Water is for fighting: Partisanship increases in Arizona politics as groundwater drops
In Arizona, water used to be a bipartisan area of politics, albeit a contentious one. But partisanship and tension have increased as water has drained away. Kathleen Ferris is a water policy expert of more than 40 years who helped craft Arizona’s monumental 1980 Groundwater Management Act. “Everybody keeps saying that water is bipartisan, and in fact it’s not. It’s not anymore, let’s put it that way. It used to be. You could say that back in 1980, when we passed the Groundwater Management Act, but you can’t say that anymore,” she said. Ferris believes Arizona’s prospects have darkened over the years, largely due to rural communities resisting conservation efforts. “Willcox, for example, did not want any part of the Groundwater Management Act. And yet here they are today, desperate for help,” Ferris said.