A lawmaker is proposing new selling and leasing options for those with groundwater harvesting rights.
Rep. Alexander Kolodin (R-Scottsdale) plans to introduce legislation with colleagues that would let farmers in protected groundwater areas lease water to home building developers.
“It’s good for stabilizing our aquifers, it’s good for home affordability, but it’s just also good for free people to be able to make decisions, right? I mean, that's good in and of itself. Water is autonomy in this state,” Kolodin said.
The measure would apply to entities in Phoenix, Tucson and the Pinal metro areas with Type 1 grandfathered water rights.
That means an entity had the right to irrigate a certain piece of land for farming before it was turned into a protected “Active Management Area” with restricted groundwater use. Those in AMAs with Type 1 grandfathered rights can still pump their water without having to replenish it.
Kolodin said the seller would have to reduce groundwater pumping from prior levels if they make a deal under the proposed plan. They would also choose how much of their water they want to lease or sell, and could retain some for their own continued use.
Sarah Porter, director of ASU’s Kyl Center for Water Policy, said variations of the plan are floating around in the water community.
The governors’ spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment. The bill hasn’t been filed yet, so the language of the plan is unknown.
It is expected to be a voluntary program the water users would use to sell water to other entities in their same AMA. That’s a draw for developers.
They are restricted from building certain developments in areas where groundwater is scarce without first meeting requirements to show they’ll have an assured water supply. This would allow them to deal with Type 1 water sellers.
Porter said the effectiveness of the plan is weakened if water isn’t being pumped from the location of the seller. If the buyer digs their own well somewhere else away from the seller and draws the water from there, they could run out.
“The reality of an aquifer is that it’s not just a big round bathtub, and so you can actually do a thing like this and you can have a master plan subdivision run out of water,” Porter said.
Another unresolved question is recharge. Farms recharge about 30% of the groundwater they use, but urban recharge is low at about 3%.
