Staff Report
The Navajo-Hopi Observer
02 September 2010
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz.
- In a vote of 5-2, the Flagstaff City Council voted against
selling drinking water to Arizona Snowbowl ski resort for
snowmaking.
The Flagstaff
Water Commission had recently recommended that the council
consider a request to sell drinking water to Snowbowl for
artificial snowmaking rather than using reclaimed wastewater.
The decision to
use potable water instead of treated wastewater was made in part
to quell concerns from environmentalists and tribal members that
use of reclaimed wastewater would contaminate the San Francisco
Peaks, which a number of Native American tribes in New Mexico
and Arizona deem sacred.
Today's decision
is likely to delay current snowmaking efforts at Snowbowl until
federal courts can rule on whether reclaimed water is safe for
such use.
Mayor Sara
Presler and council member Karla Brewster each supported the
sale of drinking water to Snowbowl, while council members Art
Babbott, Scott Overton, Al White, Celia Barotz and Coral Evans
opposed the sale of drinking water.
Further details
are forthcoming.
|