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1 Dana Partridge From: Monte Smith <[EMAIL REDACTED]> Sent: Wednesday, February 16, 2022 5:42 PM To: Shawn Nickel Subject: Impact of the Willowbrook Proposal on the water supply Attachments: Ground Water Budget.png Hello Mayor and City Council, The water component of the Willowbrook proposal has been bothering me for some time. I remember the Mayor's State of the City message where he concluded from the attached slide that we have plenty of water for development. When I look at the slide, I see that there is 1,056,600 AF/yr total outflows from the groundwater system and 1,098,700 AF/yr total inflows to the groundwater system. When I divide the outflows by the inflows, I get .96. correct me if I'm wrong, but that tells me that 96% of the water coming into the system is going out. So, we seem to have only a 4% buffer in this system. If we keep developing more housing, more water will be taken out of the system. When we get to the point where there is more coming out than going into the aquifer, the levels in the aquifer will begin to drop and more wells will run dry. As we turn more agricultural land into residential land, we will also lose the recharge to the aquifer that is being generated by canal leakage and flood irrigation for the crops that were formerly planted. ---PAGE BREAK--- 2 There is also a seasonality issue that was not discussed. When the surface water for irrigation flows in the spring and summer, more surface water is recharging the aquifer than in the fall and winter. So, it is possible that the aquifer level will rise and fall with the seasons...something we don't want because we can't afford wells going dry due to seasonal variations in aquifer levels. Additionally, no one really knows if the groundwater aquifers in the Valley and those under the mesa where the Willowbrook development will be are the same. Right now, wells are drilled to 600 ft. in Hillsdale while they are drilled to about 300 ft. in the Valley, even though there is only about a 150 ft. difference in altitude between the two areas. What might that mean? During Workshop 2, Nate Mitchell said Willowbrook would be happy to be responsible for problems that are theirs, but wouldn't volunteer to fix the water problems of Hillsdale. Do you see potential legal issues arising between WB and Hillsdale, with the City of Star in the middle? And then there's the drought. Regional reports say it's the worst one since the 1500s. Are you sure that there will be enough water for this development, and all the surrounding developments being planned? Wouldn't it be smart to require WB to prove sufficient water availability for all the homes and the golf course they are planning? ---PAGE BREAK--- 3 Thank you for your attention to this. We appreciate it. Monte Smith [PHONE REDACTED] 10257 W. Lanktree Gulch Rd. ---PAGE BREAK---