Adapted from:  SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | AUGUST 18, 2024

Opinion

Arizona water is evaporating from cities and towns

BY REP. ALEXANDER KOLODIN AND BRUCE ARLEN
Progress Guest Writers

Water, our most precious re- source, is slipping away from Arizona’s cities and towns.

After years of drought and looming federally imposed water cuts in 2026, many communities are scrambling to secure their water futures.

Our suburbs are under siege in a war we never knew existed.

Hidden power players.

The real battle for water involves Arizona’s most powerful interests – big corporations, agricultural giants, and mining companies. These entities, alongside California’s demands, dictate water distribution, often to the detriment of ordinary Arizonans.

Large enterprises often bypass regulations due to political favors. For instance, microchip factories in the Valley and large apartment buildings aren’t required to secure long-term water supplies, unlike residential neighborhoods.

This results in higher taxes and water bills for us and more expensive homes for our children.

The recent fight over HB2201 revealed that large hedge funds are happy to siphon off suburban water to enrich foreign governments and California agribusinesses.

However, it also showed that suburban voters can make a difference when they unite. During this battle, one official noted that the emergency water supply was meant for economic growth, not to sustain the population – a chilling way to refer to your family and mine.

An odd alliance of corporate interests, tribes, and progressive activists has misled us into thinking people are responsible for the problem.

They oppose common-sense free- market  solutions  that  would  lower water bills, stabilize groundwater supplies, and increase housing affordability. Control of water brings money and power—over us.

Forgoing your morning shower or replacing your lawn with xeriscaping won’t solve this problem. Despite our state’s population increasing 600% since 1959, residential users consume less water than back then.

Municipal use accounts for just 22% of our state’s water consumption. You are not the problem.

A glimpse of the battle

Like a tapestry, the water situation of Arizona’s suburbs is unraveling from the outside in. In 2022, Scottsdale cut off water to Rio Verde Foothills, citing the drought and the need to protect its own supplies.

With great effort, the Freedom Caucus pushed a fix past establishment interests, but it was a sign of things to come. Unincorporated communities like Rio Verde Foothills are the least powerful players in this fight.

Now, Cave Creek is in trouble. With a population of about 5,152, Cave Creek relies on the Central Arizona Project for 85% of its water.

Mayor Bob Morris appealed to Katie Hobbs and the Arizona Department of Water Resources for help, only to realize that the governor lacks authority over local water issues.

Even if the Lower Basin Alternative, Arizona’s painful plan to stave off fatal federal Colorado River reductions, is accepted, Cave Creek will see 30% of its water disappear overnight, with the prospect for further reductions by the end of the decade. Water rates in some suburbs are already increasing dramatically in anticipation.

Politicians elected for short terms have little incentive to diversify water portfolios during good times. But by the time the waterless tsunami fully makes landfall in your neighborhood, the focus will not be on the cost of water but on obtaining new supplies at any price. Running out of water will look less like dry faucets and more like water bills that resemble mortgages. Rates have  already  been  dramatically  increasing in many cities. What can you do?

Given our already precarious situation, we cannot afford dramatic additional federally imposed cutbacks. Arizona is the only state where the Colorado River Use Agreement requires legislative approval. The Legislature will likely address it in 2025.

Pay  close  attention.  Pressure  the state Legislature to reject any plan other than the Lower Basin Alternative. Above all, make your evaluation of a candidate’s knowledge of and position on our state’s water issues a key component of your vote.

Hot button issues are sensationalized by the media to distract you while the real power players work to rob us of our future and line their own pockets.

It’s up to you to take action to protect your family’s way of life.

Alexander Kolodin is an attorney and member of the State House representing Arizona’s third legislative district. Follow him on Twitter @realalexkolodin

Bruce Arlen is a precinct committeeman for Arizona’s third legislative district.