Gov. Ducey proposes Arizona Water Authority, plans to secure water for 100 years
PHOENIX (KYMA, KECY/ AP) - Gov. Doug Ducey with the aid of a top leader in the state Legislature developed a plan to raise Arizona's drawn water supply.
The plan is to form a state agency to obtain new supplies, create and fund projects and have the power to go into the field and gather sources all to help secure the desert state's water future.
A possible project includes a multibillion-dollar desalination plant in Mexico. Various other potential projects are being taken care of to ensure all efforts of conserving what Arizona has now.
The suggested new Arizona Water Authority would be funded with a $1 billion investment that permits the power to borrow money and allocate bonds to finance bigger projects.
Cities, towns and private water companies will also receive a portion of the investment for smaller local projects.
The western United States is in the thick of a stretched drought.
House Speaker Rusty Bowers has for years been expressing the state’s strained water supplies and attempted to come up with a sweeping plan to handle the problem for the long term.
Bowers mentioned the exact details of what projects were on the table were scanty on purpose.
“This is not meant to be comprehensive,” Bowers said. “We don’t have a specific project because ...we’re not trying to catch up to a project that’s being proposed and we’re not trying to limit the scope per se of what projects might be available.”
Arizona has significant water agencies, including the Department of Water Resources and an agency that holds groundwater in the central part of the state.
Furthermore, the Central Arizona Project operates a massive canal and reservoir system that carries Colorado River water to Phoenix and Tucson, the state’s two primary metropolitan areas.
The upcoming agency will be fresh. Its function will be to shop for water near the West, get together with private companies to create, accumulate and haul those supplies and use the state’s economic weight to finish the projects.
The public agency will be led by a bipartisan board with the bulk selected by the governor from people highly experienced in water issues and have vital conflict-of-interest rules.
Any expense over $100 million will need clearance by a select legislative committee.
“This going to be a project over time,” Ducey told reporters. “That’s how we address the next 100 years in Arizona.”
Bowers stated how time is indispensable.
“Given the bathtub ring on Lake Mead,” Bowers said, “I want to stand up something that can be a partner in these efforts, and it has to happen rather quickly. As in, quick.”
