By Sasha Hupka, Sam Kmack | Arizona Republic
Dozens of Rio Verde Foothills residents filed a lawsuit Thursday meant to force Scottsdale into helping the community temporarily secure a water supply after the city cut off residents Jan. 1.
The lawsuit, along with a new bill in the state Legislature that would make the city liable for some costs incurred as a result of the shut-off, are the latest last-ditch attempts to pull back the community from disaster.
“The city of Scottsdale has placed plaintiffs and their families under an unconscionable amount of stress and anxiety by discontinuing their domestic water supply,” the lawsuit reads. “The lack of fresh potable water for families to be able to bathe themselves or running water to flush their toilets is a well-known basic necessity.”
They are also a sign of mounting pressure on Scottsdaleover the community’s water woes. On Tuesday evening, about 60 Rio Verde Foothills residents gathered at the city’s Civic Center in an attempt to make officials hear their plea and come to the table. It came on the heels of a letter from state Rep. David Cook, R-Globe, who is also the primary sponsor of the new legislation targeting the city, House Bill 2411.
With no sign of a change of heart from Scottsdale leaders, Cook said it’s time to up the ante.
“I can’t wait and hope and pray that they’ll come to their senses,” he said. “I need to take action now and get these things moving, because if they don’t, these are the alternatives that they could be facing. And I’m going to fight hard.”
Rio Verde Foothills, a community that is near Scottsdale city limits but falls outside its boundaries as an unincorporated area of Maricopa County, has for years relied on Scottsdale to sell water to private haulers, who bring it to about 1,000 residents without working wells.
