watershed in a given year.

Before Payson’s acquisition of the Tower Well in Star Valley, 1,650 acre feet would have been upwards of 90 percent of safe yield, but the 855 acre feet per year added to the town’s safe yield via the Tower Well in 2006 has put that figure at 65 percent or below ever since. The Tower Well represents nearly one third of Payson’s safe yield.

The CC Cragin Pipeline (formerly Blue Ridge) and related projects also figured prominently in the report. The report credited the acceleration of the Cragin project to money made available by means of the 2009 federal stimulus package. An award of $10.585 million was given to the town through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).

According to the report “Of the $10.585 million funding, $4 million qualified as forgivable principal (essentially a grant). This $4 million portion of the funding qualified as ‘green-sustainable’ due to the project’s clean power components (existing and potential future hydro-power), water conservation, and water resources sustainability benefits.”