Water bills flow wrong way

PAYSON — Residents who received irrigation bills from the Strawberry Highline Canal Co. need to hustle them down to City Hall rather than pay them or discard them, City Administrator Andy Hall says.

The canal company sent some individual billings to residents, rather than a combined billing to the city for the water used in the city's pressurized irrigation system.

Hall said the city is concerned that residents will discard the billings because they pay for the water as part of the monthly city utility bill. Hall said the city needs to know which residents received billings so the city can ensure payment is made and that water shares for those parcels are not returned to the canal company.

"We don't want to lose those water (shares)," he said.

Strawberry Highline Canal officials could not be reached for comment.

Payson received the water shares from developers as Payson grew.

The canal company assessment is included in the $9 pressurized irrigation water fee residents pay each month, Hall said. So if residents pay the canal bill, they will be paying their assessment twice.

A water delivery and payment contract between the city, the canal company and Strawberry Water Users Association is in the works that should eliminate the confusion in the future.

"The city's had the draft contract for nearly a year now," Strawberry Water Users Association manager Gary Aitken said.

The contract will clarify the city's right to legally deliver the water and pay the assessments. The irrigation water originates in Strawberry Reservoir, passes through a tunnel to Utah County, flows down Diamond Fork Canyon and into the Spanish Fork River. From there the Highline Canal Co. takes it through its canal systems to nine cities. For Payson, the water dumps into a concrete pond connected to the city's pressurized irrigation system, which delivers it to homes.

"We're very close to an agreement," Hall said.

The sticking point is the definition of irrigation water — that it can be used for landscaping as well as crops. Historically the water was intended for agricultural uses, but much of the land that was once actively farmed has become subdivisions. The agreement would address that concern by keeping the water assigned to specific land parcels whether it's used for growing crops or lawns, Hall said.

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