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Most of the groundwater in rural Arizona is unregulated.
Temperatures are well over 100 degrees, but it’s easy to forget that the Arizona desert sits on top of an underground water basin formed during the Ice Age.
Rural communities in the state depend on that water, which experts say is a finite resource. But most are not regulated in any meaningful way. With wells running dry and locals calling for action, the lack of regulation is beginning to become apparent.
But the same political obstacles that have existed at the state capitol for years still exist.
Over 40 years ago, Arizona attempted to enact a statewide groundwater law. Resistance from local stakeholders has forced the state to compromise with laws that focus only on urban areas. Policy makers expected legislation for rural areas to come later. It never was.
“Eighty percent of the state’s land area is essentially unprotected and uncontrolled with respect to groundwater supplies,” says Haley Paul of Audubon Southwest.
Out-of-state farming companies realized the lack of regulation and set up factories in Arizona. The water table began to fall.
“So the deepest well really wins,” said Paul.
A Saudi-funded company growing alfalfa in the groundwater of La Paz County and shipping it overseas has made headlines, but cattle farmers in Minnesota and nut farmers in California have also dug deep wells in the desert. They are backed by hedge funds and corporations.
“It’s unfortunate, because in the meantime people’s wells are running dry and people feel they have no choice,” Paul said.
Katherine Davis-Young/KJZZ
Arizona State Capitol in Phoenix.
Arizona is known as a business-friendly state, and the Republican Congress strives to keep it that way. Some Republican lawmakers are beginning to question the lack of action on groundwater, but nothing has been done about it.
Kathleen Ferris of the Kir Water Policy Center was instrumental in enacting the Groundwater Act of 1980. She said that when corporate farmers in other states run out of groundwater, they come to the Arizona desert.
“They come to this area to grow crops because they can grow crops. Quite simply, the law allows them to do that,” Ferris said.
Lawmakers have proposed several bills in recent years, all of which have been rejected by committees.
“They seldom get public hearings, they can’t even get public hearings. So unless the committee to which the bill is assigned holds hearings and the bill is voted out of commission, it can’t go through parliament,” she said.
Groundwater bills are allocated to the Natural Resources, Energy and Water Commission, where they disappear.
“The chairs of these legislative committees have great powers, and they actually have the power to determine the ultimate fate of the bill,” Ferris said.
arizona state legislature
Arizona legislators Gail Griffin and Senator Sine Carr each chair the Natural Resources, Energy and Water Commissions.
The House committee is chaired by Sierra Vista Realty real estate broker Gail Griffin, a Republican. The Senate committee is chaired by Republican Sine Carr, a dairy farmer from Buckeye. Both declined the interview request.
Ferris said Republicans in a region hit hard by corporate agriculture want change, but groundwater is far from a bipartisan issue. La Paz County Superintendent Holly Irwin said people in the area were growing frustrated.
“There aren’t even public hearings on the bill. That’s the problem,” Mr Irwin said.
In some cases, states can’t even measure groundwater, indicating an incomplete understanding of the water table.
“First, we need to know what’s underground, and second, we need to do something to protect what we have,” she said.
Irwin said he understands why people resist regulation.
“I know what they’re thinking, but what I’m saying is, OK, let’s all get to the table. What works until we can start protecting what we have before it’s too late,” she said.
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Irrigation canals and siphon pipes that supply water to an alfalfa field in Arizona.
The biggest frustration for La Paz residents, she said, is seeing water being transported elsewhere, to Saudi Arabia, for example. Or pipe it to Queen Creek. It happened recently when a corporate farm in the county sold its share of the Colorado River water.
“To be honest, we can’t keep kicking this can for the rest of our lives, they’re going to have to do something. La Paz County shouldn’t be a sacrificial lamb for other people,” Irwin said.
She is optimistic that a new government may achieve something. Governor Katie Hobbs has appointed a commission to investigate the matter, but any meaningful change will likely require passage through Congress.
In April, Congress appointed its own commission to investigate Arizona’s water supply. Mr. Griffin and Mr. Carr will serve as co-chairs.
