PIPE SPRING Cultures at a Crossroads: An Administrative History

Water Issues, 1988-1989

The 1984-1986 water study, developments in Moccasin, and annual water use billings to the Tribe led to attempts in 1988 by monument staff to account for all water use from Pipe Spring sources. In the spring of 1988, several meters were installed to monitor water use. (Two connections were still unmetered, one to the watering trough and one to the chicken coop; use was estimated for these.) Even then, there appeared to be no accounting for 30-40 percent of water use. Doug Dewitz was charged with solving the mystery. He spoke with Tribal Housing Director Steve Turner who showed him a valve south of the visitor center, near the site of the old Indian pond. (This was where the Tribe's one-third share had been pumped prior to the water agreement of 1972 and construction of the 1973 Park Service well.) Apparently, at the time of Dewitz's inspection, three stock tanks on the reservation were being continuously supplied with water by this valve. At the time, monument staff appeared not to have even been aware of the valve to the Indian pond. Turner and Dewitz determined the flow to the three stock tanks was 4.48 gallons per minute (gpm), nearly five times the amount agreed upon in the 1972 water agreement, which was one gpm. Dewitz then calculated that Pipe Spring was supplying 5,011.2 gallons per day or 1,829,088 gallons per year over and above the amount agreed to in 1972. Dewitz informed Herr that the valve to the Indian pond would be dug up and have a meter installed on it right away so that the flow could be reduced to the amount originally agreed to. [2314] There appears to have been no fault on the Tribe's part in this matter, but rather Pipe Spring managers had never installed a measuring device to monitor how much water was going to the Tribe's stock tanks. The 1988 discovery suggests that the Tribe may have continued to utilize as much Pipe Spring water after the 1972 agreement as it had before the new well was constructed! [2315]

On May 16, 1988, the Park Service made a request to the Kaibab Paiute Tribe to drill three monitoring wells on the reservation. A meeting was held at Pipe Spring on July 19, 1988, to open discussions about the area's water table levels and to address tribal concerns about the Park Service request to drill new monitoring wells. Hydrologist Rick Inglis and Acting Chief William ("Bill") Werrell (Water Operations Branch) represented the Water Resources Division at the meeting, which was also attended by Bill Herr, Doug Dewitz, Ken Esplin (BIA, Cedar City), Kaibab Paiute Tribal Manager Frederick Cedar Face, Tribal Vice-chairman Tony R. Gutierrez, and Steve Turner (Department of Public Works, Tribe). Three proposed drilling sites were tentatively agreed upon at this meeting. Esplin advised the Park Service that drilling must be preceded by an archeological survey, at Park Service expense. The Tribe asked to receive copies of all existing and future monitoring data. [2316] Ultimately, only one new monitoring well was drilled. In October, under a cooperative agreement with the Tribe, the Park Service drilled a test monitoring well immediately west of the Sevier fault about one-quarter mile north of the monument. The other two observation wells used in the study were an existing well drilled by the Tribe in 1971 and the Park Service well drilled in 1972.

The Water Resources Division continued to monitor area springs and wells for one year before it began evaluating the data collected. A preliminary technical report was submitted in the summer of 1989 for review and comment. The final report, "Water Resources Data of the Pipe Spring National Monument Area, Arizona, 1977-1989," prepared by Rick Inglis, was not completed until October 1990. In June 1989, the WRD's Acting Chief Milton Jackson recommended to Regional Director Mintzmyer that a more intensive water study be undertaken. [2317] The goal was to gather flow rates on the underground aquifer that was thought to be the source of water at Pipe Spring.