By Tony Davis | Arizona Daily Star and Howard Fischer Capitol Media Services
ongstanding urban-rural tensions over a proposed drought plan have escalated after Pinal County farmers stepped up their request for state money for well-drilling to replace Colorado River water deliveries.
“Enough is enough,” responded 10 Phoenix-area cities through a spokesman. They say the state has already pledged millions to the farms for well drilling, and plenty of water to boot.
The dispute has unleashed claims and counterclaims from the two sides about the farms’ economic importance.
Farms recently released a detailed University of Arizona study emphasizing economic impacts of water cuts and the farms’ economic importance to Pinal County. It was financed by four irrigation districts that are seeking the additional money, and the cities are trying to poke holes in it.
The dispute threatens to put one more roadblock in the way of getting the Legislature to approve a plan to protect Lake Mead during the ongoing, prolonged drought in time to meet a Jan. 31 federal deadline.
Under the proposed drought plan, about 200 Pinal farmers are supposed to return to full groundwater pumping for the first time in more than 30 years. That would begin in 2022, after the third year of shortages in Central Arizona Project water deliveries to them from the Colorado River.
