When it comes to growth, bigger isn’t better
It definitely feels pretty wintery the last few days. Cold weather is helpful in controlling insect pests, diseases and some weeds, but it has been a while since Yuma has experienced any.
My brother sends me articles that appear in the Tucson newspaper concerning water issues and agricultural issues. I am going to quote part of an article written by Tony Davis of the Arizona Daily Star published Jan. 22, 2023. Quoting Mr. Davis: “As governor in 1980,
Bruce Babbitt prodded southern and central Arizona farmers into accepting the first limits ever imposed on their groundwater pumping. Today he says a different band of farmers will have to give water up again–this time by selling off their rights to it. Babbitt helped users in the pioneering
Arizona Groundwater Management Act in 1980 after pushing the big water interest groups of the time–cities, farms and mining companies--to the table. Probably his biggest accomplishment was coaxing a very reluctant group of farmers to accept the reality that their days of runaway pumping of groundwater were done.
“The law created state-regulated active management areas surrounding Tucson, Phoenix and other urban areas. In most cases, those areas were required to reach safe yield–a balance between groundwater pumping and replenishment–by 2025. For Pima, Maricopa and Pinal counties, the law also required that all the subdivisions prove they have an assured water supply for 100 years before homebuilders could start selling lots. To do that, builders must show their pumping won’t lower the aquifer by more than 1,000 feet in Pima and Maricopa counties and 1,200 feet in Pinal County.
“Now a former U.S. Interior Secretary, Babbitt says a different group of farmers--those working along the Colorado River– must eventually accept the idea that some will have to sell out to cities to insure there’s enough water for urban growth to continue.”
This excerpt pretty well summarizes what happened in 1980 to separate the water and the land and force farmers along the Colorado River to now have to fight for their economic lives. Gov. Hobbs released an aquifer report recently that indicated there isn’t enough water to support anticipated developments west of Buckeye. There are concerns in eastern Maricopa County cities on the effects of new industrial development and chip plants on the available water supplies.
It seems to me that bigger isn’t better when there are not enough natural resources to support the growth. It also seems irrational to me to let Bruce Babbitt, a resident of Washington, D.C., have anything to do with Arizona water and water law decisions, looking at his track record.