SAN SIMON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Gov. Katie Hobbs made her way around the state on Thursday. One of her stops was in San Simon to check on the progress of the installation of a new well for the community.
San Simon has experienced multiple water outages in the last few years, which is why the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) issued the San Simon Water District a grant to dig a new well and to improve its systems to better treat the water.
"It relieves a lot of stress. So hopefully we'll be able to reliably depend on the water," said Chuck Fickett, board chair for the San Simon Water Treatment District.
He says the old infrastructure caused the well to stop pumping at times, and repair times sometimes made it go for days without providing water to the community.
The ADEQ issued a $1.5 million grant for the well. A $1.7 million grant from the USDA is helping to cover the remainder of the costs for the treatment systems.
"We have a lot of water challenges facing the state. They've been kicked down the road for a really long time,” said Governor Katie Hobbs. “If we're going to continue to be able to grow the economy to benefit Arizonans, create the opportunity that we're trying to create, we have to tackle our water challenges and make sure that we are securing the water future for generations.”
The treatment is to help with the high levels of fluoride, which Fickett says happens naturally. When asked what they would have done with the grants, he said, "(We'd) live with it," because of the high cost to drill a new well.
"The cost of drilling a well is just prohibitive. and, you know, and the rate payers would have to pay the bill," Fickett said. "We have got a lot of people that are low-income and can't afford that."
The inconsistent flow is affecting drinking water in the San Simon Fire District.
“One of the things we use to stretch our water supply is we use firefighting foam on any of our structure fires or vehicle fires, because it makes our water more effective," said San Simon Fire Chief John Novak.
He says the old infrastructure is why there aren't any fire hydrants in the community. The lack of hydrants causes them to rely on trucks that carry water when they are fighting fires.
"When you run out of water, you're done fighting fire, you can't open a bottle of Coca-Cola and dump it on it,” Novak said
His volunteers are always on standby to hand out water bottles and water from their well if there’s an outage.
“We choose not to just be a reactive emergency service. We choose to be proactive," Novak said. "As a paramedic, if I can get somebody drinking water and prevent them from getting dehydrated, having a heat stroke, and ending up in the hospital or worse, I'm doing my job as the fire chief for this community.”
The well is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
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Alexis Ramanjulu is a reporter in Cochise County for KGUN 9. She began her journalism career reporting for the Herald/Review in Sierra Vista, which she also calls home. Share your story ideas with Alexis by emailing alexis.ramanjulu@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook.
