Do you think a version of Dr. Seuss’ story “Lorax” is being staged in western Arizona?
In the story, Oncesler comes across a forest of truffle trees and learns that truffle trees can be turned into useful items called thneeds. He started cutting down trees to mass produce what he needed.
Lorax claims that trees and forest animals cannot speak for themselves, so he speaks for them. I warn him that it will not end well.
If Onceler had practiced resource management, he could have preserved truffle trees for generations. He refuses to listen to Lorax, resulting in the extinction of the truffle trees and the forest’s environmental wasteland.
Something like this is happening in our own backyards. Foreign interests, mostly tied to Saudi Arabia, grow water-intensive alfalfa in the desert for shipment abroad. It is Meanwhile, these foreign-owned alfalfa farms are draining groundwater aquifers.
This issue was part of CBS News, part of which was filmed in Hope, Arizona. Both Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays and his Pass County 3rd District Supervisor Holly Irwin were featured in the segment. There have also been ranchers whose wells have dried up as foreign alfalfa farms use large amounts of groundwater.
This situation cannot be maintained. In addition to Mayes and Irwin, legislators such as Rep. Leo Biasiucci and U.S. Rep. Ruben Gallego have voiced their opposition to this use of groundwater. Gallego said it was “silly” to use so much groundwater to grow the product and ship it overseas.
The problem is that groundwater use is regulated in urban areas, but not in rural areas. Well, that may be changing.
Mayes has revoked a drilling permit issued last August to Saudi Arabian company Fondomonte Arizona LLC. The farm is located in La Paz county. Mays called the issuance of the permit “unconscionable.”
“For too long, state leaders have been sleeping behind the wheel while this crisis escalates,” Mays said in a tweet quoted by KTAR Radio. “Well, with new state leadership and the increasing urgency of the issue, now is the time for the state government to get serious about regulating groundwater throughout Arizona.”
Mayes was right, and Irwin and others were right to call attention to this issue and try to get something done. Both Lake Mead and Lake Powell are less than 25% of their capacity and cannot afford the wasteful use of groundwater. If we don’t do something, Arizona has no future.
In the mid-1980s, I was listening to a radio program that said Maricopa County would have a population of 4 million by the beginning of the 21st century.st century. I told myself where are they going to get water?
Now, Maricopa County has a population of 4.5 million today, and water is a serious problem. Years of unbridled growth in the state are catching up with us.
Phoenix is now about the size of Detroit in its heyday. In a few years Phoenix may look like much of what Detroit is today if the water problem is not resolved.
Irwin said western Arizona could end up like California’s Owens Valley if Congress and the governor don’t address the issue. After Los Angeles pumped up its waters through the Los Angeles Aqueduct, the Owens Valley transformed from a prime agricultural area into a desert wasteland.
If we don’t manage our water resources, that’s Ariz’s future
