In 1977, the Forest Service penned an Environmental Impact Statement weighing the pros and cons of Northland Recreation’s initial expansions on the San Francisco Peaks, which were permitted to take place in 1982. That EIS outlined the risks of operating a ski resort in Arizona, stating the resort could, however, be possible with the understanding of the climate here, that there are going to be periods where there is not sufficient snow. It recommended that good management skills be used to account for the potential for inconsistent seasons.

By the time construction was complete, the ski resort was sold again, and after subsequent expansions, Arizona Snowbowl Limited Partnership bought the ski resort from Fairfield Communities in 1992 and immediately expanded and added a few buildings. In 2001, Snowbowl revealed plans for more development and the use of the city’s reclaimed water to be pumped up the mountain and used to make artificial snow.

On August 30, 5:30 PM at Sinagua High School, Flagstaff City Council will hold a special meeting, open to the public, to discuss whether or not to amend Snowbowl’s existing contract obligating the city of Flagstaff to sell 1.5 million gallons of reclaimed wastewater per day to the ski resort for the purposes of snowmaking or, instead, to sell them “recovered” reclaimed water.

There is no debate about whether “recovered” reclaimed water, also called “stored water” is actually “potable,” or water that meets drinking water quality standards, with minimal treatment. According to the AZ Daily Sun on July 3, “The city of Flagstaff currently deposits unused reclaimed water (what’s left over after watering golf courses, parks) in Picture Canyon and in the Rio de Flag, downstream of two wastewater treatment plants.” The effluent run-off mixes then with the fresh effluent from the treatment plants. As the water moves, some of it evaporates, some of it is absorbed by plant-life, and some of it drops through the natural filtration processes of the rock bed, into the Coconino Aquifer. “The water [taken from the aquifer], after chlorination, is potable and suitable for household use.”

Because “the city gets its water from the Coconino Aquifer, Upper Lake Mary, and a little from the Inner Basin of the peaks,” Snowbowl would be tapping into the city’s drinking water supply. “’I think it’s incredible that we should use our groundwater to support a profit-making corporation,’ said Dick Wilson, a plaintiff in the original 1970’s lawsuit to prevent the ski area from becoming a larger commercial operation,” he told the AZ Daily Sun.

In an early August City Council Meeting, City Councilor Art Babbott, realized there was a high level of confusion among the public regarding the idea that “recovered” reclaimed water is actually of drinkable quality. He proposed to change the language on the amended contract to “Potable Water” instead of Recovered Reclaimed Water and the vote lost 3-4.

The existing contract that the city has had with Snowbowl since 2002 would ensure the sale of reclaimed water–treated sewage effluent—directly from the treatment plant to the ski resort. The amended contract proposes that Snowbowl be permitted to tap the “largest city water line in west Flagstaff” by pumping directly from the Coconino Aquifer.

It is important to realize that 7 months before the idea of selling potable water to Snowbowl was even on the table, a few months after a federal appeals court denied tribe’s religious and cultural arguments against plans approved by the Forest Service to use the city’s reclaimed wastewater to make artificial snow, and right after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to review the decision, the Forest Service and Snowbowl were in court, knee deep in a lawsuit. The suit, brought on by the Save the Peaks Coalition and nine citizens calling for the Forest Service to take seriously the growing public health concerns regarding the safety of using treated sewage effluent to create fake snow. While other resorts make snow, some even from percentages of reclaimed water, Snowbowl is lined up to be the only resort in the world to use 100% reclaimed wastewater to make snow.

According to the Save the Peaks Coalition, “The use of reclaimed sewer water to make snow, however, was not only repulsive to people who hold the San Francisco Peaks sacred, it raised concerns from skiers and the community over the safety of being immersed in, and even eating, snow made from non-potable treated sewage effluent.”

The lawsuit sites the National Environmental Policy Act, which states that the Forest Service is obligated to consider potential impacts the wastewater will have on the quality of the human environment. The Forest Service completely ignored the possibility of human ingestion of snow made from treated sewage effluent in their Final Environmental Impact Statement.

