A customer asked how much water would be delivered to the area with the water delivery system?
(Apologies to the readers for the use of acronyms in this article. Please clicking here for terms and definitions.)
Answer:
These number assume that the pipe stays at 20
inches as proposed in the base system.
1. In about 2 1/2 years we desire to have water flowing at a rate of
7000 acre-feet (af) per year. Augusta Resource Arizona Corporation will pay for
the pipeline upfront and recharge for 15 years a total of 105,000 af of Central
Arizona Project (CAP) water (7000 af x 15 years).
2. After 15 years we will continue to recharge our 3000 af plus 2000 af
of Green Valley Domestic Water Improvement District (GVDWID). And allow other
agencies like Central Arizona Ground Water Replenishment District (CAGRD) to use
the rest of the capacity, so that 7000 af continues to be recharged in the local
area, until water is directly used.
3. In Augusta's plan of operations they will draw 5000 af per year starting
whenever they start which maybe 4 to 5 years away, for 20 years. Thus the
100,000 af obligation (5000 af x 20 years).
Summary - This can get a bit complicated so excuse me if I am not clear:
While mine still not operating years 1 - 3 of recharge is net plus of
7000 af to aquifer. (7000 x 3 years = +21,000 af )
While capacity still tied to meet Augusta's obligation years 4 - 15, then
recharge is net gain of 2000 af ,7000 Augusta recharge - 5000 Augusta draws,
(2000 x 12 years = +24,000 af)
While mine still in operations years 16 - 23, then recharge is still a net gain
of 2000 af, 7000 CWC/GVDWID/CAGRD recharge - 5000 Augusta draws, (2000 x 8
years = + 16,000 af)
Assuming the mine is gone after year 23, we may continue to replenish the
aquifer at +7000 per year. Bottom line is that we always recharge ahead of
Augusta's draw of water.
At some future date people may decide to use CAP direct - CWC and GVDWID may
decide that drinking CAP is preferred over ground water and that it is
economically feasible for direct use of treated CAP water. At which point we
will replace our ground water use with CAP water and the capacity of 5000 af per
year will be needed for water to the treatment plants. The other 2000 af per
year capacity can continue to be recharged, used on pecans or it might be sent
to fill the lake in Canoa Ranch for recharge.
For this to be a CWC project there must always be a pipeline with sufficient
capacity for the CWC and GVDWID allocations for direct use.
Arturo