From the Rose Law Group Growlery
By Phil Riske | Managing Editor
Cursed by what they were taught in law school, lawyers have created a new language, with its own set of grammar, punctuation and other English rules.
You can’t blame them for their style in legal documents, especially those a judge has to read, but what it you—the public—were the judges of how an attorney would write up the following story? The legal version follows it.
Farmers are used to water shortages
Dan Thelander, who grows alfalfa, wheat, cotton and other crops on 5,000 acres here, already has seen his irrigation district give up 20 percent of its Central Arizona Project water under an agreement Arizona negotiated to help support the level of Lake Mead.
But with the Interior Department expected to declare a shortage on the Colorado River in the not-too-distant future, he and other central Arizona farmers face a tougher scenario: A shortage would trigger a first round of cuts to the state’s CAP allotment, and those cuts would fall in large part on agriculture.
The CAP aqueduct brings about 1.5 million acre-feet of Colorado River water per year to Pima, Pinal and Maricopa counties, and much of that is used for agriculture. According to the Arizona Department of Water Resources, irrigated agriculture uses nearly 70 percent of available water.
Agriculturalists habituated to Water deficiencies
Mister Dan Thelander, proprietor of 5,000 acres of Alfalfa, Wheat, Cotton and other chattel, has witnessed his Irrigation District capitulate up to Twenty (20) Percent of its Central Arizona Project, hereafter referred to as “CAP”, under concordance the State of Arizona adjudicated to sustain the Water level of Lake Mead. (418 F. 3d 1028 – Smith v. Central Arizona Water Conservation District and RG 95 Arizona vs California)
The United States Department of Interior, however is expected to convey a deficiency on the Colorado River (Colorado River Water Conserv. Dist. v. United States 424 U.S. 800 (1976; The McCarran Amendment, 66 Stat. 560, 43 U.S.C. § 666) within a compressed period of Time. Said shortage would set in motion a first round of reductions to the State’s aforementioned CAP allotment, and those decrements would be primarily cast upon Agriculture.
The CAP Aqueduct brings about 1.5 million (1,500,000) Acre-Feet of Colorado River Water annually to Pima, Pinal and Maricopa Counties, much of which is used for Agriculture.
This communication does not constitute legal advice and should not be construed as such.
