The “boilers” is a natural warm spring in Washington County that has a long history and whose future will be decided on Wednesday. The Washington City Council are meeting to vote on plans proposed by a non-profit organization, Boiling Spring Ecoseum and Desert Preserve. Their plans include a conservatory building, outdoor classrooms and demonstration gardens.
Niki Hancock-Warner is the president of the non-profit organization. She said the plans would allow the springs’ state-protected irrigation use to continue while serving as an education tool and tourist attraction.
“Our intent is to take it and restore it to its historic levels," Hancock-Warner said. "To dredge the pond out like the community used to do all of the time and just to clear it up. It’s not like we’re talking about bringing in some big filtration system or anything like that, it’s using natural mechanisms of filtration to purify the water, make sure that it’s clean and healthy as it’s historically been.”
Some city officials worry that the changes could jeopardize irrigation rights.
“We thought it was kind of funny that anyone would question it," Hancock-Warner said. "Because even if we wanted to, we can’t take away anyone’s water rights because we’re not a government entity, we’re a non-profit organization so we would have no power to do so, even if that was our intention, but it’s never been our intention.”
Hancock-Warner said they want to partner with the city because whether it’s their organization or a commercial developer that comes in to manage the “boilers,” it should belong to the community forever.