Editor:
I have serious concerns about potential effects on water resources and aquifer sustainability that supply Winslow and the surrounding area as the city ramps up its efforts to attract large-scale growth and development. In order to protect our water and ensure its future availability, appropriate limits on population growth and on water use by future business and industry must be determined.
The following questions must be answered and made public, by an objective third party separate from any special interests, and must be written into Winslow’s General Plan as a prerequisite for largescale growth and development.
* How much water is in our aquifer (C-aquifer)? -How did we arrive at this figure? -When was the last test/study conducted? -How much water can Winslow legally access?
* Exactly how much growth, and what types of business and industry can be sustained by the water we have in reserve?
* How would water availability be broken down to amount available for use per customer/business per year?
* How would water use limits be enforced fairly, so that citizens do not bear the brunt of limits that should primarily target industry?
* How will privatelyowned wells be affected by population/industry/ manufacturing growth?
* Is it not the case that water availability is tested for the next 100 years?
* Are we willing to deplete the water table within the next 100 years or do we wish to ensure that future generations have access to water?
The increase in jobs and housing that are being promised by developers will mean nothing if we do not have the water to sustain it. Only by taking the time to gather this information, can appropriate growth be determined that will allow quality of life, in fact life at all, in this area, to be sustained.
Ann Schmidt
Winslow, Ariz.
