October 22nd

We had a meeting that included the president of SRP, the vice president, two board members plus their hydrologists. On our side it included our lobbyist Steve Bloch, our Salt River horse Liaison Makenzie and, of course, our president Simone Netherlands.

We are sad to report that we were not successful, and we are very disappointed with their stance. It boils down to they have been doing it this way since 1930, so why would they change it now. We believe that SRP could make this concession fairly easily, by subtracting the difference of 92 CFS in the weeks before the switch (from 900 to 808), or by subtracting it from the flow of the Verde River, or even by leaving it at 100 CFS for a little while longer before switching back to the Stewart Mountain dam. All these solutions would equal the same output and not hurt the total output/release that they aim for.

It might take a little preplanning and more effort, but they would be giving so much goodwill to the environment and to the entire community. On October 25th the river will start going down and by October 30th the river will be a dying stinky mess at 8 CFS.

Our campaign is not over and we will not accept that the community is powerless in this. We encourage you to keep calling and emailing and we invite you to come down to the lower Salt River on October 30th to make your own video of this sad event. Share it with tags #srp and #srpconnect and #srwhmg

Watch Simone’s update on our Facebook Page

For the public and by the public,
SRWHMG.