By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
The Virgin Valley Water District (VVWD) Board of Directors heard a series of annual reports on the overall health and condition of the district during its meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 5.
In his summary of VVWD operations for fiscal year 2020-21, General Manager Kevin Brown reported that the district had pumped and distributed a total of over 2.2 million gallons, or 7,009 acre feet of water during calendar year 2020.
An acre foot of water totals 325,851 gallons, or enough to flood a parcel of land roughly the size of a football field to a depth of one foot.
Brown said that the district’s usage is in line with the trends that have been seen on water use in recent years.
“Over the last 10 years we have averaged about 6,500 acre feet per year (afy) of water pumped,” Brown said. “Then over the last five years, our trend line has grown at about 2.9 percent per year, even though the population has grown at roughly 5 percent per year.”
Brown pointed out that this is an indicator that effective water conservation measures have been taking place during that period of time.
The trendlines on numbers showing average annual water usage per home also bears out this positive effect of conservation, Brown said. Those trends show a steady decrease in acre feet use per home from about .45 afy in year 2000 to around .34 afy over the past five years.
“If you look at it, that is about three houses per acre foot that we are getting; which is really good,” Brown said. “The City of Tucson, Arizona, which is one of the more water conserving cities in the western U.S, is right at .33 afy per home. So we are really dialed in there.”
Brown said that all of the culinary water which the district currently distributes comes from VVWD groundwater sources pumped from nine different wells around the community. These wells range in production from 450 to 2,600 gallons of water per minute.
This water is drawn from a deep underground aquifer called the Virgin River Basin which stretches across a broad region and includes portions of Nevada, Arizona and Utah.
Brown emphasized that the VVWD does not get any of its water from the Colorado River or Lake Mead.
“There is a lot of press across the nation right now saying Lake Mead is going down and that Las Vegas, Phoenix and Los Angeles areas are all in big trouble,” Brown said. “It has caused some concern from a lot of people. But it is important to note that we don’t rely on the Colorado River for our local water supply at all.”
The VVWD is allocated a total of 12,271 acre feet per year (afy) of ground water rights from the Virgin River Basin, Brown said.
Brown claimed that by all current data the aquifer is in “good shape.” This despite a lot of worries to the contrary existing in the community, he said.
“There have been a lot of studies done on our basin and, for whatever reason, a few people don’t understand them or choose not to heed their information,” Brown said. “But they show that the system recharge on our aquifer is quite significant.”
Brown said that the district has been monitoring groundwater levels and precipitation levels in the surrounding mountains for more than 20 years to track the general health of the aquifer.
“Of course, the groundwater levels fluctuate slightly from year to year,” he said. “But the levels are maintaining a constant level. We are not stressing the aquifer. We are not causing any damage to it whatsoever.”
Brown said that the district is currently conducting a detailed report on recharge rates in the basin using the data it has collected over the years. That study is expected to be completed within about 18 months, he said.
Given the current growth rates, the district’s groundwater allocation is expected to continue to be the community’s primary resource for another 10-15 years, Brown added.
“We plan to fully develop our 12,271 afy of groundwater which will mean more wells being developed in the near future,” Brown said.
But that groundwater source is only about half of the total VVWD water portfolio, Brown said. The district also owns rights to 2,500 afy of spring water in the mountains to the south of the community. In addition, the district holds surface water shares from the Virgin River totalling nearly 9,000 afy.
“We want to eventually study the mountain spring rights we have,” Brown said. “And we will have to build pipelines to get that water down the mountain and to the community. Also, we plan to eventually use the district’s river water which means we have to build a treatment plant to develop that water for use.”
Brown said that the district is also exploring other options for water availability and implementing further water conservation measures.
Finally, Brown reported that the district is on sound financial footing.
“Financially, we are in really good shape,” Brown said. “Our goal is to maintain the small annual increases to our rates so that we are not doing those big shock rate increases to our customers.”
At the end of the presentation, board member Randy Laub said that he had heard feedback from community members expressing anxiety in their perceptions about the integrity of the community’s water resources.
“One of the comments that was made to me is that they wished that they had a ‘hard number’ from the State Engineer on our aquifer,” Laub said. “Of course, that is impossible unless you actually do an extensive study throughout the state.”
But VVWD Water Resource Manager Aaron Bunker said that there is already a hard number available. “At the end of the day, the State Engineer’s office has said that the 12,271 afy number is a good number,” Bunker said. “That is what we are permitted. That is a hard number.”
Bunker added that the system yield for the basin, which includes the effect that the Virgin River surface water has on the aquifer, is calculated at 100,000 afy.
Laub said that additional feedback from the community included a call for more stringent conservation measures to be taken. He asked what more could be done on this score.
Brown responded that he is currently updating the district’s water conservation plan which should be ready for release soon. But he added that the district has generally done very well in the area of conservation.
“There are still some things that we can do,” he said. “Those will be in the updated plan. But keep in mind that we are on par with some of the best water conserving cities in the country already.”
On this subject, Board Chairman Ben Davis pointed out that the numbers in Brown’s report had shown that the district’s well production in 2007 was actually higher than the 2020 number. That was true, despite a significant increase in population since that time, he said.
“We have been doing a good job conserving water,” Davis said. “I don’t think we need to take any draconian measures; we don’t need to make people take 30 second showers and so on; if there is not a need to do it.”
Davis also expressed frustration about misinformation being spread by community leaders regarding the city’s water supply.
“My frustration with some of our city leaders is that they are the ones spouting the idea that we are in some kind of dire position with regards to water,” Davis said. “Yet they are never seen at our water district board meetings. That is frustrating to me.”
Davis said that if the public has questions about issues regarding water, the starting point to bring those questions forward ought to be the VVWD where those issues are managed and handled every day.
“The smartest people in this town about those types of concerns, all work in this building,” Davis said. “We have two board meetings every single month. People can come here and ask questions and get answers from the most qualified people in town.”
