Water Must Deal with 25 MM Population Increase

The UA’s Water Resources Research Center held its recent conference to discuss the present and future state of Arizona’s water issues.

Not much new was reported but some obvious views were well taken.  Here is a summary from the DAILYWILDCAT.com.

The conference played with ideas to more effectively use water coming into Arizona. Main issues involved choices people make with the water they already have, how not to continue population growth with the little water they receive and more long-term plans for what to do with their water over the next 40 to 100 years.

Joseph Garcia, director of communications at ASU’s Morrison Institute for Public Policy, said about 70 percent of water in Arizona goes to agriculture. The rest of it goes to industries and mining, recreational urbanization or landscape use.

“We are not running out of water,” Gammage said, “but we can’t do everything forever. We can’t support continued population growth and also support agriculture and also support the environment.”

Arizona is allotted about 2.8 million acre feet per year from the Colorado River. Because Arizona doesn’t currently use all of its allotted water, it ends up being dumped back into the environment, Gammage continued.

"If you believe that leaving water in the environment is a use, which lots of people don’t, then we are using it all."

According to Gammage’s report, the population over the next 40 years will grow by 25 million or more, leading to an increase in water demand to about 5 million acre feet of water per year.

Which Way Goes Desire

When we talk about the availability of water resources, we assume 0.5+ acre foot per person.  
As people f.... and population increases, the question for Arizona is whether our sexual desire will overcome our thirst. 
That's an interesting question. 
The disturbing complexity is that thirst will kill us and sex, or the lack of it, will make life unpleasant.  
There's a finite limit to Arizona's water...a finite limit to population hasn't been found.
If you need it spelled out, a growing population will have effects on water use.
You can pick up sex at the local grocery store.  Wanna quible about water? 

Water and Money Are the Same

“We’re paying them $54,000 for nothing,” he said.

Diedrich said Griffin and Brown were right in the first place to suspect the City would have to pay the fee regardless of whether it wanted to or not.

Another problem Diedrich and Marchione had with the fee was that it was solely imposed on municipalities, meaning that unincorporated areas weren’t paying one cent for water, which is every person’s most basic necessity. Diedrich also pointed out that 80 to 90 percent of the state’s surface water is in unincorporated land.

The state claims the water fees are necessary to balance its budget, but Diedrich isn’t buying it.

“It’s the state’s way of covering the costs of groundwater,” he said. “In my opinion, that’s not balancing the budget.”

(from Maricopa Monitor, TriValleyCentral.com, November 1, 2011)

The names and people don’t matter much, just tired players in a tedious game of politics and money. The State of Arizona hasn’t gotten it quite right yet but it’s coming close.  It will bicker, squabble, gesture and pose . . . finally coming to the conclusion that WATER and MONEY are the same.

Without this intimate relationship, housing developers investing a million and hoping to make millions will not be able to certify, guarantee, warrant there will be a 100-year assured supply of the stuff.

From the other side, millions will not buy what isn’t there.

Ground water? Aquifers? Both are ephemeral!

If y’care to see what’s there, look out your backdoor.