After being sidelined by the pandemic last year, Arizona legislators are back in session and moving quickly this week to revive and enact bills to protect water and natural resources to provide for citizens and businesses for decades to come.

There is no time to waste. Arizona is now into its 21st year of a scorching drought that is depleting the most important water resource in the Southwest, the Colorado River.

Ground and surface water are now more important than ever. To that end, state lawmakers are rushing to revive and fast track critical bills that will help protect and conserve both.

鈥淭he name of the game this session is companion bills to move them,鈥� state Sen. Sine Kerr, R-Buckeye, said about committee chairs in both houses working in tandem to push through 鈥渕irror鈥� bills on water and natural resources that never made it to the finish line last year due to COVID-19. 

Kerr, who is the chair of the Senate Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee, was one of several lawmakers and state officials who updated the business and manufacturing community last week on the bills they are working on during the virtual Environmental Issues Breakfast Legislative Kickoff hosted by the (AMC) and the . Snell and Wilmer sponsored the event. 

Other speakers included Rep. Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, chair of the House Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee, and Rep. Tim Dunn, R-Yuma, chair of the House Land, Agriculture and Rural Affairs Committee as well as officials from Governor Doug Ducey鈥檚 office and the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ).

One of the measures that has been revived and is fast-tracked through committees is known as the 鈥渦se it or lose鈥� bill that is important to business and manufacturing. 

鈥淯se it or lose it鈥� legislation  

The legislation, HB 2675, would create an important new step to conserve groundwater, the speakers said. 

It would repair a quirk in current law that acts as a disincentive to conserve water. That鈥檚 because current state forfeiture law provides that a water right may be lost after five years of non-use.  

That has done little to encourage water holders to conserve supplies, the speakers said.    

HB 2675 would remove that barrier and ensure that water holders鈥� conservation efforts will not result in the loss of water rights. Under the proposal, a water right holder could file a Water Conservation Plan with the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR). Upon filing a plan, the holder鈥檚 water rights would be shielded from a claim of abandonment or forfeiture. 

鈥淚f you have five acre feet of water and you only need to use three acre feet, we want you to save and not lose your right to it,鈥� Griffin said. 鈥淩ight now if you don鈥檛 use the allocation you stand the risk of losing that right.鈥�

Surface water protection bill 

Another piece of legislation important to manufacturing and industry is a bill to protect surface water from contamination. It is needed to address changes to the federal Clean Water Act last year that removed federal jurisdiction over certain small bodies of water in states. 

With that federal jurisdiction removed, Arizona needed to add some protections of its own, said Amanda Stone, intergovernmental and community affairs director for the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ), who spoke at the event. 

If approved by the Legislature, the bill would provide surface water protections for water that is used for things like recreation, fishing and drinking, Stone said. 

It also provides steps to work with farmers, businesses and other organizations up front to prevent water contamination. 

鈥淚t鈥檚 not only good for the environment, it鈥檚 good for the business community,鈥� Stone said. 

Wildfire prevention, removal of invasive species, nuisance lawsuits

Legislators also talked about a host of other bills the public can expect to see this session, including forest restoration and wildfire prevention to protect watersheds in the northern portions of the state. 

Other measures include funding to remove invasive species like saltcedar that is sapping waters and streams and wildlife habitats across the state, continue a cleanup of contaminated groundwater wells in Tucson, and to enact 鈥渘uisance鈥� lawsuit protection for farmers and the agriculture industry from frivolous lawsuits. 

Corporation Commission overstepping its role?

Another issue that is expected to come under debate this session is the role of the Arizona Corporation Commission. Among its many duties is the regulation of public utilities including setting renewable energy requirements and goals for utilities.

Governor Doug Ducey and others are concerned that the commission is overstepping its authority in that area, said Chuck Podolak, the governor鈥檚 natural resources policy adviser, who spoke at the event. 

Last summer, the Arizona Supreme Court opened the door to allow state lawmakers to overrule the commission on renewable energy standards. 

鈥淭he Governor is essentially in agreement with the Supreme Court,鈥� Podolak said. 鈥淲hen it comes to energy, there’s a role for the ACC and there鈥檚 a role for the legislature.鈥� 

About the Arizona Manufacturers Council

The is the official state affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers. AMC acts as the voice for Arizona鈥檚 manufacturing industry, which has been a major contributor in keeping Arizona鈥檚 economy afloat during the pandemic. Currently, the industry employs about 177,000 workers statewide and pumps about $30 billion annually into the economy.

The Council holds regular meetings to bring together environmental policy experts, industry stakeholders and state legislators to discuss Arizona’s most pressing environmental issues. These events often are free to the public. For more information, visit: .

