The Queen Creek City Council has finalized a $27 million purchase of Colorado River water from Cibola’s GSC Farm, which can provide 2,033 acre feet of water annually. household.

But in addition to federal and geographic hurdles, the town could face a new threat with the so-called Greenstone trade. That is to file a lawsuit against her three counties in Arizona signed against the Federal Reclamation Service.

Mojave County Superintendent Travis Lingenfelter told the Queen Creek Tribune that his counties, La Paz and Yuma Counties, have joined forces to review the contract, saying it “found no material impact.” said he was ready to sue.

“This is not only a water transfer, it is also a wealth transfer,” said Lingenfelter. “This is like a reversed Robin Hood scenario of taking from the poor and giving to the rich. They do terrible jobs and protect people in rural areas.”

“We are united above and below the river,” said Lingenfelter. “Such mobility robs employees of their ability to grow. From a human perspective, the ability of rural people to grow and thrive is just as important as urban people.”

Water is channeled from Lake Mead to the Lake Havasu Central Arizona project, where it begins its circuitous journey to Queen Creek through a series of dams and concrete canals.

“One of the town’s strategic goals is to acquire long-term water resources and become a designated and guaranteed water supplier,” Jessica Pratt, the town’s financial services manager, told the council last week. told to

The Bureau’s findings of no significant impact paved the way for Council approval.

The council’s action means that water can legally be dumped from the CAP system into a huge earthen reservoir. It then seeps into the existing aquifers of Queen Creek in the same way that the Egyptians filtered and retained water.

“The philosophy is to stretch groundwater for perhaps 200 or 300 years, until it becomes nearly sustainable…to the point where that aquifer becomes what we consider storage facilities and water treatment plants. ” he said.

The deal began in 2018 when Queen Creek began talking to GSC Farm about selling some of its water rights. After hearings, appeals and investigations by the U.S. government, the deal is finally nearing completion.

“We are nearing completion of that transaction,” Pratt said. “We hope to complete this as soon as possible.”

The town purchases water rights from GSC Farms at a 4% rate instead of a 5% or higher rate using a loan from what is known as the Arizona Water Infrastructure Financial Institution. Pay on the open market.

The state uses the interest paid on such loans to help smaller markets struggling with water infrastructure costs.

Deputy Mayor Jeff Brown encouraged his fellow council members to approve the final details of the deal given the possibility of further rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

“Interest rates are never going down, water bills are never going down,” Mr. Brown said, thanking his colleagues for approving the deal. “We can lock in lower interest rates. Thank you to all of our fellow council members.”

But Lingenfelter said deals like this could set a bad precedent for similar deals in the future.

Two weeks after receiving final federal approval for the Greenstone deal, Queen Creek has invested $30 million in 500,000 acre feet of water stored in the underground Hulk-Ahala Aquifer west of Phoenix. spent and added even more reserves to its underground supply.

Gardner said at the time, “We will continue to be proactive. The Halkahala Basin is one of three areas protected by state law in the 1990s. The sale and movement of water was restricted until the department needed it.

Gardner told the Tribune last fall that Queen Creek water purchases and rural-to-urban migration “are nothing new.”

“Arizona has always moved water where people are, not the other way around,” he said.

Lingenfelter said it remains settled and the county will file a lawsuit against the Reclamation Service “soon.”

But he doesn’t seem to be operating under the illusion that the sale will be averted or overturned, believing the odds are piling up against rural folk.

“Water flows to money,” he said. “Everyone knows it.”

Greenstone’s water supply to the town is expected to begin in February, Pratt said.