The Rio Verde Foothills have just lost the possibility of a water solution, but officials are looking for alternatives they say are the obvious choice.
The unincorporated community north of Scottsdale, home to about 1,000 Arizonas, is now over two months old. without a reliable source of waterScottsdale previously sold water to a private water carrier that delivers water to the Rio Verde Foothills, but the city closed the community on January 1 as part of its drought management plan. Residents now collect rainwater to bathe, wash dishes and flush toilets.
Communities await long-term solutions, while state and local governments are working to provide interim solutions. Those plans include an intergovernmental agreement between Scottsdale and Maricopa County — a plan that both the Arizona House of Representatives and the Maricopa County Oversight Board rejected this week.
Instead, both county officials and Rio Verde Foothills residents want Scottsdale to work with EPCOR. EPCOR is already at the stage of providing long-term solutions. EPCOR is already on record to have committed to using existing infrastructure in Scottsdale to supply water to the Rio Verde Foothills in the meantime. The Arizona Corporation Commission will begin hearings in April on EPCOR’s application to become the community’s long-term water provider.
The House voted against Thursday HB2561This requires the city, through an agreement with the county, to provide water to residents outside the city’s water service area who otherwise do not have access to adequate water if the city does so before January 1. do.
“It is barbaric to have representatives who willfully and willingly deny access to potable water to the homes of more than 700 families in Arizona,” said Rio Verde Foothills resident, who spoke at the protest. Cody Lime, speaking on behalf of the community of And public meetings for months now.
Scottsdale Republican Congressman Alexander Collodin introduced a bill to add an emergency clause, but it did not get enough votes in Congress. House Committee in February. However, I received a do-pass recommendation.
Democrats voted against the bill because it doesn’t address a fundamental problem: wildcat fragmentation. In Arizona, when he sells more than six homes, builders must ensure that the home has at least 100 years of water. This opens a loophole to allow multiple groups of five households or less to join together to form an unincorporated community.
Rio Verde Foothills is a prime example.
Rep. Stephanie Stahl Hamilton said in a House statement, “Democrats, along with Republicans, have repeatedly attempted to close the loopholes in the wildcat fragmentation that caused this problem in the first place, but each time they have met resistance or Either be completely silent,” he said. Democratic Party.
Democrats in Tucson blamed the bill’s failure on amendments such as removing language that temporarily prevented Maricopa County from issuing more building permits in the Rio Verde foothills until a long-term solution is in place. bottom.
“This was ostensibly the best reform of the bill, but it has now been removed,” she said.
Christy Jackman, a 13-year Rio Verde Foothills resident who originally supported the bill, is glad the bill didn’t pass.
“The House bill was good at first,” she said, “but then Scottsdale lobbyists got their hands on it and made a mirror of Scottsdale’s demands. I’m glad it didn’t last.”
Jackman said in January that the community wouldn’t last long once temperatures hit the 90s.
“So far, no one has had their basic needs not well met,” she said. “But that time is over.
Senator John Cabana, a Republican from Fountain Hills, proposed the Miller Act in the Senate. SB1093It was recommended to pass by a Senate committee in February, but has not moved since.
“The bill will not be enacted until the session is over,” Kavanagh said in an email.
Corodin has asked the House to reconsider the bill, but even if it does, the Maricopa County Oversight Board has already said no.
Scottsdale proposed an agreement Much like what was stated in Corodin’s bill, the supervisors unanimously rejected it.
If executed, agreement
Scottsdale will sell water delivered to the county for $21.25 per 1,000 gallons plus $1,000 per month. The county then distributed it to residents of the Rio Verde Foothills from a gas station on Pima Road.
Increased costs and language prohibiting private carriers from obtaining their own water (the agreement allows only a limited number of certified carriers to deliver water) , the agreement has become unappealing to some.
“To cut 75 private homes from their ability to continue to be self-sufficient is nothing short of atrocious,” Jackman said.
County superintendent Tom Galvin, who represents the Rio Verde Foothills, said the government-to-government agreement was “the worst government bureaucracy.”
“If you have another water source and you have pipes, please send the water to Rio Verde,” Galvin said in a statement. “We don’t need counties, we don’t need IGAs.
“If you don’t have water, let EPCOR sell you water. Let them pay you. Be a good person.”
supervisor passed Resolution
On Tuesday, he again called on Scottsdale to negotiate a short-term solution with EPCOR. Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega has said in the past he has refused to work with EPCOR.
Supervisors dismissed Cabana’s bill in a press release, but if the bill moves forward, Cabana tells Scottsdale it “can and should work with EPCOR to resolve this issue.” He suggested that a fix should be added.
Neither Corodin, Cabana or Mayor Ortega called for comment.
