San Luis proposes reserving river water to meet future needs

SAN LUIS, Ariz. – The city is at work on a proposal to reserve water from an irrigation district to help meet needs of large businesses and industries looking at locating in San Luis.

City officials say they are looking at reserving 2,000 acre feet of water annually for 10 years from the Yuma Mesa Irrigation and Drainage District (YMIDD).

That amount represents about half of the total amount of water now consumed within San Luis. The city currently gets all of its water from wells.

Jenny Torres, the city’s economic development director, recently presented the proposal for an agreement to the city council as an option for meeting future demand brought about by the arrival of new industries to San Luis.

“From the perspective of economic development, we know that water has become a very valuable asset,” she said. “There are manufacturing companies that are looking at us and I believe it’s because we have water,” she said.

“I believe that whoever has water is going to have an advantage,” she added, “and whatever opportunity we can have to have any resource is worth it.”

Torres said the proposal to receive surface water from the irrigation district came about during a study of water availability, when the irrigation district

indicated that 2,000 acre feet of water would be available annually to the city for future use.

Elogio Vera, the San Luis public works director, said the city is working on a proposed agreement under which an allocation of Colorado

River in that amount would be reserved to the city each year for 10 years. The city would pay a fee to reserve the water and then an additional amount depending on how much water it actually drew.

The city would be more likely to use district water in the long rather than short term, Vera said, although

it could begin drawing water sooner than later if it succeeds in luring a large industry that would need additional water.

The district said it could not comment on an agreement since it has not yet received a formal proposal from the city.

An agreement would be subject to final approval by

the city council and the irrigation district’s board of directors.

“The reason why we are seeking this is because San Luis is becoming more attractive for bigger projects, more attractive to bigger businesses that need more water,” Vera said.

He added that some prospective industries have

said they will need more water than can be provided by the city wells currently being used.

But, he added, the agreement would require the city to spend up to $25 million on water treatment upgrades, given that the cost of treating surface water is higher than that of treating ground water.

Added to that would be the cost of underground pipes and other infrastructure needed to carry the water from the city’s northeast side about eight miles to the water treatment plant.