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

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Photos by Mark Henle/The Arizona Republic the streets aren't paved and, in most cases, homes are connected to septic tanks, which can begin to trickle into the groundwater over time. erial view of a new subdivision in Prescott Valley. Workers drill a well for a new home in Dewey. Current laws allow individual landowners to build subdivisions that rely on unmonitored wells and developers to sell homes without guaranteeing a long -term water supply. izona's groundwater management n 1980, Arizona enacted a sweep- ing law for man- aging groundwa- _- ter that imposes rules on highly pop - d regions. Its goal is ow the depletion of idwater resources n some areas, to bal- the amount of water )ed out of the ground water returned to ers. ere are now five re- or Active Manage - Areas, subject to the They cover about srcent of the state's raphic area but in- nearly 80 percent of opulation. e biggest difference een AMA Arizona ion -AMA Arizona is water and growth are aged. Q AM Aboundaries Central Arizona Project Canal Prescott Source: Arizona James Aburidis/ Department of Water Resources The Arizona Republic In an AMA ■ A city or a developer must prove there is a 100 -year assured supply of wa- ter before a subdivision, land divided into six or more parcels, can be built. The water must be primarily surface water. ■ New wells drilled can't be used to ir- rigate crops on a farm. Private wells (also known as "exempt wells' because their owners don't have to report to authorities how much water they draw) are allowed Outside an AMA ■ A developer or city is required to have its plans reviewed by the state, which de- termines whether the project has an ade- quate water supply for 100 years. A de- veloper can legally choose not to include the water information in the filing, which triggers a finding of inadequate water. Such a finding won't stop construction. ■ The initial seller of a property must disclose a finding of inadequate water, usu- ally in the public report issued by the state Real Estate Department. Subsequent sales do not have to include that disclosure. ■ Counties and some small towns hold limited authority to deny or limit subdivi- sions based solely on a lack of water. A only for domestic, or household, purposes: Owners of such a well are permitted to pump 35 gallons a minute, or 18.4 million gallons a year. The annual limit on a new non - residential well is 3.3 million gallons. ■ Non - exempt wells are typically used for commercial or industrial purposes. Their owners must report their water use to the state and abide by historical limits on the land and water. town that operates its own water system, such as Payson, can require a builder to pro- vide water for a subdivision that is going to be hooked into the town system. ■ Some counties have found ways to ex- ercise some control. Yavapai County re- duced the maximum densities of homes permitted in a development. Mohave County increased minimum lot sizes in the Golden Valley area to slow unregulated subdivisions. ■ Fewer. restrictions apply to wells. An exempt well is not. limited to residential purposes. Whether residential or non -resi- dential, an owner can withdraw up to 35 gallons per minute without reporting it. rural communities where there is no central water system and drilling a well isn't possible. The people who go to so much trouble to haul water came to these remote places looking for a simpler, independent lifestyle or a home in the mountains or simply a house they could afford. They repre- sent the extreme side of what it takes to get water in rural Arizona. State officials can't estimate how many people live this way — they're.a small minority — but it's not uncom- mon in northern Arizona. More than half of the people who live on the Navajo Reservation haul water, as do hundreds of people in areas surrounding Flagstaff, Wil- liams and Kingman. "It's a way of life in these areas," said Tom Wbitmer, manager of state- wide water resources planning for the Arizona Department of Water Re- sources. The water - filling stations in Ash Fork, a tiny town west of Williams in northern Yavapai County, draw lines of trucks all day on the weekends. The town is served by a small water system, but most residents beyond a square mile or so must haul water or have it hauled in. "In Texas, we never really thought about water," said Eddie Hunter, a sometimes truck driver who moved his family to Ash Fork a year ago. "The kids filled pools, played with the hoses ..." "Here, there are no water fights," Tracy said. "You really have to watch it. You don't want to run out when there's bad weather." The Hunters landed in Ash Fork because other family members lived there and helped them relocate. So they were willing to dwell in a place with no water. They have a 5,000 -gallon storage tank at home, enough for about three weeks. They pay 1 cent a gallon to fill a smaller tank that fits into the back of their pickup. Eddie is fixing up a trailer that will let them haul an even larger tank the three or four miles from town to their home. If for some reason they can't get into town — if, say, Eddie is away on a long truck run —they can pay $60 per 2,000 gallons to have water delivered. Tb install a well at their house out- side Ash Fork would mean drilling down more than 2,000 feet, which just isn't practical for a homeowner. Williams has had to drill down about 3,700 feet to find water during the ongoing drought, which is why in- dividuals in the high country and plateaus have few options but haul- ing, said Whitmer, the state's water - resources planner. Ron and Roberta McElwain moved from Boston to the 40 -acre Juniper Wood Ranch south of Ash Fork to es- cape the big city. The ranch, which is on the far side of Partridge Creek from town, of- fered inexpensive land that put some room between them and anyone else, which was a big selling point. They drive nine miles up a dirt road and an additional 15. miles to get to the fill station. It takes 10 quarters to fill the tank in the back of the truck, still a bargain compared with their monthly water and sewer bills back in Boston, Ro- berta said. They also collect rainwa- ter and watch every drop they use. "You just conserve," she said. Toni Rubio, who lives off Arizona 89 between Ash Fork and Chino Val- ley, goes beyond conservation and can make her 1,000 -gallon storage tank last three months. After she washes the dishes, she uses the water to flush the toilet — and she doesn't flush as often as city folks. "Out here you get real creative with water," she said. Most people know what they're getting into and would rather haul water than pony up the assessments needed to build a community system. + Developers are even tapping into that group, marketing subdivisions as "water -haul only." "A lot of people think hauling water is bad," said Danny Latin, whq has hauled water for 13 years to a quar- ter -horse ranch west of Williams, miles from any real water system. "But around northern Arizona, it's just what everybody does."