Reclaimed wastewater is not “potable water;” it is not of drinking quality. Reclaimed wastewater treatment plants “take sewage, some storm drain water, and what goes down the kitchen sink or shower drain.” It is loosely filtered to meet current standards in line with the way it is typically used, to irrigate golf courses, city and university parks, playgrounds, and lawns. Wherever the city uses this water, there are clearly posted signs warning citizens not to ingest the water. There has been increased debate in the scientific community regarding the safety of reclaimed wastewater.

“According to the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality regulations, treated sewer water can be graded A+ even when it contains fecal matter in three out of every ten samples.” According to Dr. Abraham Springer, Northern Arizona Professor and director of the School of Earth Science and Environmental Sustainability, “The treated wastewater can meet all applicable water quality standards, but still not be as high of quality as precipitation.”

Aside from what wastewater treatment plants do test for, there are substances that are not tested for regularly, or aren’t tested for at all. Studies of wastewater across the country have found compelling evidence of pharmaceuticals, hormones, endocrine disrupters, industrial pollutants, and narcotics.

Dr. Paul Torrence, Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Northern Arizona University, published work related to a specific toxin called triclosan, which has received a lot of attention in the media during the last few years. Beyond many common anti-bacterial soaps, it is also found in personal care products like toothpastes, deodorants, and face washes, and incidentally, has been found in increased levels in tests of other cities wastewater facility’s water. When triclosan reacts with chloride, it becomes chloroform, which is a carcinogen. When it reacts with ultra-violet rays, it forms different, mega-carcinogens, in the form of poisonous dioxins. This is why the Canadian Medical Association has called for an outright ban of triclosan.

This level of understanding regarding the nature of triclosan is important when one considers the filtration process sewage water goes through before it meets reclaimed water standards. During the oral arguments at the Arizona District Court hearings in Phoenix on July 20th, Forest Service lawyer John Tustin explained the process. “It’s subject to tertiary filtration and ultraviolet disinfection, and there’s an additional hypochlorite, which is essentially bleach, that’s put in very small amounts to maintain residual disinfection.”

Flagstaff residents will remember in early November 2009, U.S. Representative Ann Kirkpatrick, as well as Senators John McCain and Jon Kyl contacted the Department of Agriculture, which overseas the Forest Service, to inquire about the timeline for construction at Snowbowl.

Deputy Agriculture Secretary Kathleen Merrigan said, according to the AZ Daily Sun, that she had “’come to appreciate the complexity and…have held discussions with representatives from the Arizona Snowbowl and the affected Tribes to explore opportunities to address their interests and resolve this situation in a mutually beneficial manner.’”

By the time spring blew into Flagstaff, the AZ Daily Sun reported, “Secret Snowbowl Talks Break Open.” As it turns out, Flagstaff city officials had been holding secret meetings with the U.S. Department of Agriculture to find a solution less offensive to the tribes. Plus, if a new water deal could be worked out with the city, two things happen.

The current lawsuit against the Forest Service, which would force them to more adequately and meaningfully address growing public health concerns about the use of reclaimed water to make snow, would be thrown out. And, to compensate for the extra cost of using potable water, the Department of Agriculture, offered to subsidize the project with a grant funded by taxpayers worth 11 million dollars, though no exact amount has been officially pledged.

“U.S. Sens. John McCain and Jon Kyl blasted the U.S. Department of Agriculture,” reported the AZ Daily Sun in March. “’we oppose the use of taxpayer dollars to subsidize snowmaking iat Arizona Snowbowl, and we will object to any attempt to secure an earmark or congressional approval of this project.’”

Despite the fact that many tribes, particularly the Hopi, who have consistently opposed snowmaking from any source and developments of any kind on the San Francisco Peaks, the Department of Agriculture said that using potable water to make snow would be, according to majority owner of Snowbowl, Eric Borowsky, “preferential to the tribes.” Given that the Forest Service approved both types of water, when pressed by The Noise as to whether the use of reclaimed or “recovered” reclaimed water mattered personally to Borowsky, he asnswerd, “out of respect for the tribes, I want to use this ‘recovered’ water.”