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Drought is not something that is uncommon in the Southwest United States. However, Arizona has stood out in taking active measures to improve the use of the state’s water resources.

One of the largest supplies of water that the state has access to is groundwater, which makes up. The second largest source is the Colorado River, which makes up 36% of the water supply. With the largest amount of water supply for the state coming from groundwater, it makes it a vital resource for the state. By and large most of the water used within Arizona is by the agricultural sector, which accounts for 73%, followed by municipal use at 21%, and the industrial sector rounds it out at 5%.

Groundwater is composed of the water resources beneath the surface of the earth. It is found in natural reservoirs, or aquifers. The sediments in aquifers are filled with different amounts of water, which means some areas can contain more water than others. If there are mass amounts of water being pumped out of aquifers, it can cause damage to the land. Additionally, there can be runoff in shallow groundwater and heavy metals in deeper groundwater.

Early water management

In 1980, Arizona passed the, which protects the users of groundwater and works to decrease the reliance on groundwater statewide, with a focus on heavily populated areas.  

Another program in Arizona working towards water conservation turned 35 years old this year: the Central Arizona Project. This diversion canal is a 336-mile diversion system that brings water from the Colorado River to central and southern Arizona. Since its implementation, the CAP has come to provide the state鈥檚 and serves a total of 80% of the state鈥檚 population. 

There has been a slew of proposed reforms recently by both Democrats and Republicans in the state Legislature regarding the use of groundwater and its potential overuse in unregulated rural areas. 

Both House Bills 2895 and 2896, two bills introduced during the 2020 state legislative session that were introduced in an attempt to regulate the usage of groundwater, failed to pass in the pandemic-shortened legislative session.   

Today鈥檚 approach to drought

With a history of drought, the state has also attempted to craft assurances that its citizens will not be endangered by a lack of water. 

Arizona in 2019 adopted the (DCP), a multi-state effort with Mexico to keep Lake Mead from falling to drastically low levels. The DCP means collaborative action in order to protect the sustainability of the Colorado River as a water resource for the 40 million people who depend on it. 

The creation of the DCP when representatives of the seven Colorado River Basin states signed the Colorado River Compact ensuring that the river would flow to all the states in the Basin and Mexico. 

In 1956, the Colorado River Storage Project Act was signed into law for the construction and regulation of reservoirs in the Upper Basin states. Since the passage of the Storage Project Act there have been many subsequent bills passed to add additional efforts to the storage project plan. However, in 2018 Bureau of Reclamation Commissioner Brenda Burman gave the lower basin states a deadline of January 31, 2019 to create the DCP. 

The DCP that was created has many moving parts, which made it longer to compromise for creating an agreement.

Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, said about conservation efforts, 鈥淚t is not easy to achieve that outcome while respecting the unique rights of each State, various Tribes and Mexico to Colorado River water.鈥� 

After months of negotiations, the seven different states finally agreed on a plan to cut back the usage of the Colorado River without lasting impacts to any one state.

In January 2019, Governor Doug Ducey signed an executive order creating the which has worked to further the purpose of ensuring a long-term sustainable water supply for Arizona.

Arizona鈥檚 water management programs and long-term planning have made it possible for there to be of water stored underground to be used in the future if the need ever arises. This amount is the equivalent of water services for the city of Phoenix for 30 years at the current rate. 

Gov. Doug Ducey earlier this year said that the issue of water conservation should be planned for the long term.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 want to deal with this one generation at a time,鈥� the governor said. 鈥淚t should be focused, strategic and ongoing in terms of water innovation.鈥�

U.S. Senator Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz., has echoed this sentiment saying, 鈥淎rizona鈥檚 future depends on securing our water supply. Our legislation ensures Arizona has the resources to address drought conditions and restore our waterways so we can continue expanding opportunities across our state.鈥�

State business leaders have talked about the issue of the state鈥檚 conservation efforts being the key to continuing economic success. 

Todd Reeve, director of Business for Water Stewardship, recently spoke on the topic, saying, 鈥淲e want to be in Arizona forever to invest in communities and jobs and we need to have certainty around water in the long term.鈥�

Taylor Hersch is an undergraduate at Arizona State University and an Arizona 番茄社区 Foundation Junior Fellow.

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As Arizona faces climate change head on, water leaders are taking steps to ensure that development can continue, particularly in the most populous central part of the state. 

Three of the state鈥檚 leading water officials spoke about what is being done to sustain growth and other issues important to homebuilders and developers during a virtual 鈥渂reakfast鈥� meeting of the Valley Partnership, the voice of the real estate industry for the Phoenix region. 

