Locally produced bottled water could become a reality in the next few years.

But only if the city of Flagstaff gives the green light to the pumping of millions of gallons of potable water out of a city-owned spring high up on the San Francisco Peaks.

Regional bottled water producer Arrowhead Mountain Spring Water, a Nestle subsidiary, has renewed a request to the city of Flagstaff to move forward on a study of the Inner Basin wells on the San Francisco Peaks.

The study would assess whether the spring could support the pumping of an additional 55 million gallons of potable water a year. Last year, the city pumped 86 million gallons out of the Inner Basin.

At least twice in the last decade — 2002 and 2004 — the city did not pump any water from the basin because of dry conditions that lowered the water table, according to city records.

Both the city and Arrowhead officials stress that the study is only a preliminary step in researching whether a plant could be built here in Flagstaff.

A natural resources manager with Arrowhead, Larry Lawrence, said the company has been interested in the site since 1999.

An initial study of the basin was performed jointly by the city and Arrowhead several years ago to determine if there was a connection between the city’s Inner Basin wells and nearby flowing springs that Arrowhead might tap for bottled water.

Lawrence said more tests are needed to determine whether the springs could produce enough high-quality water to warrant building a large, expensive production facility in the Flagstaff region. Lawrence declined to comment on where the facility would be built or whether Arrowhead would use city water lines on the Peaks to transport the water.

“It has to meet a lot of criteria before we commit resources,” he said.

Under current guidelines, the city would earn roughly $175,000 a year from the sale of the water if held to current commercial rates.

Utilities Director Randy Pellatz said the amount would ultimately be negotiated, as the city might want to charge more for the spring water.

Lawrence did not comment on whether Arrowhead is also exploring building a water bottling plant near Bellemont as part of an industrial park at Camp Navajo.

A developer at Camp Navajo announced last month that an unnamed Fortune 500 company was interested in seeking to bottle and distribute water at the proposed business park. Nestle is a Fortune 500 company.

CONSERVATION ETHIC AT ISSUE

The city recently answered Arrowhead’s letter by outlining a number of concerns about a future water bottling plant that would be reliant on the city’s potable water, City Manager Kevin Burke confirmed.

One of those concerns would be how selling millions of gallons of drinking water would affect the city’s water conservation program.

“Water is a scarce resource, [selling to Arrowhead] may seem contrary to our conservation message,” he said. “That would be difficult to overcome.”

Even the polyethylene containers used by bottled water companies, including Arrowhead, were a concern, said Burke.

“Plastic bottles are not the most environmentally sound product,” Burke said.

The city manager did mention there were a few positives in allowing Arrowhead to bottle water. He mentioned job creation, the fact that it is a “clean” industry and it would reduce the local carbon footprint by substituting the countless truckloads of water currently brought up from the Valley to meet local demand for bottled water.

But Burke said despite the city’s concerns, no decision has been made — yet.

And that’s fine with Lawerence, who said the company is currently just gauging various communities in the western United States for possible expansion opportunities.

“We haven’t spent a dime outside of spending money on USGS maps and letters to municipalities,” he said. “Right now, we are just trying to identify sources for spring water.”

Joe Ferguson can be reached at jferguson@azdailysun.com or 556-2253.

Annual water production from the inner basin (in millions of gallons)

1999 — 49.3

2000 — 7.6

2001 —  52.9

2002 —  0

2003 — 6.1

2004 — 0

2005 — 98.6

2006 — 24.1

2007 — 12.7

2008 — 86.4

City attempted to bottle water in 1995

This isn’t the first time the city of Flagstaff has grappled with a bottle water project.

City leaders tried in 1995 to get into the bottled water buisness by asking local stores to carry 20-ounce bottles of water labeled under the name Flagstaff Peaks Natural Drinking Water.

Blind taste tests were favorable to the water that came out of the Inner Basin of the San Francisco Peaks.

But the bottles, featuring a label with a picture of the San Francisco Peaks, never reached many store shelves. National supermarket chains balked at providing shelf space for the locally produced water.

Part of the reason the city tried to get into the water bottling business was to develop a revenue source to support the city’s pipeline system and pump stations in the Inner Basin.

The only remaining evidence of the attempt, a prototype, now resides in City Manager Kevin Burke’s office. According to the labeling on the bottle, that water inside the bottle “expired” in 1997.

How much water do we have, anyway?

Pumping 55 million gallons of water annually sounds like a big number.

But in reality, it is only 2 percent of the 2.7 billion gallons of drinking water the city currently produces from several wells, Lake Mary and the Inner Basin a year.

Current production is hovering at roughly 10 million a day because of the unusually dry July weather.

The city usually pumps 6 million gallons out of Lake Mary daily. But it has shut off pumping from the lake because of a high algae content that makes water smell and taste odd, said Utilities Director Randy Pellatz.

The city has shifted water production to various wells, including those at the Inner Basin. Those wells are currently responsible for producing 1.7 million gallons daily of city’s the potable water supply.

At least some of the water pumped from the Inner Basin at other times of the year, however, is never even used by the city, said Pellatz.

During the winter, water is pumped to keep the pipelines from freezing. But Pellatz said the treatment of water from the Inner Basin wells is stopped, allowing a million gallons to flow into the Rio de Flag instead.

One of the largest users of potable water is Northern Arizona University, which consumes 230 million gallons a year.

The average for Flagstaff households hovers around 86,000 gallons a year, according to city statistics.

The city recently spent roughly $10.5 million to build several new water wells to increase the city’s overall potable water supply. Currently, the city can produce up to 18 million gallons a day if all sources are available.

Two of the new wells, the Fort Tuthill and the Sinagua wells, are expected to come online later year and will produce up to 2.7 million gallons a day.