AMERICAN FORK — The American Fork City Council is asking for voter approval in the Nov. 7 general election on a $46.95 million general obligation bond to finance the installation of a secondary water system for the city.

"The city cannot delay action any longer," American Fork Mayor Heber Thompson said at a recent town meeting. "The city council has evaluated all the options and feels secondary irrigation is the best option to meet the city's long-term water needs."

Thompson said the city's current water supply is insufficient to support the current population, due to previous city inaction in providing for future growth and also because of the way water is provided to residents.

Currently, two-thirds of the water use in American Fork is dedicated to outdoor use. Thompson said the implementation of a supplemental, non-potable water system to supply outdoor demand would relieve the current drain on the existing culinary water system.

"The secondary irrigation system preserves our scarce culinary water for household use only and uses our generous supply of surface water for irrigation," he said.

The advantages of a secondary water system are that it is cheaper and it doesn't need to be treated, Thompson said.

But the city does not have the funds to install an irrigation water system, and the mayor and City Council said they feel a general obligation bond is the best financing option available to the city.

"We've studied the options, and we feel this is the best way to go," said Councilman Dale Gunther.

However, Gunther said he didn't think the council should make decisions about debt without public approval.

The bond would have about a 5 percent interest rate, Thompson said, and the city would end up paying about $81 million back over the next 28 years. Construction costs for the installation of the system are included in the $46.95 million estimate, but that amount is a maximum and the city would not be required to use all of it, he said.

The project would be funded by user rates and impact fees for new development. If these are not adequate to pay the costs of the system, other revenue sources such as property taxes would be used to cover the difference, according to a community fact sheet distributed by the city.

Residents attending the Oct. 26 meeting had concerns ranging from their rising water bills to irrigation water rights to construction.

If approved, the construction of the system would occur in three phases, beginning with the northern third of the city in 2007 and ending with the southern third in 2010.

As the waterline is finished in front of each house, a pipe would be extended to the property line and the owner would be responsible to connect any existing or future sprinkler or irrigation to this line. There would be no cost to connect or for the required initial inspection fee.