[SCOTTSDALE, Arizona]Eddie Reim’s school days looked like most. He goes to class and plays with his friends during recess. But at the end of the day, fifth graders do something a little different. He heads to the fountain and fills his water bottle.

That’s because Eddie’s family lives in the Rio Verde Foothills, an unincorporated community administered by Maricopa County north of Scottsdale.

The water Eddie gets from the fountain can get him through until the next school day, ensuring that Eddie doesn’t have to take from the family’s current limited water supply.

Reim has reduced water usage. They don’t shower in their own homes. Or run the laundry or dishwasher. Use paper plates and plastic utensils for meals. Eddie’s father, Cody Lime, organized protests against the city’s water cuts last month and helped lead the community’s response to the water crisis.

For years Scottsdale allowed truckers to fill trucks at water stations to provide water for Rio Verde residents, but the city’s main water source, the Colorado River, was running out of water. In response to the I didn’t know it would be cut off for one day.

Water utilities are the main source of water for residents without wells and can cost tens of thousands of dollars, even if it’s not clear they will provide water. The Rio Verde Foothills community was built by so-called “wildcat” developers who exploited a loophole in the state’s groundwater law. This law allowed the development to be built without a state certification that he had enough water for 100 years.

The water outage has brought the Rio Verde foothills, home to about 2,000 homes, into the spotlight. Both nationally and regionally, more and more towns and cities are facing serious water problems.

In Arizona, the press has covered every twist and turn as communities try to find water in the short and long term. National news outlets are reporting that severe climate-induced drought will cause water shortages across the West, while aging lead pipes and other aging water infrastructure will wreak havoc in parts of the Midwest, Northeast and South. We are raising our voices about what we are doing.

In Maricopa County, Rio Verde Foothills residents filed a lawsuit against the city. State legislators took aim at Scottsdale leaders and introduced legislation to find water in the hills for the next few years while a long-term solution was being worked out.

After nearly two months of no water from Scottsdale, a short-term solution may finally be in place. The Scottsdale City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to resolution This will allow the water supplier to draw water from the water station for the next two years if the county agrees.

The city’s vote will follow Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays wrote in a letter last week The county has the authority to temporarily provide water to county residents by entering into intergovernmental agreements with public agencies such as Scottsdale and private companies.

If agreed, the solution would depend on Scottsdale finding a third-party source to provide 600 acre-feet of water (200 acre-feet per year), with 126 acre-feet going to the county for purchase. That third-party source has yet to be determined.

Brian Biesemeier, the city’s water resources chief, told Inside Climate News he can’t comment on where the water is coming from. Enough to cover an acre of land in water.

Over the weekend, Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega said: 12 news In Phoenix, Scottsdale said they would get water from the Gila River Indian community, but the tribe told the station that they would not provide Scottsdale with water. Ortega then revealed that the water was coming from the Colorado River Indian Tribal Council, but that too ended in controversy, with a council spokesperson telling 12 News they had not heard from the city. However, there is no system in place to deliver water, a spokeswoman said.

The Tribal Council’s deputy director of public affairs, Michael Anthony Skelvo, said in an email Wednesday that the council “has spoken directly with Scottsdale about addressing water leases and helping Rio Verde.” Never.

“Furthermore, the logistics are not yet in place to start leasing water at this time.”

Residents at the city council meeting on Tuesday aren’t just concerned about where the water will come from, but the costs and potential number of acre-feet available if the city faces further shortages due to drought on the Colorado River. There was

To get the water, the county would have to pay $1,000 a month, plus $21.25 per 1,000 gallons of potable water, higher than the cost the community had previously paid for water in Scottsdale. increase.

John and Doreen Hornewer have lived in the foothills of the Rio Verde Mountains for more than 20 years and run a water transportation business. Before the January 1st deadline, they were charging about 4-5 cents a gallon for water they got at their Scottsdale station. Now they have to drive to Apache Junction to get water to customers who have large tanks at home, and the cost has risen to about 11 cents. The Honewers aren’t sure what the exact cost would be if the county agreed to the Scottsdale resolution, but they expect it to be about 6 cents a gallon.

The amount of water the county receives may also decrease if Scottsdale’s own water supply is reduced. “If access to water is restricted in any way, we will limit the delivery of water to the Rio Verde foothills,” Biesemeier said when submitting the resolution to the city council.

The city relies heavily on water from the Colorado River. The river has experienced more than 20 years of drought and decades of over-allocation. Her seven river-dependent states are currently negotiating ways to address dwindling water supplies, but have yet to reach an agreement.

The river’s two largest reservoirs, Lake Mead and Lake Powell, could become low enough to cause millions of Americans to lose their electricity and states to be completely deprived of water. Faced with this, Arizona may cut even more water. Water supply from the Colorado River.

Scottsdale’s resolution also calls for the county to attempt to stop issuing building permits within the community. In the Rio Verde Foothills, the “Wildcat” developer has built hundreds of homes on his five lots or less. That meant we didn’t have to certify our water supply under state groundwater laws. The law requires water authorities to certify that every parcel, meaning no less than six parcels, has enough water for 100 years in the fastest growing areas of the state.

These “wildcat” developers have come under harsh criticism from all sides and need to be curbed by the county, officials and homeowners say.

A short-term contract for the Rio Verde foothills is now in the hands of the county. Maricopa County supervisor Thomas Galvin, who has jurisdiction over the district that includes his Foothills in Rio Verde, said in a letter to Scottsdale on Tuesday that the county has yet to consider the city’s proposal. I wrote. He also shared many of the same concerns with residents about the cost of water, where it comes from and how it gets to them.

In the letter, Mr. Galvin also noted that last year he proposed a plan “from a private water company that would bring economic benefits to Scottsdale and no cost to Maricopa County.”

“The plan will allow private water utilities willing and able to be part of an interim solution to water problems to be put on record before the city-imposed deadline of December 31, 2022. It makes sense because it remains,” he wrote. “This proposed solution is still available.”

The private water company is EPCOR, but the city did not vote on the proposal. EPCOR too application To solve long-term problems, we provide residents with so-called upright pipe services. The company has not yet identified the source of the water. The plan, however, requires approval from the Arizona Corporation Commission, the state’s utility regulator. The company estimates that it will take at least two to three years to establish the service and that just building the standpipe system will cost him at least $6 million.

Cody Reim, a community leader and fifth-grade father, said the city’s resolution is the first step toward finding a short-term solution to move forward with negotiations with the county. However, tensions between cities and communities are still rising.

In public comments at Tuesday’s meeting, Reim addressed the conflicting statements Scottsdale Mayor Ortega gave about where the water comes from. Ortega also criticized residents like Lance for bringing their children to the last city council meeting when residents protested Scottsdale’s decision to cut water. “I’m so happy that all of us who are childless with signs against the city are adults here,” he said.

Reim disputed the comment, saying it was from a senior elected government official who “doesn’t appreciate you expressing your First Amendment rights to your children.”