Opinion: Arizona Republicans want to weaken the state’s water laws
Groundwater in Arizona belongs to all of us. It is a public resource and sensible management of it is vital to our shared future. But instead of fulfilling their obligation to protect this finite and diminishing water supply, Arizona’s Republican legislators have introduced dozens of bills at the statehouse aimed at enriching residential developers and corporate farmers who want to expand their groundwater use. Many of these bills are advancing and will end up on the governor’s desk. One intent of these bills is to weaken the state’s assured water supply requirement for development in urban areas. This crucial consumer protection prevents the sale of subdivision lots that lack a 100-year water supply, thereby assuring our desert state’s longevity.
-Written by Kathleen Ferris, a Phoenix water attorney and sits on the Governor’s Water Policy Council.