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Please see news release (attached and below).
Kaibab National Forest seeks public comment on proposed project to support City of Williams water supply
WILLIAMS, Ariz.,
April 30, 2020 — The Kaibab National Forest is seeking public comment on a proposed project that would replace deteriorating water lines in order to ensure the City of Williams municipal
watershed can provide a reliable and treatable source of water safe for human consumption. The Dogtown Water Line Project Draft Environmental Assessment and detailed proposal information are available for review on the Kaibab National
Forest website at
www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56398. The Kaibab National Forest is proposing special use authorizations to allow the city to continue to maintain and operate an existing water line and to construct,
operate and maintain new potable and raw water lines as well as a sewer line. The lines would run from Dogtown Reservoir to the city's water treatment facility and water distribution system.
The new potable and raw water lines would be installed along portions of the existing water line as well as within a new water line corridor.
The new potable water line would be about 8.9 miles long from Dogtown Well No. 3 to a proposed water tank on the north side of High School Hill. The new raw water line would extend about 8.3 miles from Dogtown Reservoir to the city’s water treatment plant
in downtown Williams. The new sewer line would be less than a mile long and would connect Bearizona, a 160-acre wildlife park just east of Williams, to the city
sewer system. Bearizona currently relies on a vault-and-haul system for disposal of its wastewater, which consists of an on-site tank that stores sewage until it is pumped out and hauled to a wastewater processing facility. The new sewer line would provide
a more reliable, safe and environmentally-beneficial manner of disposing of sewage. The existing water line, which consists of 1.9 miles of potable water line and 6.4 miles of raw water line, would remain in place for system
backup. Water line construction would occur over a two-year period with most work anticipated to take place during the summers of 2020 and 2021. The City of Williams currently transfers 80 percent of the city's water supply in an 86-year-old single system water line. With the current
single water line transporting two water types, the water treatment burden at the city’s treatment facilities is significant due to the unnecessary treatment of potable water.
The addition of new dual-system water line would alleviate the maintenance burden that the existing and aging water line adds and reduce
the overall cost at the city’s water treatment plant by reducing the amount of water treated. The Kaibab National Forest encourages members of the public to provide feedback on the Dogtown Water Line Project Draft Environmental Assessment
during the 30-day comment period. Specific, written comments should be postmarked or sent by June 1, 2020.
Comments must be in writing and may be delivered electronically, by mail or by facsimile. Electronic comments, including attachments, may
be emailed to comments-southwestern-kaibab@xxxxxxxx. Include "Dogtown Water Pipeline Project" in the subject line. Comments may be submitted electronically
in Word (.doc or .docx), rich text format (.rtf), text (.txt), Adobe portable document formats (PDF), or HyperText Markup Language (.html). Submit comments by mail to: Supervisor’s Office, Kaibab National Forest, Attn: Sue Farley, Environmental Coordinator,
800 South 6th Street, Williams, AZ 86046. Send comments via facsimile to (928) 635-8208, and please use the subject line "Dogtown Water Pipeline Project." Full project information is available at
www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56398. Kaibab National Forest information is also available through the following sources:
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Attachment:
1650-1_so_DogtownWaterLineEA_2020_0430.pdf
Description: 1650-1_so_DogtownWaterLineEA_2020_0430.pdf
