For six years, the Mohave County Board of Supervisors has used 15 acres of Mojave Valley farmland to leverage voting power on water issues in western Arizona. Now, that land could be used to address the biggest water problem ever.
Mohave County has been participating in the Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District System Conservation Plan since February of last year under an agreement with the U.S. Bureau of Land Management to address the ongoing Colorado River shortage. Next week, the county will vote on whether to continue participating in the program.
Under this program, counties receive financial reimbursement from the federal government if their agricultural land in the Mojave Valley is intentionally left fallow.
The county's farmland was previously leased to 4-B Farms, but the county bought it for $250,000 in 2018 as a way to secure negotiating power with the Mojave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District. Traditionally, however, such voting rights could only be held as long as the land was used for agricultural purposes.
With the expiration of the 4-B farm's lease last year, the county was able to maintain its voting rights due to the county's continued participation in the reclamation and MVIDD water conservation efforts.
Mohave County's role in the agreement and the fallowing of the county's farmland contributed an estimated 2 acre-feet of water per year to the Bureau of Reclamation's conservation efforts.
The Mohave County Board of Supervisors is scheduled to vote Monday on whether to continue that agreement at its next board meeting in Kingman.
