Earth fissures running for miles have been appearing because of land subsidence caused by overpumping.
By Jake Frederico || The Arizona Republic
Anastasia Rabin talks about the need for the creation of an AMA in Cochise County.
Voters approved a plan Tuesday to regulate groundwater use in southeastern Arizona, using a citizen ballot initiative for the first time to create an Active Management Area in the Douglas basin.
But voters rejected a second measure to create a similar management area in the neighboring Willcox Basin, where groundwater withdrawal will continue to go unregulated. The Willcox initiative failed by a 2-to-1 margin.
Unofficial results from Tuesday’s election show Cochise County residents voted in favor of Proposition 422, to establish an AMA in the Douglas Basin. Residents there will join the other 82% of Arizona where groundwater is managed by an AMA, a mechanism established by the 1980 Groundwater Management Act.
Kathleen Ferris, a senior research fellow at Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy, was the executive director of the Arizona Groundwater Management Study Commission and helped write the 1980 Groundwater Management Act.
“This is a great win for the people of that basin who rely on groundwater in their daily lives. It’s also a great victory for grassroots efforts where government inaction has failed,“ she said. “The Arizona Water Defenders should celebrate in creating the first-ever citizen-driven AMA.”
The Arizona Water Defenders are a grassroots organization made up of residents of the two basins. After multiple failed attempts by lawmakers and other groups to introduce groundwater management in Cochise County, the group collected signatures to put Propositions 420 and 422 on the ballot.
A sign in favor of Proposition 420 in Cochise County.
Cheryl Knot coordinated signatures in the Douglas Basin.
“Voters in the Douglas Basin understand the need to conserve the groundwater for their future,” Knot said. “When I was circulating petitions, a few told me that they did not want to become like Willcox, where the groundwater levels are dropping so far and so fast because of agricultural overpumping.”
