Proposed pipeline to aid Rosemont facing obstacles

The pipeline is key for Rosemont to be able to keep its pledge to replenish the aquifer from which it would pump groundwater to serve the mine it plans to build in the Santa Rita Mountains.

The eight-mile line would be operated jointly by Rosemont and Community Water Co. of Green Valley. Their goal is to get construction started by 2013 and the pipeline running by 2014 - when the mining company wants to start operations.

But Tucson Water has refused to let that pipeline connect to an existing CAP recharge site, over whose use the city water utility claims partial control and where the new line would tap into CAP water. Farmers Investment Co., the Sahuarita pecan grower that opposes the mine, has also expressed interest in connecting to that site for a pipeline it wants to build.

There are ways around this hurdle. But they require approval of a Tucson-Central Arizona Project legal agreement by the City Council and money for a new bridge to carry the line.

If those hurdles aren't overcome, building the pipeline would take longer, raising the possibility that Rosemont would be pumping groundwater without recharging for a time. Still, Community Water Co. officials remain optimistic.

Here are questions and answers about the issue:

Q. What is recharge?

A. In this case, some of the Colorado River water brought here by CAP canals would be placed into human-built basins to seep into the aquifer, to compensate for the mine's water pumping.

Q. How would the pipeline work?

A. Community Water Co. wants to run it from the existing Pima Mine Road CAP recharge site in the Sahuarita area to its proposed recharge site near Green Valley. It would cost at least $15 million. Rosemont Copper has pledged to pay that, although no formal financial agreement has been signed, only a letter of intent.

The line's environmental assessment has been approved by the U.S. government. The project needs approvals for its recharge site from the state Land and Water Resources departments and may need Arizona Corporation Commission approval. Eventually, Community Water Co. would use the pipeline to bring its CAP water for Green Valley use.

Q. What is the existing recharge facility, and why won't Tucson Water let the new line connect to it?

A. The Pima Mine Road recharge facility in the Sahuarita area has been used to replenish CAP water for years for the Tucson and Green Valley areas.

Tucson says it controls the rights to about 40 percent of the capacity of the two-mile-long, existing pipeline that delivers CAP water to that facility from the CAP's terminus at Pima Mine Road. Tucson Water says it has declined to let the Community Water-Rosemont pipeline tap into its share of the existing line's capacity because it wants the City Council to decide.

"Given the political controversy surrounding the Rosemont Mine, this is not an issue that Tucson Water staff is going to handle on its own. It's not an engineering issue. It's not a water resources issue. It's a political issue," said Chris Avery, a principal assistant city attorney.

Q. Can this roadblock be circumvented?

A. A possibility is for the CAP to expand the existing pipeline to the Pima Mine Road facility from 24 to 36 inches in diameter. CAP would use that capacity to accommodate the extra water for the new pipeline. That would require a legal agreement with Tucson to ensure that the city doesn't claim any say over who has access to the additional water capacity. The city's Avery said the Tucson Water staff is open to such an agreement and it's being negotiated with CAP, although it would need City Council approval.

But upgrading that water line will require upgrading an existing bridge over the Santa Cruz River. The 42-year-old bridge - run by Sahuarita - isn't strong enough to handle an expanded pipeline. The town already plans to expand the bridge, which has 20-ton load restrictions for trucks. That would cost $5 million, and the town is $3 million short, said Farhad Moghimi, Sahuarita's town engineer and public works director.

Community Water and Rosemont have offered $1 million toward the expanded bridge, said Arturo Gabaldon, the water company's president. Gabaldon said he's confident of being able to connect his line to the Pima Mine Road recharge site.

"Today, our company is working with the CAP. We have a CAP allocation. We have to get CAP water to our service area," Gabaldon said.

Q. What happens if the bridge and pipeline aren't expanded, or if the City Council rejects the plan?

A. Then, Community Water Co. would extend the new pipeline two miles west to the existing Pima Mine Road terminus of the CAP - taking five to 10 years. That's always been the long-term plan for the water company but it would prefer not to have to do all that right now, Gabaldon said.

Q. Does it make sense for Tucson to block Rosemont and Community Water's plans?

A. One attorney who said "No" was the late Hugh Holub, who was running a nonprofit operation known as Center for Sustainable Development at the time of his death last month. Over the summer, Holub said in an interview that because Rosemont Copper has the legal right to pump groundwater, it made no sense to stop that pipeline because that would mean Rosemont would simply deplete an already-compromised aquifer in southern Pima County.

Q. Where do Farmers Investment Co. and its pecan groves come into the CAP pipeline picture?

A. FICO has planned its own pipeline, to take CAP water east from the Pima Mine Road recharge facility to a recharge site near its groves in Sahuarita. The company is working on final engineering specifications, and is negotiating with the CAP and Tucson to get access to the recharge facility.

FICO, which pumps far more groundwater than Rosemont would, has long been a sharp critic of the Rosemont-Community Water line.

Without a formal legal agreement between Community Water and Rosemont Copper, and without government approvals in place, "the CWC-Rosemont pipeline proposal is simply a PR ploy to benefit Rosemont," said David Steele, a FICO spokesman.

Wrong, Gabaldon replied. "The engineering and design for this line have been paid for. We did the entire environmental assessment. There's been a lot of money spent and more money yet to be spent. We believe it's happening and we are moving forward."

Contact reporter Tony Davis at tdavis@azstarnet.com or 806-7746.