Casa Grande Dispatch
A forum held in Casa Grande Wednesday to address a major water issue shed some light on a difficult problem. The fact that it drew an overflow crowd of farmers,
agribusiness representatives and others to the council chambers at City Hall shows the importance of the matter.
The crux of the issue is that farmers who want to see their way of life continue into future generations face a certain amount of pressure to sell for development sooner rather than later because a state rule will reduce their “extinguishment credits” year by year. That means the cash value of their land is likely to decrease over time.
What became evident during the meeting, with the help of clear-speaking water officials, was that the rule was adopted to keep this area from drying up. A major com- promise in the 1980 groundwater law allowed the Pinal area to overdraft groundwater because of the importance of agriculture to the economy. The rule in question, adopted in 2007, is an attempt to make the water supply sustainable for future development as well as agriculture. Meanwhile, the addition of Colorado River water to the mix has made things more complicated but given a major boost to the water table.
Perhaps the rule can be modified to make it more palatable to farmers and the overall community. Brian Betcher, general manager of the Maricopa-Stanfield Irrigation and Drainage District, raised a key point by saying that in modifying the rule, it is important not to make the situation worse.
Businessman and City Councilman Dick Powell and the Pinal Farm Bureau did a great service in arranging the meeting, which was informative and well run despite the tension over the topic. Now more discussion and work is needed to address an issue that has received too little scrutiny for several years.
