At Audubon Southwest, we have interaction with the Arizona State Legislature to assist laws that stewards our lands and waters; and to oppose laws that may hurt them.
Working throughout the aisle with each Republicans and Democrats, we have now helped have an effect on change over time.
Nevertheless, one water coverage precedence has eluded us: a legislative resolution for groundwater administration in rural Arizona (these areas exterior of Lively Administration Areas and Irrigation Non-expansion Areas). We’d like a brand new device to offer rural Arizonans extra flexibility and native management within the administration of their valuable groundwater assets.
Proper now, in almost 80 % of the state, communities are struggling underneath the pressure of our de facto rural groundwater administration guidelines: the deepest effectively wins, and, pump as a lot as you want. Unrestricted groundwater use hurts all of Arizona, most acutely impacting these areas with out administration. We are able to and should do higher.
After the 2024 election, Republicans picked up two seats within the Arizona Home of Representatives and one seat within the Arizona Senate. Governor Hobbs is within the third yr of her first four-year time period. This dynamic—a Republican-controlled Legislature mixed with a Democratic Governor—necessitates compromise. To advance laws, Republicans should work with the Governor to develop laws that gained’t be met by her veto pen, and, in flip, the Governor should work with the Republican-controlled Legislature if she is to go coverage priorities that require laws.
Enter: rural groundwater administration. The difficulty has risen to be one of many high water coverage priorities for each Governor Hobbs and the Legislature. Final yr, each Republicans and Democrats made progress within the negotiations on rural groundwater administration. Sadly, they didn’t get there in time earlier than the shut of the 2024 legislative session. Aspect observe: there was progress on rural groundwater administration, to make sure. Whereas not a legislative motion, the Arizona Division of Water Sources, underneath Governor Hobbs’ management, declared an Active Management Area within the Willcox Groundwater Basin in December 2024.
Let’s make 2025 the yr we go bipartisan options for rural groundwater administration. We are able to higher defend present customers from unrestricted groundwater pumping; implement a brand new, revolutionary, and versatile device that helps farmers, cities, business, and communities; and improves the water way forward for rural Arizona—not just for communities, farmers, and companies, however for the habitat and water supplies birds and other wildlife want.
Further priorities on the Arizona Legislature
We assist the continued funding within the state companies charged with managing, conserving, and defending water provides—like rivers and groundwater—for all of Arizona’s residents.
We additionally assist funding that helps enhance the resilience of Arizona’s lands and waters. Resilience is the flexibility to organize for and adapt to local weather shifts and extremes, together with rising temperatures, elevated drying, and variability in precipitation.
Audubon Southwest helps continued funding in:
- The Arizona Division of Water Sources wants price range funding to assist satisfactory staffing to hold out its duties. It additionally wants funding for information assortment, reminiscent of extra index wells to enhance our understanding of groundwater and extra stream gages to measure water use in addition to circulation adjustments over time. It additionally requires assets to function the skilled for Arizona’s courts in resolving long-standing water rights disputes.
- The Arizona Division of Environmental High quality wants price range funding for satisfactory staffing to hold out its duties in addition to enough funding to watch the standard of our water provides—together with the flexibility to implement guidelines that defend water high quality.
- The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority’s Water Conservation Grant Fund may deploy extra water resilience initiatives all through the state with extra devoted funding. The beforehand accessible $200 million was distributed to worthy projects across the state, and is projected to yield water financial savings of as much as 5 million acre-feet over the lifetime of the funded initiatives. Earlier than the applying window closed, there was $300 million value of potential extra conservation initiatives. There’s demonstrated want and buy-in from Arizona water customers that they’ll and need to use much less—let’s proceed these investments to encourage them to take action.
- The Arizona State Parks Heritage Fund: Reinstating the monies swept by the legislature throughout the Nice Recession for lottery cash to fund our State Parks is essential for shielding quite a few websites and landscapes throughout the state.
- The Arizona Path: Further state investments are wanted for path upkeep, planning, and preservation. The Arizona Path runs 800 miles north from the border with Utah, south to the border with Mexico and is open to non-motorized makes use of reminiscent of mountaineering, biking, backpacking, and horseback using.
If wanted, we are going to oppose laws that may roll again or weaken present groundwater administration or water high quality protections. We may even look ahead to payments that may threaten our public lands in Arizona.
Colorado River and the Arizona Legislature
Arizona is the one state within the Colorado River Basin (out of California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming) that wants legislative approval for any agreements it makes on Colorado River water administration. Most lately, in 2019, Audubon supported the passage of the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan each on the Arizona Capitol and in Congress. Audubon is at the moment laborious at work with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and Colorado River stakeholders to advance solutions for water customers and all that rely on a wholesome, flowing Colorado River. If a deal may be reached among the many states on tips on how to handle the Colorado River after 2026 (when the present tips that govern the river expire), we anticipate legislators and the Governor tackling the Colorado River within the 2026 legislative session.
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Keep tuned for extra from Audubon Southwest because the legislative session advances. If you wish to know when your voice could make a distinction on laws that protects our lands and waters, make certain you might be signed up for our Western Water Action Network
