We need collaboration over cynicism to solve groundwater challenges

An unhealthy plate of cynicism with a side of hypocrisy is served up every day in politics. So let me offer a bit of sincerity to sum up the last several months. In November, Gov. Katie Hobbs’ Water Policy Council finalized its report outlining the principle guidelines and key elements for any future groundwater management framework. The Council did not author any proposed legislation, which makes sense. Historically, these advisory councils have created the priorities and set the guardrails for water policy in Arizona. This is then followed up by a more intensive effort on the part of smaller groups with particular expertise and direct impact, to then hammer out the details.

Once Sen. Sine Kerr and I left the Council, we went straight to work on those details and complex considerations. Kerr, along with Reps Gail Griffin and Tim Dunn, convened an intently focused group of stakeholders representing a diverse set of agricultural water users across the state. This group, with years of stakeholder feedback, experience, and expertise, represented those users who would be most immediately impacted by any mandatory reduction of groundwater use in the state. After months of building consensus and seeking feedback from other stakeholders, Kerr presented SB1221. The bill addressed the need for management in areas of rural Arizona where aquifers are experiencing the signs of overdraft, while recognizing the significant concerns of the agriculture community.

As is expected with any proposed legislation, there was immediate disagreement about what was in the bill, but there was also considerable common ground.

Ultimately, the final version of SB1221, Basin Management Areas, exhibited an extraordinary level of stakeholder engagement. The failure of SB1221 to get to the governor’s desk is certainly not for lack of effort or compromise. For several months on a weekly basis (sometimes daily), representatives from agriculture, municipalities, industry, and the environment had the opportunity to discuss and negotiate the bill's provisions through their legislative representation and stakeholder groups. The Governor’s Office and the Department of Water Resources were ever-present in negotiations. These sessions were opportunities to present data, share experiences, and collaboratively develop solutions. The process was designed to ensure that the legislation would be fair, effective, and promote the sustainability of the resource that dictates the economic viability of the rural communities who rely on it.

In response to feedback from the Governor’s Office and other stakeholders, the bill’s sponsors made several amendments that significantly changed the original language of SB1221 for several key elements of the bill, including: streamlining the process for establishing a BMA, allowing the governor and legislative leadership to select the membership of the governing councils, giving DWR more authority in management decisions for a BMA, and finally, mandating a greater level of conservation than ever before seen in any previous groundwater management framework existing in Arizona with significant mandatory cuts to all major water users, closing the basin to any new pumping, and requiring reductions in use for any certificated water transfer from one user to another.

The agriculture community has demonstrated it is serious about being a part of the solution to address groundwater challenges, and any future legislative efforts will need to build on the foundation laid by SB1221 to be successful. Overall, the BMA framework is the most viable alternative for rural Arizona and would bring stability to those communities. The formation is science driven and it includes all the elements of meaningful conservation, management planning and goal setting, flexibility, equitability, certainty, and maintains the state’s authority while involving local stakeholders in management.

Cynics don’t survive in agriculture. You must begin every day believing that you will succeed against all odds, if not today then tomorrow. I don’t know what the future holds for all the work we accomplished in the past year, but the Arizona Farm Bureau will continue to stay engaged and vigilant on behalf of Arizona’s farm and ranch families. I agree with others who have said that we are very close mostly due to the enormous concessions agriculture has made. However, there is very little left to give and “close” only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.

By is the Arizona Farm Bureau president and a southern Arizona rancher.

 

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