Arizona Nature Conservancy
The move is expected to cut red tape for builders and farmers, but environmental advocates say that could come at the expense of an unsafe water supply.
By Hunter Bassler || 12 News
Rivers and streams are usually easy to spot: Running water carving and cutting its way through the land.
Arizona’s streams, like many other things in the state, are an outlier.
More than 95% of the state’s waterways are considered “ephemeral” streams, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Rather than continuously flowing with water, ephemeral streams only run wet after a heavy storm or melting snow, leaving them dry most of the year.
The streams are a bedrock for water health in Arizona despite their seasonal nature, providing benefits like water quality protection, groundwater recharge, and a habitat for wildlife, according to the Audubon Society.
Arizona Sen. Kyrsten Sinema joined four Democrats and all Senate Republicans on Wednesday in voting to pass a resolution that would cut ephemeral streams out of the nation’s definition of “waters of the United States” or “WOTUS.” The cut would halt the seasonal waterways’ federal protection against pollution.
