Boyce Andersen, a rancher in La Paz County, once benefited from a three-year lease from the Temporary Water Use Program for the Central Arizona Project. The program allowed Andersen to use canals from the Central Arizona Project to support cattle herds in La Paz County. When that program ended last year, Andersen was forced to pay for water transportation from Fondmonte, Arizona.
“I had to do everything I could to keep my cow alive,” said Andersen. “Previously, we were allowed to use an acre-foot of water per year, but we didn’t use that much. I cut it off, but it’s not just me, there are wildlife that uses that water, they have to find another source of water, the animals will die.”
A subsidiary of Saudi-based Almarai Co, the company has been growing fields of alfalfa on the land surrounding Andersen’s ranch for almost a decade. But earlier this month, Fondmonte came under harsh criticism from Arizona Attorney General Chris Mays.
Arizona officials this year revoked two permits by companies to drill more than 1,000 feet into the water table in La Paz County. The Associated Press found discrepancies in the applications for these permits. This will remove as much as 3,000 gallons of groundwater per minute to irrigate the company’s alfalfa fields. distribution.
In an interview with the Associated Press, Mays said Fondmonte’s efforts in La Paz County were outrageous. “We can no longer afford to do anything stupid with water in Arizona with an epic drought,” he says.
But Andersen says he has so far paid Fondmonte to bring water to his ranch and maintain his herd.
Andersen said paying for water brought to his ranch is a short-term solution at best.
“I’m fetching water temporarily,” he said. “You can’t keep doing it forever. If you try hard, you’ll go bankrupt.
Federal officials are expected to shut down more than 2 million acre feet of the Colorado River as a 20-year drought continues across the Southwest. The Central Arizona Project is expected to bear the brunt of these cuts in Arizona, and local ranchers are now feeling the impact.
Without CAP’s benefits, Andersen would have had to rely on local groundwater resources to support the ranch. But according to Andersen, that’s easier said than done. CAP officials directed Andersen to an Arizona Department of Water resources well in his area to meet his needs, but access to the well remains a challenge, Andersen said this week. rice field.
“Wells are in bad places,” said Andersen. “And CAP doesn’t know how much it costs to get water out of that well.”
It’s an expensive solution, and Andersen says it can’t be considered indefinitely. But Andersen says the alternative of installing equipment in that well to pump water to his ranch could cost as much as $30,000.
“The reason the (CAP) canal was so convenient was that there was a place every three miles where my cows could stop for water,” Andersen said. “And the amount of water I was using was very little. I was watering a few cows. I wasn’t growing hay like the Saudis.”
The Central Arizona Project is a 336-mile canal created in 1968 under the Colorado River Basin Project Act. From the Parker District east across the Tonopah Desert, the canal passes through the city of Phoenix and Tucson, terminating in the Sahuarita community of Southern Arizona. For decades, its canals have benefited farmers, ranchers, and developing communities throughout Arizona. But now, the regions CAP serves will face their biggest initial challenge as their resources (literally) run dry.
