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Request for water hookup stirs up a murky issue from 1919 By
Joe Rowley PARADISE -- When Charlieville resident Merv Weeks asked the Town Council for permission to hook up to the town's water last July, he didn't know what he was getting into. His request prompted town officials to look more closely at the area and even suspect some illegal hook-ups. "I don't think he knew what he was starting," said Mayor Lee Atwood. "And neither did we." When Weeks asked to be included in the town's water system he said others in his area were also getting water from the town, but wouldn't say who they were. That statement led Atwood and the council to look further into water rights. Charlieville is an unincorporated area east of Paradise; it gets its name from Charles Shelton, one of the first people to develop in the area. The problem with water hook-ups in the area is that they would come off of the transmission line that takes water from the town's well in Slate Slide Canyon to the water treatment facility. Any water drawn from the line would not yet be treated. There certainly are some rights to water use in Charlieville, says Charles Shelton. They date to May 10, 1919, when a deal was made with the town council for up to six water shares. When Shelton bought 230 acres in the area he also received two shares of town culinary water, he said. But Atwood says times have changed. The water rules put into place by the EPA and the state have changed since 1919, and no steps have been taken to make sure the water upstream from the treatment facility meets those new standards. "If those are valid hook-ups (in Charlieville) we need to make sure the town is delivering safe, clean water," Atwood said. "If we are in the business of selling water, we better make sure we're selling good water." Another big question is what exactly a hook-up is. Brian Cannell, one of the town's attorneys, says there are up to six potential hook-ups, but that the original agreement with the town was for hydrants. Now, they have to decide just what is meant by a hydrant. "The problem is the use of a tap in 1919 versus in 2000," Atwood said. Atwood says he has done some research and found that the original agreement was for stock water, not for culinary. But Shelton says the rights he bought with his land were different from stock rights. Shelton has since sold all but 10 acres of his land and no longer has possession of those shares. As part of the process of finding out just what the water rights are, Cannell, along with Herm Olsen, both of Hillyard Anderson and Olsen in Logan, sent each resident a request for any information they had about their shares. Cannell says they have only heard back from Merv Weeks, and that he only sent them copies of documents that they already had. Mayor Atwood and the council have also been investigating on their own. Atwood hired a company called Earthview to come to Charlieville and search for underground lines. The company has equipment that will tell the user where lines are, how deep and what size they are. When Atwood went out with them, he says he found several suspicious lines. And all this looking has sparked some controversy and suspicion of some illegal hook-ups in addition to any that may just be unsafe legitimate ones. Shelton says he thinks the town is trying to get the shares back for their own use. "Rather seeing it as a water right and treating it as such," he said, "now that water is worth something they think they should be able to take it back." Although Shelton said that if it got to the point that he could then he would sue the town, nothing has become official yet. "Right now we are in the fact-finding stage. There are no ongoing lawsuits at this point," Cannell said. Hickman Land Title in Logan is also researching the issue to find out what rights were given and how they were meant to move forward with time. Atwood said that there were basically three questions that the town wanted answered. He is interested in what type of use the water was originally meant for, how the town was supposed to deliver the water and how the town would make the water meet current rules. The interested parties think that it will all work out. Atwood hopes for a resolution to the issue by next summer so the town can use that time to make sure the system is up to standards. And Shelton thinks that the issue will pass. "I think it will all work out, but I wish they would find out what they're talking about before they start spreading it all over town," he said.
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