鈥淲e are working on solutions that are needed to make sure your industry, other growth, and those who are already here have a secure water supply in the future,鈥� said Tom Buschatzke, director of the Arizona Water Resources Department. 

But Buschatzke and other water leaders also made it clear that the road ahead will be riddled with challenges.

Ted Cooke, general manager of the Central Arizona Project (CAP) that brings Colorado River to the state鈥檚 growing megaregion, and Joe Gysel, president of EPCOR USA Inc., which provides water and wastewater services in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas, also spoke at the event. 

Among the topics touched on: how Arizona鈥檚 Colorado River water supplies are holding up, forecasts for the next few years, and infrastructure projects to support the booming West Valley.

Water supplies should remain stable through 2023

Arizona鈥檚 Colorado River water supplies should remain stable for the next two years and likely beyond because of the historic seven-state (DCP) approved by Congress last year, said Buschatzke and Cooke, who led a statewide committee to negotiate Arizona鈥檚 part of the agreement. 

鈥淭his is more evidence that the Drought Contingency Plan that was approved by the Arizona Legislature and signed by Governor Ducey in early 2019 was a success,鈥� Buschatzke said. 

The DCP lays out measures for water conservation in Lake Mead, which stores Arizona鈥檚 river supplies including agreements by water stakeholders like CAP, cities and tribes to leave water in the lake and share excess water with users faced with supplies like Pinal County. 

Because of the DCP, the lake has not dropped to dreaded lower levels. If water levels start to dip lower, the agreement requires the state to take larger reductions in its annual Colorado River allocation. 

To help prevent that from happening, a new higher tier level was created last year, Tier Zero, that requires users to leave a certain amount of water in the lake when the聽elevation dips below 1,090 feet. If lake levels continue to drop, more tier levels kick in and more drastic cutbacks to water supplies.

This year, Arizona was under Tier Zero. And even though that required the state鈥檚 river  allocation to be reduced by 192,000 acre-feet, that鈥檚 good news, explained Cooke. 

Water users already have been leaving an excess of that amount in the lake on an annual basis. 

鈥淭he next tier is a 512,000 acre-feet reduction, so we鈥檙e actually pleased to be in Tier Zero,鈥� Cooke said. 

Tier Zero will continue in 2021, the federal Department of Reclamation . It is likely the lake will remain in Tier Zero in 2022 and 2023 though there is 鈥渞eal risk鈥� of it moving into the next level down, Tier 1, which starts at 1,075 feet, Cooke said.

Infrastructure projects to keep up with West Valley growth

Gysel of EPCOR, the largest private water company in Arizona, detailed some of the $600 million in investments it is making in Arizona including projects to support the booming West Valley.

One project completed last year is the $29.4 million expansion of the White Tanks Regional Water Treatment Plant in Surprise. The facility鈥檚 water output went from 20 million gallons per day to 33 million. The plant鈥檚 design incorporates a cutting-edge CoMag ballasted water clarification system, the first of its kind in Arizona.

EPCOR also recently constructed Luke 303, a $95 million water reclamation and wastewater treatment facility along the Loop 303 freeway near Luke Air Force Base.

Keeping up with the state鈥檚 growth is the company鈥檚 biggest challenge, Gysel said.

鈥淚t takes careful planning for infrastructure and water resources to support growth and stay ahead of growth,鈥� he said. 

Looking ahead 

As the three water leaders look ahead, they said there will be more emphasis on conservation, using modern technology to efficiently treat and store wastewater, and efforts to find other water supplies such as desalination of ocean water or Arizona鈥檚 brackish groundwater that has a high salt content. The state water department also is conducting groundwater modeling in the Phoenix region to assess supply. 

Water transfers from wetter parts of the state also are an option. Last year, the Gila River Indian Community entered into a $97.5-million, 25-year agreement that allows homebuilders to buy water from the tribe to replenish groundwater in the state鈥檚 growing megaregion. 

Meanwhile, water officials and stakeholders are beginning work on the that will be renewed in 2026 to protect the mighty Colorado River, the most important water resource in the Southwest. 

鈥淔irst and foremost, we need to protect what we have,鈥� Buschatzke said. 鈥淧robably 20 percent of our Colorado River allocation comes to Central Arizona.鈥�

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A plan to repair aging infrastructure that dumped millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into the Santa Cruz River — impacting Nogales on both sides of the border — has been approved.

It is one of the efforts taken in the past several years to clean up portions of the river and aid local economies. Water recreation activities alone pump almost $189 million annually into the region, according to the Audubon Society.  

