Arizona’s water agency has a plan to conserve water by converting agricultural land for other purposes.
The program, known as “ag-to-urban” calls for the repurposing of agricultural land for developments that use less water, like housing.
Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs vetoed a similar legislative proposal backed by Republican lawmakers earlier this year. A spokesperson for the governor says Hobbs believes the Arizona Department of Water Resources can develop the program unilaterally.
“Ag-to-urban can be developed through the rulemaking process and it is actively tinder consideration by the administration. In her State of the State, the governor committed to taking action where the legislature won’t to secure our water future,” Hobbs spokesperson Christian Slater said in a text.
Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke said at a meeting of the Governor’s Water Policy Council on Monday that the program would be voluntary, and is not designed to push out agricultural interests.
“It is to create a program where those folks who have that farmland can get some value and maybe accelerate what otherwise might occur in the course of normal development and to help achieve the goals of finding a path going forward to build homes sustainably,” Buschatzke said.
Gila River Indian Community Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis, who serves on the governor’s council, supports the program.
“The ag-to-urban concept could be, and I think we all know will be a critical tool for us in the coming years,” he said.
Sen. TJ Shope (R-Coolidge) sponsored the similar proposal Hobbs vetoed this year.
Shope was recently appointed to lead the Senate’s powerful natural resources committee where water-related issues are heard. Shope said he didn’t watch the Governor’s Water Policy Council meeting.
“There has been zero engagement from the governor’s office to me on ag-to-urban since the veto letter,” Shope said in a text.
Lewis is one of the stakeholders who was against the GOP version of an ag-to-urban plan last year for a few reasons.
He said there needed to be a more data-informed scientific approach to the problem, and argued Shope’s proposal could harm the Pinal area.
