Consideration and Approval of Joint Funding Agreement between the United States Geological Survey and the City of Flagstaff for continued funding towards the C-aquifer Monitoring Program in the amount of $74,288.

1. Approve the Joint Funding Agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) to contribute $74,288 from October 1, 2020, to September 30, 2023; and
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute the necessary documents

Staff recommends the Council approve this Joint Funding Agreement with the USGS to continue funding the City's portion of the C-aquifer Monitoring Program for another three years. The City relies on groundwater resources from the C-aquifer, as do other cities, towns, and tribes. The purpose of this agreement is to provide funding to monitor and track baseline data on water level elevations and streamflow trends before the development of new supplies. This is critical to understanding the potential impact that new development has on water resources. Since 2012, this USGS Program has been funded by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Navajo Nation, and the City. The Program expanded in FY 2020-21 to include funding of other stakeholders in the Little Colorado River Watershed, including Arizona Public Service, Arizona Department of Water Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife, and the Coconino Plateau Watershed Partnership.

This Council Action commits the City to a total of $74,288 over three years, of which $50,100 is budgeted in Water Fund, Water Resources Section account 202-08-304-1061-0-4206 Consultant Fees at $16,700 per year. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Coconino Plateau Watershed Partnership will provide the remaining $24,188 as a pass-through from the agencies to the City over the three-year period.

Priority Based Budget Key Community Priorities and Objectives
Regional Plan

Yes. Council approved the initial Joint Funding Agreement with the USGS for the C-aquifer Monitoring Program on 7/3/12, and a renewal on 5/19/15, for $10,000 annually. Council approved a renewal on 11/7/17 for $16,700 annually to add data interpretation and a summary report to the agreement. In FY 2020-21, FY 2021-22, and FY 2022-23 the additional $6,700 supports the City's portion of a streamflow gauge in Chevelon Creek and development of an interactive Program website on the USGS page. The annual cost for the streamflow gauge is shared with the partners mentioned above. On-going City funding of this Program started in FY 2012-13.

1. Authorize the signing of the Joint Funding Agreement with the U.S. Geological Survey and maintain a collaborative partnership in monitoring the C aquifer.
2. Do not authorize the Joint Funding Agreement between the U.S. Geological Survey and the City. This option would require the other partners to either re-scope the C-aquifer Monitoring Program with reduced funding or to make up the cost difference.

The C aquifer Monitoring Program was established in 2005 as an agreement between the U.S. Geological Survey and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Navajo Nation, to evaluate baseflow within Chevelon Creek, Clear Creek, and part of the Little Colorado River and collect water level elevations of the C-aquifer over time. The program area spans from Wupatki and east Flagstaff to Chevelon Creek and the Little Colorado River near Holbrook. Data and results from this project are important to the City as the City will be asked to demonstrate what impact the City has made on the C aquifer and what the City's proposed pumping at Red Gap Ranch (RGR) will have on the surrounding resources that rely on the C aquifer. Additionally, many surrounding communities pump groundwater from the C aquifer, including Doney Park, Mountainaire, Kachina Village, Forest Highlands, Flagstaff Ranch. Lastly, regional aquifer systems see a delayed response to shifts in climate.

The objectives of the project are to: 1) establish baseline conditions in the C aquifer prior to significant additional groundwater development, 2) evaluate baseflow in the Little Colorado River, Clear and Chevelon Creeks, 3) document changes in flow and water quality of the C aquifer, 4) inventory and characterize spring resources, and 5) begin report development of data collected from water year 2012 to 2018 and publish a report during FY2019-20. The USGS expanded the C aquifer Monitoring Program in FY 2020-21 to include new partners and expanded monitoring by adding a stream-flow gauge on Chevelon Creek, an important riparian habitat supported by baseflow from the C aquifer. New funding partners in the Little Colorado River Basin contributing to this study include the Arizona Public Service, Arizona Department of Water Resources, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Coconino Plateau Watershed Partnership. This new partnership demonstrates the City's Performance Based Budgeting objective to increase the private sector's participation in environmental stewardship efforts as staff were leaders in developing interest among the partners to reinstate and fund the stream gauge.

The work covered under this agreement will also satisfy Provision No. 3 written in the 2011 Stipulation between the City and the Navajo Nation (Superior Court of the State of Arizona, Civil No. 6417), part of which states: "The Parties agree to work cooperatively and in good faith to evaluate environmental impacts, if any, from both the City's pumping of Underground Water at Red Gap Ranch and the Navajo Nation's pumping of Underground Water along the south-western portion of the Navajo Nation." 

Data from this Program has been used as baseline information for the first public groundwater flow model developed for northern Arizona by the U.S. Geological Survey (U.S. Geological Survey Scientific Investigations Report 2010-5180, 2011). This model, the Northern Arizona Regional Groundwater Flow Model, was the base model for an evaluation of proposed groundwater pumping by both parties, in the December, 2015 publication "Red Gap Ranch - Leupp Groundwater Flow Model" conducted by Southwest Ground-water Consultants. The collaborative study was funded through a $300,000 grant to the City from the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.

The below totals include those contibutions in this IGA as well as funds received outside the IGA by other partners in FY 2020-21:

• Navajo Nation (FY 2020-21 request) $50,000
• City of Flagstaff (with funding from Coconino Plateau Watershed Partnership and US Fish & Wildlife Service) (FY 2020-21) $32,540
• U.S. Geological Survey (USGS Cooperative Match Program) $12,500
• Arizona Public Service (APS) $5,840
• Arizona Department of Water Resources $5,840

FY 2020-21 Total Program costs $106,720

There is a greater benefit to the community, to universities, and to agencies by the City continuing to fund this project. Research agencies and universities depend on quality time-series data for scientific studies. Because the information collected under this agreement is derived from remote areas of northern Arizona, it can be used to evaluate a regional response to climate less influenced by local groundwater pumping, and more so of long-term trends in the greater groundwater system related to aquifer and resource sustainability and changing climate conditions.