The "Town Too Tough to Die" is worried about running dry.
The 1,380 residents of the city of Tombstone get more than half their water from five springs in the Huachuca Mountains - springs that were obliterated along with portions of the city's aqueduct in recent post-fire floods.
It's the worst damage to the 130-year-old aqueduct since the earthquake of 1887, said Tombstone archivist Nancy Sosa.
For the time being, Tombstone's 700 water customers are being supplied from the city's two wells, but that can't continue indefinitely, said City Clerk/Manager George Barnes.
Relying totally on groundwater depletes an aquifer critical to the health of the San Pedro River and its conservation area, Barnes said.
It also brings more arsenic into the city's water supply. One of the city's wells is near EPA safety limits, Barnes said.
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Plus, it makes no sense to pay $10,000 a month in electric bills when the alternative is simply letting water roll downhill from the Huachucas in a 30-mile-long nickel-steel pipe that was installed in 1881 by the Huachuca Water Co.
Tombstone bought the pipeline and the water rights in 1946.
The water flows from five springs in Miller and Carr canyons to a low point at the San Pedro River. At that point, the line is charged with up to 1,400 pounds per square inch of pressure, Barnes said, enough to bring it uphill to Tombstone's 1.2 million-gallon reservoir.
Barnes figures the city will need $250,000 to restore its water infrastructure and fortify it against repeated flooding.
The watersheds of Miller and Carr canyons were severely burned in this summer's 30,526-acre Monument Fire.
Subsequent rains have caused mudslides and debris flows.
Sosa said she uncovered the original maps of the springs and pipelines that the engineers are using to find buried infrastructure.
"The floods obliterated ground traces of where the springs are," she said. "Every time it rains up there, there is a significant amount of change that occurs."
There is no money in the city budget for rebuilding, Barnes said.
He said the governor, area legislators and Senate and congressional offices are involved in helping the city find emergency money and infrastructure grants.
Contact reporter Tom Beal at tbeal@azstarnet.com or 573-4158.
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