Meeting was called to order by chairman Jay Wilkinson at 7:02pm. Jay introduced Marsha Foutz, Vice Chairman, and Tom Bonomo, Secretary-Treasurer. All others in attendance introduced themselves.
Minutes from the August meeting in Camp Verde were approved as printed in the Confluence.
The treasurer gave the monthly report. VWA has a current balance in the account of $1333.50 and has collected $3450.00 in dues for 1997. Financial report was approved.
Chairman Wilkinson broke from the agenda to report on a number of items: The Non Point Source Branch of ADEQ and the Advisory Committee which will develop standards for livestock grazing on all grazing lands in Arizona, has asked VWA to participate in the use of the Verde River Watershed as a demo area for the establishment of standards for water pollution control in livestock grazing. VWA has been asked to facilitate because of the reputation of the organization.
Bill Clinton signed an Executive Order establishing the American Heritage Rivers Initiative, and it may or may not be struck down by a vote of Congress.
The Coalition of Counties has sent an intent to sue to federal agencies claiming that the methods being used to recover the Southwestern Willow Flycatcher are a taking by the federal government. Jay predicts that this is just the beginning of legal actions.
The State Land Department is holding a hearing on the new lease system for state lands. This is a result of a lawsuit filed by the Center for Law in the Public Interest against the State Land Department and appealing the Judge’s decision which generally was in favor of the points made by the Center.
The watershed group on the Gila River still wants to get together with the executive committee of VWA and have an all day meeting to share ideas and promote coordinated efforts and understanding.
Dennis Sundie of ADWR mentioned a new watershed group that is forming on the Little Colorado and suggested that they also be invited to such a meeting. Dan Salzler volunteered to work on setting up a meeting for these groups.
The Yavapai Cattlegrowers are having their annual Calf Sale and get together in Peeples Valley on October 4. Lots of dignitaries and elected officials will be there.
Tim Costello, City Engineer for the City of Cottonwood, gave a report on the what is happening in Cottonwood’s Public Works Department.
Cottonwood is planning on doubling its wastewater treatment capabilities in the near future and is looking for opportunities for disposing of it’s high quality waste water.
The new Del Webb subdivision will use some of the wastewater generated but Cottonwood still needs more opportunities. Some of these opportunities that are being considered are additional watering of landscaping, and using the water to fill the lagoons at Deadhorse Ranch State Park.
There was some discussion about the opportunities to recharge groundwater and the opportunities to put the wastewater back into the Verde River. It seems that the biggest problem in putting this water back into the river, even though it meets drinking water standards, is that the amounts of some dissolved constituents in the wastewater exceed the levels permitted in the Verde River by 10 times.
Warren Greenwell of the BOR and Dino DeSimone of NRCS gave a short presentation on the Cooperative River Basin Planning effort. Phase 1 has been completed and the cooperating agencies are ready to begin phase two whenever the communities in the watershed initiate the request. There was some discussion about the what might be the scope of this next study and whether the communities in the Verde Valley might be ready for initiating the more detailed study.
Yavapai County Supervisor Chip Davis gave an indication of support for initiating the study and indicated that he is working with the communities in the Verde Valley to get them to request this next phase of studying the water resources of the Verde Valley. Warren Greenwell volunteered to coordinate a meeting between Cooperative River Basin Study cooperating agencies and the communities of the Verde Valley.
There were no committee reports.
There was a motion made by Secretary Treasurer Bonomo to consider amending the current agreement between the VWA and the Verde NRCD to reflect the work that the Verde Watershed Coordinator would be doing for the Association and over how long a period this agreement would be in effect. This motion passed with the amendment that the Executive Committee of VWA meet with the Watershed Association Coordinator to work out the details of this updated agreement.
John Parsons gave an update on activities of the VWA Coordinator. He presented the VWA display that will be shown at Verde River Days on September 27.
He also passed around a draft copy of a VWA brochure that he has been working on that summarizes the mission and activities of VWA.
The revised Articles of Association were voted on for the last time.
The revised Articles of Association have now been voted on in all communities in the watershed and there is full consensus on their adoption. Therefore, the revised Articles of Association for VWA are effective on September 16, 1997.
Jay Wilkinson reported that effective next VWA monthly meeting he will begin appointing chairmen for the various standing committees of VWA. He suggested that members and member representatives think about what committee they would prefer to work on.
Dennis Sundie gave an update on the National Center for Atmospheric Research proposal to computer model the precipitation and water relationships in the Verde Valley.
This was a grant proposal to the National Science Foundation.
The grant was not awarded for this funding cycle, but will be resubmitted for funding next time. VWA may be asked to assist in parts of this proposed research. Jeff Schalau of U of A Cooperative Extension Service reported that the V-V field day went very well with its public education programs.
Dan Salzler of ADEQ reported that the new director of the non point source pollution branch of ADEQ is very interested in attending a VWA meeting. There was further discussion about starting Phase 2 of the Cooperative River Basin Study, and Yavapai County Supervisor, Chip Davis, committed that the newly hired Projects Coordinator for District 3, Tom O’Halleran, will work on developing consensus among the Verde Valley communities about initiating this study effort.
Meeting adjourned at 8:58 p.m.