Sedona AZ (June 28, 2019) – By the time you read this City Talk article the summer season will be upon us. I want to emphasis the fact that we should do our best to conserve water around our homes by implementing water-wise landscaping and irrigation techniques.
One of the biggest sources of water in the Verde Valley is the Verde River. Its watershed covers 4.2 million acres in central Arizona, which includes about 500 miles of perennial streams. A river flowing year-round in an arid environment is a marvel. The Verde River is such a river, one of the few remaining in Arizona. It flows nearly uninterrupted all year long from its source near Paulden for about 170 river miles before reaching Horseshoe Reservoir. The Verde River flows approximately 46 miles through the Verde Valley cities and towns of Clarkdale, Cottonwood and Camp Verde. Oak Creek is a major tributary to the Verde River and must be treated equally with regards to care.
As individuals and as a community, we take responsibility for our region’s water. We value water for its economic, social, culture and environmental roles. We have an ethical obligation to manage water and use it in a purposeful manner, recognize our choices and their consequences. We take responsibility for future generations by using this ethic to guide our management and use of water today.
Here are six reasons we should protect the Verde River:
Economy: The Verde River sustains over 700 jobs and over $100 million in economic value in the Verde Valley, plus 40 percent of the Phoenix area’s surface water supply.
Recreation: As our population grows, we require more recreational areas. The Verde provides an abundance of choices for outdoor activities.
Quality of Life: Clear air, unfettered open spaces and bodies of water, and opportunities to view wildlife enhance our daily living.
Cultural and historic values: The entire river corridor is laced with ancient rock art, structures and artifacts revealing the historical lifestyle of Native Americans. The river and its springs are an essential spiritual and culture foundation for the Yavapai-Apache Nation.
Wildlife: Although the Verde River watershed comprises only 5.8 percent of the land area in Arizona, it contains the best remaining riparian areas — lush, green ribbons full of life. The Verde supports a surprisingly large fraction of Arizona’s vertebrate species: 78 percent of breeding bird species, 89 percent of bat and carnivore species, 83 percent of native ungulate species and 76 percent of reptiles and amphibian genera – an impressive concentration of wildlife. Many bald eagles overwinter on the Verde. Seven eagle chicks have fledged at Del Rio Springs in the last five years.
Native fish: Of Arizona’s original 33 native fish, three are extinct, 19 are protected by the Endangered Species Act, and the Verde supports ten. The upper Verde River sustains four ESA-listed native fish.
Uniqueness: Of Arizona’s six major perennial rivers, the Gila, Salt, and Santa Cruz rivers have been consumed by dams and groundwater pumping, the Colorado has many diversions that provides minimal flows to the Gulf of California, and the San Pedro is struggling for life. The Verde River is the longest surviving river in Arizona.
Once again, the Verde River and surrounding tributaries provide a healthy environment for the following life forms.
Riparian vegetation: The Verde Valley watershed contains some of the most extensive acreage of Fremont Cottonwood-Goodding willow forest and mixed broadleaf riparian forest in Arizona is home to the endangered yellow-billed cuckoo and endangered southwestern willow flycatcher and more. Wildlife managers monitor an additional 16 sensitive species of concern.
Aquatic: Insects such as mayflies and caddisflies play a crucial role in the food web of stream ecosystem, and their abundance and diversity is an indicator of stream health.
Native fish: The desert sucker, roundtail chub, longfin dace and speckled dace along with non-native fish as black bullhead, yellow bullhead, largemouth bass, and rainbow trout can be found in many sections of the Verde River, and depend on a healthy river.
So the next time you turn the faucet on for any type of use of water, remember all that you directly affect.
Technical data for this article was gathered from research papers by the Verde River Basin Partnership Primer; Edward Wolfe, Ph.D.; and Gary Beverly.
The opinions expressed above are mine alone and do not necessarily represent the views of the Sedona City Council or any other organization.
17 Comments
John, thank you for this well written and informative article about the Verde River. It is an excellent reminder how important this natural resource is for the entire Verde Valley.
You mentioned that Oak Creek is a major tributary to the Verde River. Does the city have any plans to provide public access to Oak Creek? Right now, there are no public access points within city limits. To the north, the nearest public access is Grasshopper Point. To the south, it would Red Rock Crossing state park. I always lament that I have to leave city limits in order to enjoy recreation opportunities along the creek. It seems like a natural expenditure for the city to perhaps buy some private land along the creek and convert into a public park.
