Colorado River Commission & 7-States Meeting Inside Info: Arizona

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A16 SUNDAY, JUNE 26, 2005 FROM THE FROW PAGE (, THE ARIZONA REPUB Unchecked growth chokes RURAL WATER Continued from Al sure on the already overtapped Colo- rado River. Importing water to meet rural needs will cost billions of dollars. If rural communities can't foot the bill — and it's hard to see how many will be able to do so — it's likely that state and federal taxpayers will be stuck with the tab. The costs will rise more if the projects are delayed until cri- ses force them to proceed to save communities. The warning signs have multiplied in recent years, especially in high - country communities, where second - home sales keep growth rates high and reservoirs and wells need regu- lar replenishing by rain and snow- melt. Sporadic shortages have af- flicted Pine, Strawberry, Mayer and other small towns in Yavapai and Co- conino counties. Williams drilled one of the deepest domestic wells in the West to pull through the drought. In some of those same areas, hun- dreds of families must haul water to their homes or pay to have it hauled. Their numbers are growing steadily as builders break ground in even more remote places where there are no municipal water systems and the groundwater is too deep or skimpy to drill wells. Communities are going to great lengths to secure water supplies, and the scramble is generating tensions. Prescott and Prescott Valley bought land outside their limits for the right to drill wells and pipe water back to new subdivisions. Developers in Pay- son are importing water from unin- corporated areas to meet the town's requirements that new homes come with an outside water source. "They're trying to remedy their problems by taking what we have," said Chris Benjamin, who owns a small resort park in unincorporated Star Valley, the area targeted for the import plan. "They'll suck us dry. Something needs to be done so it's fair for everybody and not just the developer." But there is evidence that even these efforts will not be able to avert a crisis. State and local records ana- lyzed by The Arizona Republic docu- ment an alarming strain on rural wa- ter supplies. An increasing number of individual wells are drawing groundwater at an un- known rate and in unknown quantities. More large subdivisions are being built ar soon will be on land where water Supplies are uncertain or clearly inade- 3uate. Even if water is available, the number of homes drawing on it is esca- (ating: Since 2001, projects involving an estimated 20,000 new houses have been launched across rural Arizona. Over the Text decade or so, more than 200,000 .iew homes are planned, many in north- western Mohave County, which is now iparsely populated. The rural water crisis will be driv- :n by those thousands of new homes, >ome in so-called wildcat subdivi- ;ions that sprout outside local zoning .aws and a much greater number in nore familiar planned communities n areas without proven water iupplies.. It's that lack of assurance that adds :o the risk. In Maricopa County and 'our other mostly urban areas of Ari- zona, cities and home builders must )rove there is a 100 -year water sup - )ly before the state will allow a new subdivision. In rural Arizona, those protections lon't exist. Subdivisions can be built wen when the state knows there is nsufficient water to support the new comes or when little or no informa- ion is available about the water aurce. Attempts to change the law lave been repeatedly blocked by awmakers and rural interests who ion't want the state to tighten regula- Eddie Hunter opens the valve on his portable 500 - gallon water tank so he can pump it into the 5,000 - gallon storage tank at his home outside Ash Fork. How wells hurt rivers Arizona law recognizes two kinds of water: • Groundwater pumped up through wells from underground aquifers. • Surface water from rivers and streams, often stored in reservoirs. The law does not recognize a connection between the two, but . science does. Studies show that extracting groundwater can reduce the flow of a stream or river if a well is too close. Too much pumping in the wrong place can damage a river and the wildlife habitat it provides. How it works: 0 Underground water typically moves through an aquifer and into a stream or river that flows through the water table. Water can also flow from a river back into an aquifer. ' O When a water well is drilled too close to a river, water that would have flowed into the river is withdrawn from the ground, reducing the flow. 94if� �M. Whena well is pumping water from an aquifer, it may also draw - S water from the river itself, further reduce " ~ Geological Survey the river's flow and, in extreme cases, dry up stretches Ja of the river. mesAbundis/ The Arizona Republic were claimed by Salt River Project ing across rural Arizona. This uncer- The proliferation of wells could dry laws that tie growth to the availably more than a century ago for its custom- tain drain on the aquifers makes it even up stretches of the Verde within 80 to water supply. ers in metropolitan Phoenix. Conse- harder tn'nrerlict haw manv nP.i an Inn vaarc arrnrrlinor to a ct„A....n.,_ 'rh— I.— --t-A :.. Coen e....l.