We have 40+ years of history with AMA's in our state. Nothing scary has happened in any of the existing 5 AMA's... Local control means one thing in the Willcox Basin, a handful of out of state investors in industrial AG control our water, period!
Local control means one thing in the Willcox Basin, a handful of out of state investors in industrial AG control our water, period! They have out drilled every existing farmer in our valley and already own better than 60% of all irrigated land in our basin. Their foothold will only grow as local farmers read the tea leaves and realize, like so many already have, they cannot compete against these few for water at the depths we'll see in the coming years. I am not an alarmist, this is fact. Local control means out of state investors control our future, not us! It really is that simple.
There are great ideas like augmented recharge, etc., but all of these ideas combined will not change the course by more than a few years and will take ten years or longer to implement, using your tax dollars! I challenge anyone to prove me wrong on this with real data, not anecdotal, "well so and so did such and such and bla bla bla." Folks, this is too serious to believe anything we are told because it's easier to believe in the impossible than face up to the fact that we must take action, and now.
If the AMA only halts the rapid increase and expansion of the bleeding of our aquifer, it has taken us in a good direction. Is it perfect? NO! but a few tweaks and it can fit our needs. For example, Title 45, as it applies to subsequent AMA's such as ours, could be easily modified, if our legislature had the will, and could include transferable water rights so that irrigation rights on parcels could be retired and moved to the slopes where more high value AG, such as vineyards, could increase their footprint, and secondly, withdrawal fees, that's right, let the big users pay for our water they are using to pay their investors. These monies could be used to fund the many ideas like augmentation, and deepening of wells, with certain qualifications of course, for folks having had their wells pumped dry. The dollars generated could be used to retire water rights when farmers so choose, not being forced, but choose.
The alternative is full of uncertainty, except for the rapid expansion of the problem that will certainly take place immediately, should the AMA fail and those with the deepest pockets drill and expand at breakneck speed to make it under the next wire. They know the legislature is, sooner or later, going to grapple with this, what will they do? Who can know? Personally, I'd rather use the tool that exists and has a track record. Work on that tool to get a couple tweaks in place. Our own representative, Gail Griffin is chairwoman of the Natural Resource Committee, and she could indeed listen to us local folks, her constituents, on this.
The AMA is far less risky than leaving our water future in the hands of others and calling that "local control" or in the hands of a legislature that actually helped get us into this mess in the first place. By the way, has anyone stopped to think that a ballot initiative is about as grass roots and local as it comes in Arizona?
Lastly, yes, I trust engineers and hydrologists more than I do politicians in understanding what we are facing. I’ve met and talked in depth with two ADWR directors now, as well as multiple hydrologists behind the studies on our basin. The best I can tell they are levelheaded and try to remain non-political, that’s refreshing in my mind. Sure, you have the right to do nothing, letting this race to the bottom go on, but I am not going to stand around believing the status quo is anything but trusting my future to a board of directors of a few out of state companies who have only one responsibility, and that is to their investors, not to you or me. In fact, I do not even blame them, they are doing what they are supposed to do, provide return on investment for their investors, but no longer at my expense, if I have any say so! That’s local control!