Water Fight A Proposal To Extend Water Service To The West Shore Of Newman Lake Is Dividing Community

A thorny debate is churning in the normally quiet community of Newman Lake over a plan to extend public water to the west shore.

The dispute is pitting neighbor against neighbor, and emotions are running high.

“I have received hate mail and hate calls,” said Wendy Burley, who as president of the Newman Lake Property Owners’ Association has been critical of the plan.

State and local officials also are divided over the proposal to run a Moab Irrigation District water line to the 230 acres.

The county’s storm water control expert requested further study of the project, but was overruled by County Commissioner Steve Hasson, who wants the water lines extended as soon as possible.

The arguments boil down to this: What’s more important, a steady supply of fresh drinking water for west-end residents or the health of the lake, which could worsen if the water service prompts more development?

There aren’t any easy answers.

“It’s a tough one,” said Kathleen Small, manager of the Moab Irrigation District. “I’ve got a file on this that’s two feet thick.”

The controversy began a few years ago when several residents contacted Moab about getting public water at their homes and seasonal cabins.

People on the west shore get their water now from private wells or the lake itself. Many of the wells don’t produce much water. Some are contaminated.

Residents who get water from the lake have to use expensive filtration systems and run the risk of health problems from drinking lake water, the quality of which is suspect.

Jim and Lila Van Matre pump water from the lake for household use, like cleaning floors. They carry in their drinking water.

“We are forever concerned about our guests, children and grandchildren becoming ill from accidently drinking the lake water,” the couple said in a recent letter to county commissioners. “We pray that this never happens.”

Resident Ron Gartrel also is concerned about the safety of his current drinking water supply, which comes from a well that recently failed a health test.

“I do have three little ones, and they drink that water and take baths in that water. We want it to be as safe as it can be,” Gartrel said. “That seems like a reasonable request.”

Fire protection is also a concern. There are no hydrants in the area because there are no public water lines.

Tom Wells, regional engineer for the state Department of Health, encouraged Moab to annex the area.

“Anyone with an unfiltered surface source or an inadequate well is at risk,” Wells wrote in a March 22 letter to Moab. “Because of the health need of the area, the annexation should be approved.”

Others aren’t as supportive.

Burley said in a letter to the irrigation district that there are some pitfalls with the extension plan.

About half the area proposed for annexation is undeveloped. Extending water to the land would surely lead to more houses being built, Burley said.

There are no pending developments in the area.

In addition, current summer houses and seasonal cabins could become year-round residences, she said.

The addition of more homes and higher use of existing ones could have a devastating impact on lake water quality, Burley said.

It could lead to more pollution from fertilizers, septic tank sludge and storm-water runoff entering the lake, she said.

“Clearly, this project will have serious environmental impacts,” Burley said in the letter.

Brenda Sims, the county’s storm water utilities manager, sent Moab a five-page letter in which she agreed with most of what Burley said.

Sims was particularly concerned about the possibility of damaging lake cleanup efforts undertaken recently by the Newman Lake Flood Control District.

Newman Lake area residents formed the district some years ago in an effort to raise money to clean up the lake. They tax themselves annually to raise money for that purpose.

The district has spent more than $1 million on lake cleanup projects the last few years, including the installation of an aerator to pump oxygen to the bottom of the lake.

It also has treated the lake with chemicals designed to improve water quality.

“To protect this investment and to prevent the lake from further eutrophication, we need to consider carefully all watershed activities,” Sims said.

She suggested that Moab perform an expensive, time-consuming study to determine all the possible environmental consequences of the plan - a concept Burley and others support.

“That lake is really fragile,” Burley said in a recent interview. “We’re not trying to keep anyone from getting water. We just want Moab to do it right.”

Steve and Linda Underwood predict public water will bring with it more development and its associated problems, like increased traffic and crime.

“We’ve gotten along fine without the (Moab Irrigation District), so why do we need them now,” the Underwoods wrote in a letter to the irrigation district.

Those who support the project say opponents are being selfish and short-sighted.

“I’m concerned about the lake, too,” Gartrel said. “But to try to deprive the rest of us of water because they have this antidevelopment agenda is wrong.”

Small said there are already many homes on the west side of the lake, and more will go up whether there is public water or not.

“I have a real problem with people who say, ‘I’m here. Now close the door,’ ” Small said. “They’re trying to close the barn door, but all they’re catching is the horse’s tail. Most of the horse is already out.”

Sims’ request for an environmental review outraged Newman Lake resident Jean Goulart and also raised the ire of Commissioner Hasson.

“As you know, Brenda Sims has asked for an Environmental Impact Statement, which we were told would cost (proponents) $30,000 to $50,000,” Goulart wrote to commissioners this spring. “These costs, coupled with the time delay involved, seriously cripples our efforts to get what we feel we have a right to - clean water and fire protection.”

Hasson wrote a letter to Moab officials telling them to move forward with the project without compiling the environmental study.

“Hopefully you will be able to extend this water line in short order and thus ensure the residents of Newman Lake a safe drinking water source by this summer,” Hasson said.

The summer time line isn’t likely.

Moab officials still must notify the state Boundary Review Board of their intention to annex the property.

If no one challenges the annexation, it would automatically be approved. But it appears likely - with rhetoric boiling on both sides - that someone will ask the Boundary Review Board to hold hearings on the proposal.

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