Borowsky says that a statement by the Hopi Water and Land Commission, signed by the chairperson that the USDA was dealing with said the use of “recovered” reclaimed water was preferential to the Hopi Tribe.

Andy Bessler, Sierra Club’s Southwest Regional Representative for their Tribal Partnerships Program, said, “The Hopi Tribe’s general counsel, Scott Canty who most likely wrote and sent the letter to the City on the Tribe’s behalf was fired in part because of sending that letter. The Obama adminstration did not do their homework and consult with the over 13 tribes who have opposed Snowmaking for years. Also, it is not just the snowmaking that is an issue for the tribes: cutting trees, digging in the dirt and more development is also an issue.”

Besides, the Hopi Water and Land Commission doesn’t make decisions like that, the Tribal Council does. On Thursday, May 20, Flagstaff Water Commission met for the first time to discuss whether or not to amend the contract. Though the decision was tabled to give both the commission and the public more time to consider the options, tribal opposition was clear months earlier. In March, Leigh Kuwanwisiwma, director for the Hopi Cultural Preservation Office, and a witness for the Hopi Tribe in the lawsuit over snowmaking with reclaimed water told the AZ Daily Sun, “’The Hopi tribe’s position at this point has not changed. As the lawsuit clearly articulates, we are clearly opposed to snowmaking entirely, from any source of water.’” He went on to say that he told the Department of Agriculture all this when they met the preceding fall.

Plaintiff Bucky Preston, a Hopi farmer, agreed, explaining to the Daily Sun that “snowmaking on the San Francisco Peaks would interfere with sacred instructions passed down through Hopi generations about the proper roles of humans and natural forces on the Peaks. “’It’s against the creator to make snow. That’s not humans’ job.’”

Also opposed to snowmaking of any kind on the Peaks is the Havasupai Tribe. Carletta Tilousi, councilwoman for the tribe, added, “’Making artificial snow for economic purposes is still steps toward abusing sacred mountains. Whatever process they use to make artificial snow is still unacceptable to us Havasupai people,’” she said.

Months later at the May 20 Flagstaff Water Commission meeting, Snowbowl and the Department of Agriculture, were still trying to maintain that using “recovered” reclaimed water had the support of the tribes, citing proof from a supposed letter from the Hopi Tribal Council. Hopi Chairman Le Roy Shingoitewa spoke up. “What you are reading is not a letter from the council; we wouldn’t sign it” And Kuwanwisiwma added, “What you have in front of you from the Hopi Tribal Council is not real. Stored water is still offensive to the values that people have about the Peaks.”

Howard Shanker, the attorney for the Save the Peaks Coalition et al., in the case challenging the Forest Services compliance with NEPA in approving wastewater for use on the Peaks said he received permission that morning from Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley to speak for him and the views of the tribe. In his statement, Shanker addressed many ongoing assumptions, and wanted to make clear that the Navajo Nation is opposed to snowmaking, no matter the source of the water.”

Still, in July, the AZ Daily Sun falsely reported that Shirley “told the Agriculture Department in a letter that potable water would be less objectionable to his and other tribes.”

As of today, the Yavapai, Apache, Havasupai, Hopi, and Navajo have passed resolutions denouncing the use of any source of water to make snow artificially. There shouldn’t be any ambiguity regarding how the tribes feel about potable water. “The Navajo Nation recognizes that clean drinking water is sacred and essential for all living beings, especially in the arid Arizona climate, and should not be wasted on non-essential recreational activities such as snowmaking for a limited skiing population.”

Further, a joint resolution, signed by the Sierra Club, Friends of Flagstaff’s Future, Black Mesa Water Coalition, Grand Canyon Trust, and scores of other organizations, makes a similar argument. “We do not believe it is prudent to use potable water to aid a private business outside city limits in their effort to provide limited recreational opportunities to those who can afford them. The City of Flagstaff has a responsibility to its citizenry to provide a long-term, clean, and healthy drinking water source for essential survival.”

