Squaw Valley’s recent announcement of plans to expand its village by quadrupling the number of hotel and residential units and building a 132,000-square-foot Mountain Adventure and Aquatic Center has some people questioning where water for the project will come from.
The valley has long struggled with water supply, and its four wells do not produce enough water for a development of that size. But the ski area is confident the water can be found, and it has spent the past year and close to $1 million to prove it. To get a better understanding of the valley’s aquifer, Moonshine Ink talked water with Chevis Hosea, vice president of development for Squaw Valley Real Estate LLC, and Mike Geary, Squaw Valley Public Service District general manager.
Moonshine Ink: Water has always been an issue for Squaw Valley. Do you believe there is enough water to support the village expansion project?
Chevis Hosea: This watershed has 25,000 to 35,000 acre feet of water, most of which leaves the valley. The aquifer has 4,500 to 5,000 acre feet of water. We just tested it. The current pull is 650 to 700 square feet of water.
During the winter, who cares? There is more water than we can pump out of the aquifer. The real critical period is July to October. The predominant use of water then is for irrigation. We’re going to find a way not to use any potable water from the aquifer for irrigation needs.
The solutions are to drill irrigation wells on the east end of the valley, which has non-potable water; a grey water system; or, the most effective, use snowmaking wells on the mountain in the summer. We have the capacity to provide our irrigation needs. And we have reduced our total project water supply needs to 250 acre feet of water per year for the entire project. Of that, 70 to 75 acre feet of water is needed for July to October. That is not that much water.
We are a few weeks away from proving that there is not only adequate water supply, but adequate during the drought years.
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Moonshine Ink: Is there enough water in the valley to support a project of this size?
Mike Geary: We don’t know yet. We are trying to overanalyze the project. A couple evaluations are now underway. One is the groundwater modeling effort by the developer’s consultant. The second is a test well program. They drilled three new test wells and are using the existing irrigation well to see the capacities of the wells to determine the capacity of production.
MI: Is it premature to plan such a large development before its known if there is enough water in the valley?
MG: That’s a good question. I’m not sure if they are jumping the gun, if we have to wait for the science to be complete.
There are three big things for us to determine whether we can serve the project, including sewer and fire fighting. The first is the water supply assessment study, which is required by law. Is there enough water from those wells to support the project? This includes water supply verification. If the EIR is approved, it goes a step further. It verifies the water is there, and how much, how deep, is the well tested and proven.
Secondly, is participating in the EIR. And third is the development agreement, which means the will-serve letter.
MI: Do you think the project is too big? Can the valley accommodate it?
MG: The jury is still out on that.
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