McKinley County Water Board
M I N U T E S
McKinley
County Complex
MEMBERS PRESENT:
Edward Wemytewa Pueblo
of Zuni
Charley Long, Sr. Thoreau
Chapter
Jonathan Flannery GIMC
Loline Hathaway Yah-ta-Hey WSD
Sherry Botkin Thoreau WSD
Rhonda Berg Rehoboth Red Mesa
Foundation
facilitators/staff:
Larry Winn McKinley Soil &
Water Conservation District
Evan Williams Northwest New
Mexico Council of Governments
A.
Charley Long, Sr. moved, and Sherry Botkin seconded
to approve the minutes of October 13, 2004. The motion was approved by acclamation.
Item #4 stimulated discussion around taking formal action and presenting to the County Commission that they accept a recommendation to approve a resolution or policy that would guide the distribution of the EGRT fund.
Jonathan Flannery stated that it made sense that the County Commission would “use the Water Board as a screen” to make recommendations to the McKinley County Commission. Larry Winn added to imagine “if the Gallup Water Board was around to rule on giving 1 million galloons of effluent for a powerplant project”. He also added that this would grant the County Water Board a more active role and that they should make a formal presentation on adopting a policy. Larry Winn also added that the knowledge of the County Water Board is limited but greater than that of the Commission, and our involvement would not usurp the authority of the Commission to vote up or down, it would just give them a thoughtful recommendation. Jonathan Flannery stated that it could set a precedent of decision-making structures for the County.
ACTION: To put a presentation together; then get the Water Board together to make a formal presentation to the Commission.
B. Discussion: Sustaining Small Systems. Larry Winn introduced this topic that stemmed out of last months discussions, and how he felt it is an important topic to revisit from time to time. Loline Hathaway opened discussion by stating that April from NMED would be available to attend a meeting, as well as, Tracy Svanda. Loline shared with the group in talking with these folks that in Las Cruces, there are companies who specialize and contract with water associations to operate their small systems and then just report to the Board. It makes sense and could be a business opportunity in this area. It was revisited that a previous action was passed to plan a forum for these type of speakers and maybe these companies should be invited as well.
Edward Wemytewa talked about metering and operating difficulties in Zuni and the need for the classes/courses at local institutions to get trained employees. He also highlighted difficulties with the cost structure – where in Zuni they charge a flat-fee of $10 across the board to citizens and it is leading to financial hardships. Larry Winn asked Edward about the situation with the new area under the Zuni Basin Adjudication, and Edward mentioned that there would be farming/irrigation and that water will be free but infrastructure will have a cost. Rhonda Berg added that maybe Zuni could use this experience to start up a tribal enterprise like NTUA and provide services to other small communities for a price. Edward responded by saying that Zuni still needs to get to the next level that “Zuni is just maintaining”, and they need to be “a step-ahead, raising the what-if questions”.
Larry Winn and Edward reengaged the need for training classes at the local college branches. Larry Winn stated that Zuni built a state-of-the-art system and they need the human and local capacity to operate the system. Larry also added that if a Zuni person got trained they could spin off assist or a company. Loline Hathaway mentioned that proper planning is essential to thinking through and maintaining a water system. Larry Winn felt that outreach to help rural areas understand what the engineering infrastructure needs are in their communities. Marc DePauli is kind of doing this but, NM Rural Water Users and NM Rural Water Association is also available to offer these resources.
1.
Dr. Weiner has wrote several letters against
activists claims on the health effects of uranium mining.
2. Larry Winn – Is in-situ mining safe? To which Dr. Weiner answered – “yes”.
3. There is a world market for uranium, if not mined here, it will be somewhere else.
4. Uranium exists as a carbonite in nature, meaning you can dissolve it. The solution mining process uses oxidized water to strip the uranium from the rock particles. Then the mineral becomes more soluble and is pumped out from the ground, which is very different from underground mining. Underground mining accounts for over 200 deaths a year. It is terrible to for the health of its workers and to the environment. But in-situ mining is a much safer method of mining.
5.
What does it do to water?
(a) The process is to extract uranium from water.
(b) Effluent water is cleaned through RO process and then pumped back into the aquifer. Radon levels will exist but at similar levels then when water is first extracted.
(c) The opposition will argue that it contaminates an aquifer that is used as drinking water. (* McKinley County does need to know what their aquifers are used for now – get a hydrologist to study this.)
(d) After water is pumped back into the ground it will not meet drinking water standards. The aquifer should not be connected to any aquifer that is used for drinking water.
6.
Assumptions:
(a)
HRI will put water back into the ground the same way it came
out.
(1)
We can ask for:
(a)
Split samples – independent lab to test.
(b)
Spot samples.
(c) Ongoing data procedure – industry should go along with this.
(b) Has this mining been done in other places? Dr. Weiner answered by saying she thought in Texas and that it would be worth investigating.
7.
Old Mill Tailings Clean-up (Remediation)
(a) All minerals in the water have been acceptable.
(b) Colorado example had acceptable mineral ratio in water to State standards. They stopped the leeching process and used a chemical cleanup process.
8. If you got paid millions of dollars to present for the opposition – what would be the counter-arguments – against In-situ Mining?
(a) Dr. Weiner – “We will have to use that water as drinking water someday.“ “How can we be sure we will have the water replaced at the same mineral levels.” Also the intersecting aquifer argument that aquifers crossover and this crossover will effect the aquifers we use for drinking water.
Evan
Williams, Associate Planner
Northwest
New Mexico Council of Governments