By Ian James | Arizona Republic
A company’s proposal to take water from farmland along the Colorado River and sell it to a growing Phoenix suburb has provoked a heated debate, and some Arizona legislators are trying to block the deal with a bill that would prohibit the transfer.
The legislation introduced by Rep. Regina Cobb would bar landowners who hold “fourth-priority” water entitlements from transferring Colorado River water away from communities near the river.
Cobb said this water was supposed to be used for agriculture and if it’s diverted elsewhere would harm farming communities along the river.
“We just needed to get ahead of it and let them know that we’re not for this,” said Cobb, R-Kingman. “It would be detrimental to the communities. There is absolutely zero development that would happen in any of those communities once the water got transferred out of there.”
