How Pinal County plans to mitigate water shortage

By Madelaine Braggs | Rose Law Group Reporter

Local officials gave an update on various water solutions being considered at this month’s Pinal Partnership panel, moderated by Rose Law Group founder and President Jordan Rose.

Among the speakers was Austin Carey, Planning Analyst from Central Arizona Water Project, who elaborated on the Urban to Ag Exchange, an initiative that offers cities a long-term storage credit in Pinal, which can be exchanged with the Arizona Water Banking Authority for water.

Recently, a shortage was declared on the Colorado River for the first time in modern history. “That is a result of decades worth of prolonged drought conditions in the Western United states and less than favorable snow pack condition in 2021,” says Carey.

The projected water levels of Lake Mead in 2022 put Arizona in a Tier 1 Shortage condition, which means a 512-thousand foot or 30% reduction to AZ’s Colorado River Supply. That reduction includes the agricultural settlement pools that are crucial for farmers, who are now investing in groundwater infrastructure in anticipation for this shortage.

“Certainly, this is going to be painful for farmers. We’ve been working over the years to put together some agreements to reduce impact to folks… For years we’ve been anticipating this reduction, but even with some of these mitigation efforts, there will be some pain for farmers,” said Carrey, Planning Analyst at Central Arizona Water Project.

That pinch will be felt beginning Jan 1st of 2022, going in to affect almost immediately.

Healthy Competition

Pinal County Board of Supervisors Chairman Stephen Miller was appointed by the Governor’s office to lead the efforts for water solutions in Pinal County. He says approximately 70 people interact with the committee on a regular basis. “The solution will not come from one single bullet,” he says. “It will not be through only conservation, or entirely from surface water, although those are both important components.”

Chairman Miller says if you want to solve the issue of water, Pinal has to take it to capitalism. He encourages entrepreneurs to figure out a way to desalinate the water at an affordable cost and create competition. “A while back we offered money to whoever could get a plane off the ground, we almost have to take it back to that way of thinking,” said the Pinal BOS Chairman. “You’ll see you can get water at an affordable price.”

Casa Grande Planning Ahead

Casa Grande Mayor Craig McFarland says the city made a historic step to addressing water when they adopted their new general plan.  The Mayor says it was the city’s first general plan to include a water resource plan, which has a three-prong approach. The city outlined ways to manage water better, recycle water and also find new renewable water supplies or resources.

The city is also approaching farmers who have a more affluent water supplies and offering them water credit to help redirect those resources to some of the water districts.

The Mayor said, “We could probably double in size with new home lots, but the problem is how that would affect our economy. It’s a four-billion-dollar economy and if the farmers can’t grow crops and feed the cows we’re going to have a big problem.”