Why such concern over water supply to Yuma County?
hey (Central Arizona Project) are coming to get our water! And the Legislature is helping them.”
While this article will be published after the meeting on March 23, I hope that the citizens of Yuma turned out to physically demonstrate the opposition to attempts by central Arizona to take our legally allocated water from the Colorado River.
Of all the issues the legislative committees have taken on this session, who controls Arizona’s Colorado River entitlement affects us the most by far. Local officials, urban and rural alike have been mostly unsuccessful in persuading the Senate and House committees that the Central Arizona Project is a real threat to us and what they are doing empowers CAP by giving them superiority over our higher priority water rights.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources has been working to protect Yuma area water. The committees for House Bill 2512, sponsored by Rep. Bowers and the Senate Bill 1507, sponsored by Sen. Griffin, have rebuffed ADWR in many respects including refusing to put out bills that protect Yuma water and curtail CAP.
Why is there such concern about the Colorado River water supply to Yuma County? Losing any of our water allotment to anyone diminishes the future prosperity of everyone in Yuma County.
The Yuma area is not unique with respect to the fact that the area and economic progress are tied to the development of water resources from the Colorado River. The Yuma area is unique because a combination of factors, including geographic location, fertile soils, agricultural efficiency, technological innovation, high priority use water, an available workforce and environmental stewardship have transformed the Yuma area into one of the most productive agricultural centers in the United States.
Yuma is a national center of agricultural production in the United States. The county ranks at the very top of U.S. counties in several measures of agricultural sales, acreage and production.
Farm level production only reflects a portion of agriculture’s contribution to the Yuma County economy. Agricultural production creates demands for goods and services in agricultural input and service sectors.
It also creates demands for inputs from sectors not directly related to agriculture. Farm owners and employee spend earnings and wages in local businesses in the county. Both spending in inputs and spending of earnings and wages generates additional demands for goods and services-and jobsin the Yuma economy.
These “multiplier effects” mean that the contribution of agriculture to the Yuma economy stretches beyond the farm itself.
The productivity and efficiency of the Yuma County agricultural industry has improved dramatically over the past 40 years, and today, the region serves as one of the world’s premier crop production regions.
Water is a critical input for Yuma area production systems, and area growers have been quick to adopt new production and irrigation technologies that have dramatically improved crop yields while at the same time reducing overall water use.
New technologies continue to be developed and used in agricultural production systems, and if recent history translates to the future, Yuma producers will be the first in line to evaluate and implement these new technologies — technologies that will lead to an even more productive and water-efficient agricultural industry.
Citizens of Yuma County, we are in the fight of our lives to protect and preserve our water, economy, quality of life and our future. Stand up and speak out!