John: Wonderful information, loved reading it. HOWEVER, you are telling us residents we should conserve our water use, be careful how we are using it but, at the same time vote to give the Chamber once again millions of dollars of which much is used to attract an excess of tourists. Those who waste water every day in their hotel rooms, vacation rentals etc. Our lodging industry is not being asked to conserve, not change sheets etc. EVERY day, to install water saving showed heads etc. Oh no, we the residents once again are called upon to suffer for the tourists. It is not enough we have longer lines at gas stations, stores etc. and be subjected to extra cell phone towers because of the heavy use of cell phones and internet by tourists. Plus now the City has blessed a 5G tower in the Chapel area which many scientists have said puts out a much heavier volume of radiation and gives the Chinese, our enemy complete control of date collection on all Americans who use a cell phone which goes directly to the Chinese military. The City blessed it in return for $3500 per month. While several cities in California have banned the towers for health reasons. So due to excessive numbers of tourists us residents have to suffer more radiation into the electric magnetic field. ALSO, citizens who go to the library to use a computer are forced to wait longer times due to tourists who are using them FREE on the County taxes paid by residents. Now John you want residents to conserve water not the tourists who are using up our ground water at an alarming rate and more so in the future. John, Bless Your Heart, you are concerned about water conservation and I do very much appreciate that but, please direct your requests to the lodging industry and ask restaurants to serve glasses of water only on request (that also cuts down on water used washing the glasses). After all we are 10,000 up against millions of tourists. Joan Shannon faithfuljoan@earthlink.net
John,
Please tie sewer rates to water usage. If the city does this, timeshares, hotels, restaurants and residents will have to pay attention to their water usage. California cities pay more attention to water usage than Sedona!
Many thanks,
Tyler Barrett
That is the formula our City is now considering. However, even with that the 60% of residents will STILL carry the biggest burden for the cost of the sewer as we have been doing from day one when it all started. According to our City one person living alone connected to the sewer now pays more than two or more tourists in a hotel room and WHY: Because they say residents are here 24/7, 365 days a year while tourists stay just one or two or even more nights. Does not make sense to me that we are paying higher rates than the tourists and will continue to do so with the new formula being proposed and seriously considered. Once again our City favors the tourists against residents. This will never end.
Joan Shannon faithfuljoan@earthlink.net
JoanGet over it the sewer thing, one of the major expense was running lines up to all the homes And side streets and many people chose not to hook up.the city study showed that commercial tenants are paying more than their fair share it’s not that much money go out and hike they didn’t even raise the sewer fees for the last two years . In any other city the total cost of the sewer project would be born by the users or is it still subsidized with tax dollars and that’s wrong
Well Steve Segner has offered us his opinion and also challenged Joan Shannon in the process. If he wrote anything on target and correct I wouldn’t say a thing about his letter. However, his commentary was wrong in many ways. Here are a few examples to alert and straighten out the reader.
The house sewers do not represent that big a cost in the overall city’s project costs because for one thing the home owner pays for that portion of it which lies behind the property line. As anyone active in the sewer business knows these house sewer costs never amount to a hill of beans.
In our case what jacked costs up so badly was the trench rock excavation and the pumping stations needed to get the sewage to the plant west of town. Ask any of the bidders and that is what they’ll tell you.
Steve, best you retract yourself from this discussion. You are very badly over matched by Joan. She knows what she’s writing about. It’ll save you from being embarrassed.
Well Steve Segner has offered us his opinion and also challenged Joan Shannon in the process. However , his commentary was wrongly based in several ways and here are a few examples to alert and correct the reader’s impression.
The house sewers do not represent that big a cost in the overall of the city’s costs for our sewer construction. For one thing the home owner pays that portion of the house sewer cost for the portion inside the property line. Nor does this item amount to a hill of beans in almost all cases.
In the Sedona case what jacked up costs so badly was the trench rock excavation and the pumping stations lifting the sewage to the treatment facility out west of town. You’ll get confirmation for this from the bidders on the projects to build our sewer system.
Steve, Joan is a very well informed and intelligent lady in town. Best you back your point of view with a stronger set of data and reasons or you will fail to be persuasive.
How did this topic get diverted from John Martinez’s excellent well founded suggestion to conserve water and his plea for the continued preservation of the streams and river in the Sedona area ?
Joan Shannon offered her usual intelligent additional comments and in combination with the contents in John’s letter they both constitute worthwhile information and are thought provoking for the reader to consider.
Let’s not stray into the realm of confusion and loose context.
Why should the sewage treatment facility be subsidized by sales tax?
The city paid for an out side study that showed commercial properties (business and hotels) pay
more then their fair share.
If commercial businesses, Hotels /Visitors, are paying their fair share then it seem the balance should be made up by the other users.
Taking money from sales tax is subsidizing local rates of a service that should be self supporting.
Visitors already supply 70% of city tax income. I know Im not to say this but Locals should pay for what locals use.
