Water: The haves and have-nots
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The Yuma Sun reported that Sarah Porter of the Kyl Center for Water Policy recently presented "Arizona: Land of the Water Haves and Have Nots." As director of the organization that's a part of Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy, she explained that "water certainty" – a resilient, longterm supply – is crucial to the state's prosperity and quality of life.
Porter noted that some communities who are dependent on groundwater, lack water certainty and are vulnerable to shortages. The "have-nots" include those places that are in the "path of progress," she said. Biggest growth is projected to be along the "sun corridor" from Tucson to Phoenix.
The "haves" are those who live in Active Management Areas, she said, which are subject to the 1980 Groundwater Management Act and recognize the need to aggressively manage the state's finite groundwater resources to support the growing economy, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources.
The goal is to forestall or avoid "a system failure." Porter noted that Arizona struggled to get the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan passed, which it did this past week.
"We don't have to like the deal, we have to live with the deal," Porter said.
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