GOP lawmakers are pushing several bills to regulate Arizona’s groundwater, but none would do anything to conserve the state’s water supply.
Democrats and Republicans got close to passing bipartisan legislation to conserve rural groundwater supplies over the last few years, but a final deal has never materialized.
This year, GOP lawmakers are instead pushing a series of partisan water bills, including one that would protect the rights of Arizona residents and businesses to continue pumping groundwater.
GOP lawmakers’ bills generally protect the water allocation rights of industries like agriculture and homebuilding. Conserving groundwater often means restricting development.
"Ranchers and farmers in rural Arizona face real challenges from drought and regulatory hurdles, and they shouldn't be penalized for longstanding, incidental uses like watering livestock," Sen. Tim Dunn (R-Yuma) said of one of his bills which allows users in protected groundwater areas to withdraw water for more purposes. "This commonsense update preserves essential rural water access without compromising our long-term sustainability goals."
A handful of the bills would alter the state Department of Water Resources’ metrics for calculating groundwater supplies, and add information-gathering requirements to get clearer data on the status of groundwater supplies.
A bill by Sen. T.J. Shope (R-Coolidge) would require ADWR to conduct frequent water supply assessments in groundwater basins with several data points
“Arizonans rely on reliable groundwater for agriculture, communities, and economic growth, but we need accurate, up-to-date data to manage it wisely,” Shope said in a statement. “This bill ensures ADWR delivers thorough assessments that inform decisions without adding unnecessary burdens, helping protect our most precious resource for future generations.”
Sen. Priya Sundareshan (D-Tucson) spoke against the GOP-backed water bills.
“As we also know, our groundwater resources are strained. What this bill would seek to do, however, is to ignore the reality of our groundwater reality and put additional burdens on the department of water resources,” Sundareshan said.
Democrats have introduced their own bills to conserve groundwater, but none have been given a hearing by Republicans who control the flow of legislation at the state Capitol.
Lawmakers introduced 30 bills this year related to groundwater. Of those, seven were introduced by Democrats.
Because none of the Democratic bills received a hearing, they are effectively dead in the process.
Some of the GOP bills are identical to legislation Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs has already vetoed over the last three years.
Rep. Gail Griffin (R-Hereford) introduced one bill which would put a cap on groundwater withdrawals in “irrigation non-expansion areas.” An INA is a region in a groundwater basin where agricultural irrigation can’t expand. INAs are a tool to conserve groundwater supplies.
Griffin’s bill would put a cap on how much water a user can withdraw in an INA, but Democrats and environmental groups still opposed the idea, because it would cap withdrawals at 6 feet for each acre of land, which is more than any user is already withdrawing. So, they argue it makes the “cap” meaningless.
The bill would also allow an INA user to construct new wells for irrigation use in INAs.
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