BISBEE — A study to determine water use by rural county residents will be under way July 1, thanks to a unanimous vote of the Cochise County Board of Supervisors during Tuesday’s meeting.
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The study was determined to be necessary to fill in the gaps on water use throughout the county as well as determine if the 312 gallons per day per person as averaged in the state are applicable to rural county residents.
Carl Robie, coordinator of the county water conservation department, said the information from the study will provide a realistic view of just how much well water people use in the rural areas. Presently, the county has been going by the state figure, which may or may not represent rural well water use in Cochise County.
Robie said a number of water meters have been purchased and were being adapted to telephonic-read so that information could be gathered almost at real time. The meters will be hooked up at the pressure tank. Participating residents would have to have an Internet hook-up so the readings could be taken, so the wells would have to be within 200 feet of the homes. Meters will cost $160 to be installed, which will be at the county’s cost.
So far, 12 county residents have volunteered to have their wells monitored, he added. But to make the study viable, 475 wells are needed and they must represent a cross-section of rural lifestyles. Someone with a swimming pool is going to use more water, perhaps, than someone without one.
All information about water use and the participants will be kept confidential. All residents who volunteer will sign an agreement that ensures their rights to privacy, and their names will not be sold or released to anyone, according to the agreement.
“We will not know who is participating. We don’t care how much or how little they use. Only the university will have contact names,” Robie told the supervisors. “The county is not interested in stipulating any regulations on private wells.”
Wells are to be monitored for a year and then the data will be complied for a report, Robie added.
“This is critical information that we need to assess the county’s water picture,” Supervisor Pat Call said.
The supervisors also approved the tentative plat for the 142-lot residential conservation subdivision Morning Star Airpark near Sunsites.
Lots will range in size from 1.29 acres to 1.45 acres and are expected to be mostly for second or third homes, county planner Susana Montana said.
There was some discussion about a railroad easement that crosses a portion of the 483.78 acres, but since the easement lies in an area that will remain undeveloped, it was not considered to be a sticking point.
Newly appointed Deputy Chief Rod Rothrock was given the go-ahead to investigate cold cases now that a DNA database has been established by the state. The Department of Public Safety will fund the deputies and investigators who work on such cases, he said.
“Now that the state has accumulated a sufficient DNA data base, it’s feasible to review previously unsolved cases ... If DNA was taken at the time or the crime, we can run that DNA through the system and determine the identity of a suspect and present the case to the county attorney’s office,” Rothrock explained.
A great deal of research will have to be done to determine which cases can be re-opened and that families of victims of old cases should call the sheriff’s office, Rothrock added.
The supervisors approved four work sessions as well. They are: a presentation by the University of Arizona on the fiscal impacts of certain residential development in the county and on a sustainable subdivision design for a proposed residential development in Palominas; to discuss the future of area comprehensive plans and whether or not to update such plans; to discuss an update of annual work plan for the county highway and floodplain department and Highway User Revenue Funds; and to preview the new county Web pages and discuss the content and functionality of them.
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