Groundwater protection area for Gila Bend a potential solution…
BALIN OVERSTOLZ MCNAIR
KTAR.com
The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) kicked off an informal process to establish a new groundwater management area in Gila Bend on Tuesday.
The new Active Management Area (AMA) could be set up in the Gila Bend Groundwater Basin, which is around the town of the same name southwest of the Valley. The purpose of establishing an AMA is to preserve long-term water levels.
If the plan goes through, it would be is the first time ADWR will establish a new groundwater management area in four decades.
Authorities last established active management areas with the 1980 Arizona Groundwater Code.
ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke said his department wants to establish an AMA in Gila Bend because its water levels are in severe decline.
“I thought it prudent to start this public process,” ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke told KTAR News 92.3 FM. “This public process does not preclude a legislative process from moving forward in terms of finding additional ways, more flexible ways to address groundwater management.”
Democrat State Sen. Priya Sundareshan said establishing an AMA in Gila Bend could be considered a short-term solution. However, she believed Buschatzke made the right decision.
Republic State Sen. Sine Kerr disagreed. She called the plan a threat to ranchers and farmers in Gila Bend. In response to ADWR’s public hearing, Kerr held an event in front of the Arizona State Capitol in partnership with the Maricopa County Farm Bureau (MCFB).
During the event, MCFB Director Erin Kuiper critiqued Buschatzke’s plan.
Jordan Rose, founder and president of Rose Law Group
If you’re farming in the Gila Bend area, your legislators need to hear from you now.”‘
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