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Severe drought and mandatory water cuts are pitting communities against each other in Arizona:
As the climate crisis intensifies, battle lines are beginning to form over water. In Arizona -- amid a decades-long megadrought -- some communities are facing the very real possibility of losing access to the precious water that remains.
Outside the city limits of Scottsdale, where the asphalt ends and the dirt road begins, is the Rio Verde Foothills community. Hundreds of homes here get water trucked in from Scottsdale, but those deliveries will end on January 1, 2023.
That's because last summer, for the first time ever, drought conditions forced the federal government to declare a tier 1 water shortage in the Colorado River, reducing how much Arizona can use.
[...] "We are what I call the 'sacrificial lamb' for the bigger areas," Irwin told CNN. "In my opinion, look somewhere else -- we need to be able to sustain ourselves."
The scarcity of water in the state is pitting small towns against fast-growing metropolitan communities.
[...] Arizona's population growth and extreme drought have increased demand for water in limited supply. Kathleen Ferris, a senior research fellow with the Kyl Center for Water Policy in Arizona, says water scarcity in the state has resulted in the "haves" and the "have nots," and likened the coming water battles to the days of the Wild West. "Once you have your water rights, you defend it," Ferris said. "That's the way it works."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday April 01 2022, @08:12PM (2 children)
That's because that water belongs to California. The way the Colorado River Compact is written California gets first dibs and any shortfall hits users in Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming first. It's only when Lake Mead gets too low that the lower basin must reduce usage.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Friday April 01 2022, @09:03PM (1 child)
Yes, I understand in a general way how water rights work in the west - but I insist that it's fokked. I get first dibs on rain that falls on my land. However much, or however little I might collect, it's mine, and the neighbors have no say over it. I have less claim on the little ephemeral that crosses my land, but I can freely use any water out of it, and if anyone ever objects, then we'll go to court over it. But, the city of Dallas has no jurisdiction, and they won't be claiming water from my land, like western cities do.
Abortion is the number one killed of children in the United States.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 02 2022, @02:06AM
Data added to the database. Satellite images being updated.