By Melissa St. Aude | Casa Grande Dispatch
Many area farmers are unhappy with an Arizona Department of Water Resources plan to gradually reduce agricultural groundwater rights. On Wednesday, nearly 150 people packed the council chambers at Casa Grande City Hall, some of them to voice their opinion about the plan, which many say will strip the value from area farmland.
Dick Powell, a city council member and local businessman, said the ruling could have a negative impact on the area economy by potentially taking thousands of acres of agricultural land out of production. “For every square mile of
farmland, an average of $500,000 is spent in the local economy,” Powell said.
Under the rule approved several years ago with little awareness, agricultural “water credits” begin to decline in 2014, when the allocation factor drops to 94 percent of the original amount.
In 2015, the number drops to 88 percent. Ten years from now in 2023, the credit will be reduced to 64 percent. By 2054, it will be at zero.
With each incremental reduction, the value of the farmland declines, Powell said.
He believes the plan will convince farmers to quickly sell or convert their lands to non-agricultural use rather than risk losing the property value. That could leave acres of dry, bare acreage across the county.
“Eventually, the farmland will be equal in value to bare desert land,” he said. “If you continue to farm and you can get wet water — and that’s going to become a big issue — you can farm as long as you want, you just won’t have any value from credits.”
The credits drop faster in the Phoenix and Tucson areas, but that issue was not addressed in Pinal until adoption of the new rule.
Although the city of Casa Grande has not taken a position regarding the rule, Powell arranged the Wednesday night forum to educate farmers and the community and to give ADWR officials a chance to answer questions.
