The city of Chandler is expanding its well system with the help of a $1 million federal grant. City leaders say it will help them diversify their water portfolio as the Colorado River gets less reliable.
Arizona water leaders have stressed the need for resilient water systems that draw from multiple sources. Those calls have come into focus in recent months, as proposed federal plans for managing the Colorado River could deal significant cutbacks to Arizona’s share of Colorado River water. Water leaders said those cuts would be “devastating.”
Rep. Greg Stanton, who helped secure the federal grant, spoke to reporters on Tuesday.
“You would think we would not have so many cameras here for a project announcing a new well in the city of Chandler,” he said. “Is a well a sexy project? Heck yeah, it is, because water is the most important issue that we are facing in Arizona.”
Chandler only gets 6% of its water from underground but says its 32 active wells provide an important addition to water from the Colorado and Salt River systems, especially during periods of high demand in the summertime.
“This diversification is essential to ensuring stability in the face of drought and the growing demands on the Colorado River,” said Kevin Hartke, Chandler’s mayor.
Hartke recently co-signed a letter asking federal water managers to reconsider those proposed cuts to Arizona’s Colorado River supply. He and other city leaders around the Valley made the case that water reductions could harm the growing technological manufacturing industry in Arizona. Chandler hosts a number of major technology companies, including microchip and semiconductor manufacturers.
Stanton highlighted the role of those companies in the nation’s economy and military and said “water security in Arizona and in Chandler is national security.”
“As we've grown,” Stanton said, “Chandler has done such an incredible job of building the industries of the future, high wage jobs, particularly on the Price Corridor. All that development is actually being done with less water than ever before. But moving forward, we're going to have to invest even more in conservation efforts.”
Federal spending has been a big part of water conservation efforts around Arizona and the Colorado River system, which stretches from Wyoming to San Diego. The Biden administration set aside billions to help cities, farms and tribes adapt amid a two-decade-long megadrought, but the future of conservation funding has grown uncertain under the Trump administration.
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