By Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources. | Arizona Capitol Times
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are published for discussions purposes only.)
f recent climatic experience has taught Arizonans anything, it is that the specter of drought is an ever-present proposition Droughts of 30- or even 50-year durations are not unknown phenomena.
So, even when Mother Nature blesses us with a wet year, like this year, water in the Southwest remains a scarce resource that must be managed cooperatively with a long-term view, if we are to assure that water remains available and abundant for the millions of people who rely on it.
Two board members of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) wrote an article that appeared on the opinion pages of the Arizona Capitol Times on April 21, calling for the state’s water managers to rally around a new proposal created by CAWCD staff to (theoretically) protect Arizona’s water in Lake Mead.