Borowsky, on the other hand, maintains that the project is “aquifer neutral.” Most of the water will be returned to flagstaff,” he told The Noise. “From a hydrology point of view it makes no difference.” When asked him to respond to those residents concerned about a private, for-profit corporation, being sold drinkable Flagstaff water resources, Borowsky responded. “Those people making comments just don’t understand hydrology…90% of the water will recharge the aquifer and 10% will be lost to the little Colorado because of the way the mountain slopes on one side.”

On the other side, Northern Arizona University Professor of Geology Abe Springer, claims otherwise. Six years ago he wrote, of using reclaimed water, “The result of using reclaimed water for snow making is that most of it will go directly into the atmosphere as it sublimates…The DEIS indicates that between half and nearly all of the water applied as snow will be sublimated.”

The justification for selling potable water to Snowbowl for the purpose of snowmaking, as both Borowsky and the Department of Agriculture indicated, was to find a less offensive solution to the tribes. It is clear that they have not found that solution.

And, environmentally speaking, it is clear that there is a lack of clear evidence regarding where the water goes. In 2010, as our city moves toward a more sane and sustainable future, the council has important questions to ask. As Mayor Sara Presler stated after the city laughed Nestle out of town for asking if they can have a third of the water that Snowbowl has allotted, water a year, not a day, and provide 50 year round, sustainable jobs, “’This kind of business is dead on arrival,’ Presler said. ‘It doesn’t pass the common sense test.” Does this one?

HI Charles: I enjoy your paper and enjoyed
the interview with Katie Lee by Kyle Boggs though Kyle is too sloppy when it comes to checking spelling. Still find inexcusable even for a small paper. Sabino Canyon is the correct spelling and Big Bill Broonzy is how you spell Bill’s last name. Lazy journalism results in sloppy journalism.

Not an excuse, more of an explanation. That interview was very long and as I quickly transcribed it from the audio, I obviously didn’t go back and double check everything. For the record though, I did look up Broonzy and he was hard to find. When I did find him, his name was apparently spelled wrong.

I wrote this article on Flagstaff’s newest bike shop for the June issue of The Noise. Then we had to look for a sponsor to make the bike column go. When I found one, we were excited. This article never ran, however, because the last half of the peice sounds like a giant advertisement for Revolution Bicycles. I’m a big fan of the shop, so I don’t mind posting this here.
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Last year, with the greatly informed help of Elson Miles from Bici-Mundo, I rebuilt an old road bike for a good friend. It was great practice for me because I really wanted to learn. My next build would be for me.

After obtaining a steel track frame toward the end of last year on Craigslist, I slowly began picking out components online. When the snow pilled up, I sloshed through town on homemade studded snow tires, arriving at home, eagerly awaiting small packages. Each box seemed to bring me closer to spring.

Pedals, crank, bottom bracket, saddle, handlebars, a stem…I removed each item from it’s packaging and lined them up on floor of my room: yet to be greased, yet to be threaded. Some small parts, a Surly cog and Soma lock ring, I purchased at the counter of Absolute Bikes. I read reviews, imagining if spring would be smoother rolling on Mavic or Velocity wheels, learning the difference between Tange and sealed bearing-headsets, then wondering why such small pieces of metal can cost so much money.

Flagstaff resident Ray Walker convinced me that a good sealed-bearing headset would be less hassle in the long run compared to the Tange-style, which requires a lot of routine maintenance on exposed bearings. A headset is the set of components that creates the smoothly rotatable interface between your frame and fork. It’s a set of bearings that essentially allows you to steer your bike. It arrives in a very small box, but it is a very important piece.

The only problem is that the crown race of my fork, a little cone-shapped nubby that sits at the base of the fork tube was machined to fit a Japanese Industrial Standard, or JIS, 27mm headset, while the sealed bearing headset I wanted fit a slimmer, and more common, 26.4 standard.

Without going into more geeky bike tech stuff, I couldn’t find any bike shop in town that had the tool necessary to perform this modification. I don’t particularly blame them. The Crown Race Cutting Tool made by Park Tools costs close to 350 bucks and it isn’t used very often. C.J. Constantopoulos, owner of Revolution Bicycles, which just opened officially in mid-May, said a few weeks before he was officially open that he was ordering tools, and this cutting tool seemed like a good one to have.

