PINE-STRAWBERRY WATER IMPROVEMENT DISTRICT
Dear PSWID Water Customers,
Our goal, as the Board of Directors of the Pine-Strawberry Water Improvement District, is to ensure that we secure access to and provide clean, safe drinking water for our current customers and for future growth. Our efforts over the past few years have been focused on replacing old leaky water lines, improving, and rehabilitating existing wells, and drilling a new replacement deep well. The improvements in line quality and enhanced water from existing wells have been significant, insomuch that we have been able to revise the new service moratorium to allow for five new connections each month (since September 2023). We are pleased with that progress.
We have, however, run into delays in drilling and putting into service the new replacement deep well. The primary purpose of this communication is to state clearly what has happened and where we stand regarding the new replacement deep well. We obtained low-interest funding to drill and commission the well. We carefully selected a site in Strawberry for the new replacement deep well that, with the various constraints on us, was the best option. Strawberry made sense because four of our existing wells there were evaluated and are no longer viable. The District sends between 1.5M to 2M gallons of water a month from Pine to Strawberry currently We went to bid, selected contractors, and began to drill the well. The drilling was moving along well.
As you may know, in the middle of the process, a set of neighbors and customers in Strawberry brought a lawsuit against PSWID, claiming that the new replacement deep well violated statues of the neighborhood’s Deed of Restrictions. Despite our arguments, which we believed were compelling, the litigants’ efforts to halt the development of the new replacement deep well proved successful for them two weeks ago in court. A county judge in Payson ruled that we must stop drilling for now. The judge also noted that District has two actions that could result in the new replacement deep well being finished and commissioned as we would like. We can appeal the decision in the courts or go through an eminent domain process, which is also known as condemnation. To be clear, this would not result in the District acquiring anyone’s real property; it is simply allowing the District to resume construction of the well site on its own property. The Board is studying the options and has every intention of finding a legal path forward to finish the well on behalf of our customers.
This verdict will cost the District in several ways – additional legal fees, increased cost of drilling as the result of our drilling contractor having to stand down, demobilize, and then mobilize again later when we are successful as well time delays. It is uncertain for now if and how these costs will impact on our customers, but it is a possibility.
We are disappointed that the actions of a few will cost us all our time and money. Rest assured we made serious efforts to settle the issues and accommodate the neighbors’ concerns, which were continually dismissed without counterproposals. But we, as the Board, will move forward with our overarching goal of providing plenty of clean water for our community.
Best regards. The PSWID Board