For years, the seeping sewage was one of the least-known 鈥渆nvironmental train wrecks鈥� in the Southwest, said in an article last week on the Arizona Department of Water Resources website that the agreement.  

Periodically, the decrepit, over-taxed International Outfall Interceptor (IOI), which is a part of a sewer system serving the towns of Nogales on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border, would fail, often resulting in untreated wastewater getting dumped into the Nogales Wash, an important tributary to the Santa Cruz River.

Over the years, environmental officials have warned residents and businesses about using or swimming in the water. 

A disastrous spill following a fierce summer storm in July 2017 caused Governor Doug Ducey to declare an emergency and call on the U.S. Corps of Engineers for assistance.  

A major win for Arizona 

Last week, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and the U.S. section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) announced they have entered into a settlement agreement to set forth a comprehensive plan to mitigate future discharges.

Gov. Ducey hailed the agreement as 鈥渁 major win for Southern Arizona, helping resolve a decades-old issue that threatened the health and safety of residents.鈥�

Treated water from the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant supplies water for drinking, ranching, farming and other activities critical to the Arizona economy, Ducey stated when the agreement was announced. The river sustains habitats critical to migratory birds, bobcat, deer, javelina and other species. It also is one of the main water supply sources for Nogales, Arizona and Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. 

鈥淲orking together, ADEQ and USIBWC have developed a plan that will upgrade this critical infrastructure, reduce hazards from storms and flooding and protect people and businesses in this border community,鈥� Ducey said in a statement.

Settlement agreement to repair 

The calls for $38,790,000 in funding to reinforce the aged IOI from the U.S.-Mexico border to the treatment plant located in Rio Rico about 9 miles north of Nogales.

The agreement and path forward include:

• USIBWC is investing $34.2 million of existing funds to immediately begin upgrading the IOI.
• USIBWC has finalized engineering plans and in cooperation with state and local officials and begun negotiating agreements necessary to access the IOI from various locations along its length. USIBWC will put the construction contract out to bid in the fall.
• Arizona is supporting the project with $2.59 million. 
• Additional support from other partners includes $1 million from Freeport McMoRan Foundation, and $1 million from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for a companion project to work on Nogales, Arizona sewer pipelines that connect to the IOI.
• ADEQ is currently working to find funds to install a metal screen in the IOI near the border to capture large debris that could otherwise cause sewage spills, estimated at $2.6-$3.3 million to install, and $360,000 for yearly maintenance.
• USIBWC is negotiating with the Mexican Section of the IBWC to secure Mexico鈥檚 cost participation in the pipeline rehabilitation.

Years-long efforts help reduce toxic levels 

A report by the Sonoran Institute in Tucson compared the conditions along the Santa Cruz River from the Nogales Wash to Amado in 2018 and 2008 found several favorable developments, including the fact that ammonia concentrations are no longer toxic, the aquifer is receiving better recharge, bringing back fish species including an endangered fish.

According to the report, , the Santa Cruz River in the region is now 鈥榓live and significantly healthier.鈥� 

One of the main reasons was a $64 million upgrade in 2009 to the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant, sending cleaner effluent into the north-flowing Santa Cruz River.

Santa Cruz River important to the regional economy. 

The ongoing effort to clean up the river is important to the economy of Santa Cruz County, which has the highest poverty rate in Southern Arizona, according to U.S. Census data.

Recreation along the rivers and waterways in the county supports 1,600 local jobs and contributes $189 million annually to local economies, according to the . 

All-out effort by Arizona state and federal leaders 

The settlement agreement came out of a 2012 suit filed by ADEQ that alleged federal Clean Water Act violations. To establish a path forward for the infrastructure upgrades, ADEQ and USIBWC entered into settlement discussions in 2018.

鈥淩eaching this agreement ushers in a new era of partnership and problem solving among local, state, federal and international government entities,鈥� ADEQ Director Misael Cabrera said in an announcement. 鈥淲hile there is still work to do, this settlement supports the necessary rehabilitation of critical infrastructure at the border to prevent ongoing catastrophic failures, and protect public health and the environment.鈥�

The final outcome resulted from an effort by state and federal leaders in Arizona including:

-Arizona Congressional members Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, Sen. Martha McSally, Rep. Raul M. Grijalva and Ann Kirkpatrick 

-Arizona state legislators Sen. Frank Pratt, Rep. Gail Griffin and Rep. Rosanna Gabaldon

-Santa Cruz County Supervisor Bruce Bracker

-Arizona-Mexico Commission Vice Chair Juan Ciscomani

-Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Thomas Buschatzke

-Office of Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich

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