“Really?” I asked. “350 bucks?”
“A good tool is a good investment.” He said, filling out the order information online. I told him, gratefully, that he would be the only shop in town that has it, that I’d tell everyone I know. Done and done.

So, there started my love affair with Flagstaff’s newest bike shop. Some undoubtedly suppose that Flagstaff needs another bike shop like it needs another women’s boutique downtown. After all I can think of 6 other shops off the top of my head. Besides the casual acquisition of rare cutting tools, there is much about this shop that sets it apart from others in town. For one, it specializes in used bikes. And lets face it, there are a lot of great bikes out there that just need a little TLC.

“I had worked as a mechanic in many bike shops in the past and people would always come in and ask, ‘hey, do you guys sell used bikes?’” The only other place in town he could point them to was Bici-Mundo, or a pawnshop.

He also wanted to run Revolution Bicycles as a community space where people can learn to fix their own bikes, by facilitating workshops—like the “Emergency Mountain Bike Repair” workshop he organized in April—as well as giving the community access to shop tools and knowledge. For $15 an hour, community members can have access to a work stand, tools, they can also ask questions and get their work looked over.

In the fall Revolution Bicycles is partnering with Northern Arizona University Outdoors to facilitate Bicycle Maintenance 101, a course open to the community of Flagstaff as well as to NAU students. For students, the course will be good for one academic credit hour, and for community members, the course will cost as much as a one credit class at the University. Bicycle Maintenance 101 will include 25 hours of class time, a course book, and massive discounts on Park Tools bicycle maintenance tool set.

“By the end of the course, [students] should be able to do all basic maintenance stuff, essentially everything a bicycle mechanic would need to know to get a job.” C.J. said he is hoping to offer Bicycle Maintenance 202, an advanced mechanics class that will get into wheel building, fork overhaul, face-chasing, and more.

This, of course, sounds an awful lot like a bike co-op. There are bike co-ops in Phoenix and Tucson, and this was the initial idea for Revolution. After becoming a little disillusioned with the lengthy and complex process of forming a co-op, however, C.J. decided to run Revolution as “a co-op style shop with the support of retail.”

Revolution Bicycles is a dealer for new Jamis and Voodoo bicycles of all varieties. He also has the tools to service Chris King and Cane Creek headsets. But it’s the used bikes that always catch my eye. Beautiful road and single speed bicycles from the 80’s line the racks, cruisers going back 5 decades, and tandem bikes that look more fun than playing mad-libs with strangers.

CJ is also helping to keep NAU’s Yellow Bike Program rolling, by giving them an instructional checklist for routine maintenance. He is also helping with some of the service and will be supplying parts through his shop. He will also soon be working with Flagstaff Shelter Services to fix up the bikes they lone out to employed residents.

The one thing that C.J. really wanted to highlight in our interview is a feature on the shop’s website that allows anybody in town to report a missing, stolen, or, in much happier cases, found bicycles. The database of stolen bikes or components will also help him when he comes across a suspicious bicycle. The website is also more user-friendly than dealing with the police every time a serial number looks modified or components don’t quite fit. Go to flagbikerev.com, and click on “reports.”

C.J. showed me how to use a few tools I had never used before, like a chain whip and a lockring wrench. I watched and took notes, much like I did last year when Elson Miles helped me fix up that old road bike. My first inkling, after realizing I would need these tools was to buy them, but that notion quickly passed when I saw them hanging neatly at the community workspace. Now that I know how to use them, I’ll just come here.

Come celebrate the grand opening of Revolution Bicycles during First Friday events in Flagstaff on August 6th, beginning at 5 PM. Revolution will be hosting a party in the parking lot, with beer and tunes, featuring the Ugly Stick Bruisers, Annie Jump Can, and others. Many varieties of bicycle-related artwork will adorn the walls of the shop, including photography, paintings, jewelry, and possibly even some graffiti art. C.J. said the party will last until the beer is gone and the bands are finished.