Gazette Blog Editor
Let's bring the growing wealth disparity issue home to Payson where, in the midst of a statewide drought, Mayor Kenny Evans has brokered a deal to sell a big chunk of our potable Blue Ridge water supply to gated Chaparral Pines to water its tony, exclusive golf course for the next 50 years - guaranteed.
It's bad enough to sell potable water to a golf course, but it really rankles to see it go to a golf course the average citizen can't set foot on. And it's downright obscene to pretend that water isn't potable by building an extra pipeline to bypass a treatment plant that only makes the water match the chemical composition of groundwater. The water from Blue Ridge is quite potable, even if it bypasses the treatment plant.
The mayor pretends the golf course water will simply trickle down into the groundwater where Payson can just pump it up and re-sell it. What a deal!
Except it ain't true. The vast majority of that water will be soaked up or evaporate. And if it did get down into our groundwater without going through the treatment plant, how would that impact the chemical composition issue the treatment plant is supposed to resolve?
Why do we bring this up yet again. Read this "Quick Hit" from Arizona Republic Opinions Editor Robert Leger which appeared in the Mar. 10 edition:
Williams offers an early
warning of drier future
"It can be easy to forget Arizona is in an extended drought when you find a faucet left running or see sprinklers watering the street. In Williams, though, there is no forgetting. With the city's surface water supplies drying up, officials have banned watering lawns and washing cars. Water for swimming pools must be hauled in. Heavy water users will pay heavy premiums...."
Wonder how the Williams City Council would react to a proposal to provide potable water to a private, gated golf course for 50 years - guaranteed? So even in Payson, the rich just get richer. Only this time, the stakes have been raised. You don't need money to survive, but you sure as hell need water.
Good job, Kenny. Way to look out for the people who elected you. It's time to throw the mayor out, and his naive, lackey council with him.
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