Lingenfelter: Griffin is to blame, Legislature needs to act on groundwater management options for rural Arizona.

Letter to the Editor from Mohave County Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter, concerning executive action creating groundwater Active Management Area in the Willcox Basin.

I understand that people voted against [a groundwater Active Management Area administered by the Arizona Department of Water Resources] for the Willcox Basin, but as contained within Arizona statute, as it stands today, the state has an obligation by law that isn't weighted by a political campaign.

[Read about the Willcox AMA designation here].

The Department of Water Resources is required by law-- strengthened in 2022-- to review all Arizona groundwater basins with ‘Supply & Demand Reports’ to protect all rural Arizona citizens’ water supplies for the long term future, and that's what they're doing by the data and in accordance with the specific criteria outlined in state statute.

Since 2016, when my colleague from Mohave County, Regina Cobb, introduced the first rural water management bill, we have been advocating, educating, and warning that this very scenario could happen [i.e. the implementation of an AMA through executive action], and we wanted a local and customizable new rural groundwater management framework to be implemented into state law that would be balanced and equitable for all water users within a specific rural water basin.

With regards to an AMA, those of us in rural Arizona agree that it is not an ideal solution, but in the absence of another localized and customizable rural framework, at least future generations know that there will be some level of conservation built into an AMA.

According to the ‘Supply & Demand Report’ on the Wilcox Basin published by ADWR in December 2023, the annual groundwater deficit in the Willcox Basin is currently estimated at 100,000 acre-feet per year.

That’s the amount of water that the Tucson Metro Area uses and clearly not sustainable.

More importantly, though, the Department of Water Resources is mandated by law to protect all rural Arizonans that are depending on the health of a rural basin to safeguard citizens' private property values and to prevent more international and out-of-state corporate operators from coming in and exploiting Arizona’s rural aquifers.

At the end of the day, all this could be laid at the feet of Gail Griffin [Arizona State Representative based in Hereford, Republican].

Since 2016, myself and a growing group of county supervisors and locally elected officials have been advocating and educating for rural groundwater protections that would've helped the Willcox Basin avoid an AMA.

We have never been given even one committee hearing or floor discussion because Gail Griffin, as [Arizona House Natural Resources Energy and Water Committee] chair, refused to hear it.

The fact there isn't a third rural groundwater management framework tool is on her, as is this AMA.

If it can happen to the Wilcox Basin, it can happen to any rural basin in Arizona.

The water management challenges of the Wilcox Basin are not isolated and reveal the need for a third, customizable rural groundwater framework that addresses the specific needs of different rural communities.

We believe that meaningful legislative participation in rural groundwater negotiations-- conducted in good faith on behalf of all rural Arizonans, not just agricultural interests—is essential.

These negotiations must involve legislators who have no real or perceived conflict of interest or financial stake in the outcome. Only with such participation can Arizona craft a rural groundwater management framework that is balanced and that truly protects all rural Arizonan’s water resources.

As part of this effort, we also urge legislative leadership to review the web of influence shared in Cochise Regional News’ three-part investigative series, “She Has Sold Us Out,” which captures the complexities of those currently involved in these rural groundwater negotiations.

[Read CRN’s investigation into the role of Griffin and monied special interests in the death of water legislation here: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.]

We hope you will support this request by encouraging legislative involvement that is transparent and equitable on behalf of all rural Arizonans.

There are 1.5 million of us that call rural Arizona home. Your legislative leadership is crucial to ensuring sustainable water solutions for all rural Arizonans.

-- Editor's Note: the author of this Cochise Regional News Letter to the Editor, Travis Lingenfelter, is District 1 Supervisor for Mohave County.

A Republican, he was one of several community leaders and stakeholders from across the state who comprised the Governor's Water Advisory Council.

The Council was convened by Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs (Democrat) in 2023 in order to make policy recommendations to modernize and strengthen Arizona water law.

The state is in a historic decades-long drought, deeply exacerbated by human-caused climate change.

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