The announcement was made quietly at the May 1^st council meeting. Tusayan had abandoned plans to pursue its own municipal water company.  In prior years, the Tusayan Town council set aside huge amounts of money in case that was going to happen. This year, they decided to stop funding that line item.

The council is moving ahead with a regional partnership joining the Coconino Plateau Water Advisory Council. It will cost Tusayan $5,000 a year to join the group which devotes itself to making sure northern Arizona doesn’t run out of water in 2050. The water council needs millions to study a plan that would bring Colorado River water to the area via Lake Powell and a series of pipelines.

Unless the Parks Service joins the study, Tusayan would have to pay $300,000 to fund its share of the study. At the May first meeting, the council decided to sit out that expenditure.

Meanwhile, Stilo’s plans to establish its own water service seem to be going nowhere. Stilo has until June 1^st to identify a water supply and so far they have failed to come up with one. Stilo reps have admitted groundwater is unlikely. On top of that the Center for Biological Diversity, a very powerful environmental group, has also petitioned the Corporation Commission in opposition to a Stilo water company.

Stilo may have been able to get the zoning for its plans to add three million square feet of commercial space and thousands of new homes to the area, but they don’t have the water. Stilo remains out of compliance in its zoning agreement with the Town. Residents remain without the 40 acres of land they were promised for affordable housing.