Steve , your 7/5 comments have no relation to saving our water resources and assets which John Martinez wrote so completely about so why diverge and interfere. Wouldn’t it be proper to submit your thinking in a letter to the Sedona.biz editor and let the reader receive a complete picture instead of snippets in a confused and disorganized format.
Steve , your 7/5 comments have no relation to saving our water resources and assets which John Martinez wrote so completely about so why diverge and interfere. W
john roberts says:
July 3, 2019 at 10:15 pm
Well Steve Segner has offered us his opinion and also challenged Joan Shannon in the process. However , his commentary was wrongly based in several ways and here are a few examples to alert and correct the reader’s impression.
No, I am just responding to Joan Shannon comments RE: waste water and the cost of operation allocations, MY view is the rates are too low for residents and should go up.
Since the subject got onto sewer rates here is the truth directly from Sheri Wright our Financial Director re sewer rates. The City compares a single home in Sedona to a single hotel room. That means as she explained to me that as a person living alone in the world and paying $63 per month for the sewer rate I am in affect paying a higher rate than two or more persons in a hotel room for one night.The absurd reasoning is that I am here 24/7, 365 days a year and they were staying just one or two nights so my rate should be higher. If that isn’t giving tourist and the lodging history a lower rate than 60% of Sedona residents please explain to me why not. Steve Segner has an arrogant attitude towards residents and has always stated that we should pay a higher rate. He pays $500 per month for twelve hotel rooms, far less than I pay and his guests would be using a much higher rate of water each day. Is it any wonder residents feel City Hall does not listen to them and ignores their concerns when they listen to people like Steve Segner which being head of the Lodging Association they do.
Ms Shannon:
I don’t get how a person who uses a hotel room for one night can be compared to you? My Mom and Dad have stayed at El Portal on several occasions. They stayed 2 2 nights, took showers, brushed their teeth and went downstairs for a hearty breakfast perhaps having a glass of water and then drove to my house in West Sedona. El Portal does not have pool facilities. As you say, you live in your house 24/7/365 I’m sure that you also shower and brush your teeth each day but instead of coming over to visit me you stay home and do your wash, do your dishes and use the bathroom a few times each day. Day after day after day. Maybe you wash your car once in a while? So explain to me how you think hotel guests use more water than locals????
Other than my parents staying at El Portal once a year I don’t know Mr. Segner, never met him but I read a lot about him on this blog and that nasty one. In my opinion, you don’t seem to like people that know their business and know how to share that knowledge with the right people. You, on the other hand, have an opinion about everything and every topic concerning everything “Sedona”. In my opinion, City Hall doesn’t listen to Mr. Segner any more than anyone else, as they seem to listen to EVERYONE but then take that knowledge and make the best choices that will help the City which in my opinion, is GOOD GOVERNANCE. It seems to me that you are frustrated that no one listens to you and I feel bad about that. Perhaps you should stop offering your opinion to people who don’t really care what you have to say.
What ever formula the city come up with is OK by me ,I just think the waste water system should be paid for by users and not subsidized by sales or bed tax.
Homes in Sedona would not be going for $600,000 to millions of dollars if it were not in part for our waste water system.
Yes, my hotels pay around $500.00 p.m.for 12 rooms what does a home renting 3 or 4 or 12 rooms as an Air B&B pay $48.00 $70.00 some Air B&B in Sedona on Hart rd. sleep up to 12 people and they pay $48 to $70 and that is thanks to our governor and his SB 1350 bill. It is what it is.
It is not arrogant to want people to pay their fair share, I trust the cities “out side” study more than a self serving rant by Joan. Over $69.00
I think it is arrogant to ask for a free ride and not want to pay the real cost for city services,
……… Seem just more NIMBY talk and city hate,
TO JOHN DANIELS:[Please keep your comments relative to the topic of the article. Thank you. ~Sedona.biz Staff] When only 60% of residents are on the sewer and are paying a higher rate than the hotel industry and has been since day one and the lodging industry knows and brags about it does not make for a cordial lifestyle in Sedona. As for homes worth a million or more would not be able to be built if it were not for the sewer then someone needs to do the math. We have a huge number of high priced homes not on sewer including ones directly behind where I live selling in the millions. Many subdivisions have their own sewer systems. [Remainder of comment removed.]
Joan Shannon says:
July 7, 2019 at 6:19 pm
[Please keep your comments relative to the topic of the article. Thank you. ~Sedona.biz Staff]
Joan, all I am saying is I trust an out side firm to look at waste water rates better then someone using a made up name.
[Remainder of comment removed.]
Mrs Shannon:
[Please keep your comments relative to the topic of the article. Thank you. ~Sedona.biz Staff]