Approve Municipal Effluent Option Agreement providing the County the right to purchase a minimum of 200-acre feet of effluent from the City of Bisbee for $35,000 for a five year period.

Update: August 13, 2018:
After approval by the Cochise County Board of Supervisors on June 18, 2019, the option agreement was reviewed by the City of Bisbee and presented to their Council on July 16, 2019 with changes and approved. County Administrator, Ed Gilligan will present those changes to the Board of Supervisors today, recommending approval.

Background from June 18, 2019 Special/Executive Board of Supervisors Meeting:
The County seeks to secure a water source necessary to support a large-scale recharge project focused upon maintaining the baseflows and supporting the riparian habitat of the San Pedro River in the Palominas area (the “Bisbee Effluent Project”).  Modeling indicates that the Bisbee Effluent Project requires a minimum of 200-acre feet of water annually to accomplish its intended purpose. 
 
The City of Bisbee (“City”) operates the San Jose Water Treatment Facility, which currently discharges approximately 360-acre feet of treated wastewater (“Effluent”) annually.  The City can thus pledge the minimum 200-acre feet of Effluent for use in the Bisbee Effluent Project, thereby ensuring beneficial use of a renewable water resource for watershed enhancement purposes while reducing demand for non-renewable water supplies. 
 
Representatives of the City and County have met and discussed terms of an agreement that grants the County the option to purchase a minimum of 200-acre feet of Effluent from the City.  Among other material terms, for a payment of $35,000 from the County to the City, the County would have the option to purchase a minimum of 200-acre feet of Effluent annually from the City.  Although the purchase price is $35,000, the County anticipates that the Nature Conservancy, which is not a party to the Agreement, will nonetheless support the purchase by contributing $10,000 towards the purchase price.   Thus, the County’s actual anticipated cost is $25,000.  The term of the option under the Agreement is five (5) years from the Effective Date, and the option terminates if construction on the underlying Bisbee Effluent Project does not commence within 5 years from the Effective Date.   
 
The proposed Agreement is an option to purchase only and does not obligate the County to use the Effluent or complete the Bisbee Effluent Project itself.  However, this Agreement does ensure an available water source, and securing a water source is important to moving forward with the Bisbee Effluent Project.  Entering this Agreement is an important first step in moving forward with the Bisbee Effluent Project, which promotes water conservation and security in the County and is thus consistent with the County’s Comprehensive Plan.  The Agreement gives the County several years to work with other partners and funding sources to evaluate economically feasible design options for the Bisbee Effluent Project with the confidence that a water source is readily available while the other pieces of this complex project are put into place.
 

If approved, the County and City of Bisbee will move forward with the terms of the agreement.

If not approved, the County would not have an option to purchase the effluent, and would not have a water source available to support the contemplated Bisbee Effluent Recharge Project.

Two originals: Send one fully-executed original to the City of Bisbee, Attn: City Clerk Office, PO Box 4601, Bisbee, AZ 85603 and retain one for scanning/filing purposes for the Clerk of Board.