SCID, Cyruses strike piping deal

Squaw Creek Irrigation District and the Keith Cyrus family have reached a mediated agreement in the dispute over piping the Cloverdale Irrigation Canal.

The original lawsuit, over who owns the canal and a SCID decision to cut off Cyrus water in 1999, is unaffected. Judge Stephen Tiktin is expected to render a decision in that case any day.

SCID is placing the irrigation water in a pipe to eliminate leakage from the open ditch. The district has received grants from conservation agencies to buy part of the pipe. Approximately 3 cubic feet per second, or 80,784 gallons per hour, are going to be returned to Squaw Creek to enhance fish habitat.

One cfs equals approximately 450 gallons per minute.

Under the agreement, piping will extend from the main SCID reservoir near Highway 20 east of the Lazy Z ranch to Camp Polk Road at the Aspen Lakes Golf Course, owned by the Cyruses.

Irrigation water will flow in the open canal which makes up a major water feature of the golf course through the Cyrus property. Pipe will again be used to prevent leakage somewhere further downstream.

The mediated agreement, accepted by two of the three members of the SCID board at 6 p.m. on Friday, January 19, ends or nullifies the most recently filed lawsuits in the dispute, one of which would have forced SCID to remove pipe already in the ground.

According to Marc Thalacker, General Manager of SCID, the main concession for the district is loss of 25 to 30 pounds of water pressure for downstream users, which would have allowed them to reduce the amount of electricity needed for pumping.

The amount of water saved is also reduced, according to Thalacker. He estimated that 6 cfs would be saved, rather than the original estimate of 8 to 10 cfs, in the upper portion of the Cloverdale ditch.

However, some of that will be made up elsewhere on the district, and the amount returned to Squaw Creek will not be affected.

"We weren't interested in tearing up their golf course or ruining their water feature," Thalacker said.

The Cyruses will maintain the ditch through the golf course. If the septic wetlands near the ditch that handle effluent from subdivision houses contaminate irrigation water in any way, that section of canal will be put in a pipe. The Cyruses also agreed to name SCID as an insured against liability.

SCID and the Cyruses agreed to jointly attack water loss through the section of canal not piped.

Board member Glen Cooper was extremely disappointed that the district would lose pressurization.

"With the power shortage, if you can cut down your pumping bill, you will be ahead and the whole country will be ahead. I remain a firm believer in these pipelines and pressurizing. I believe it is a good conservation measure," Cooper said.

But Cooper acknowledged that the district had little choice but to mediate an agreement. "We were out of money."

According to Thalacker, the district has spent over $100,000 in legal bills fighting the Cyrus family.

Matt Cyrus said his family intends to recover their legal fees from the district, which he said were in excess of $100,000.

"I think it is a reasonable solution," Cyrus said of the mediation. "Both sides gained, and both sides gave up a lot."

The Cyruses gave up a secondary lawsuit asking the court to force SCID to remove pipe already buried in the ground, he said.

However, Cyrus also said they had not agreed to withdraw their request for sanctions against the district for failing to produce, as required by the court, the original order including the Cyruses in the irrigation district.

Another inclusion order was filed instead, and produced for the trial, with different dates and different language, according to Cyrus.

SCID has had discussions with the Cyruses "that we will mediate rather than litigate future differences," Thalacker said.

"I think the water conservation is most important, and that we take advantage of all opportunities available to us right now. It is good for the community and good for the steelhead and the Chinook," Thalacker said.