The Scarcity of Water in AZ, Not a Shortage

In sunny Arizona we face a scarcity of a life giving resource, we all need it and we all love it, of course it’s beer!!! I mean Water!…. Water is the scarce resource in AZ that will be discussed, no scarcity of beer out here. Being in the desert surface water is hard to come by at times. We generally see far less rain fall than much of the rest of the country. Though population wise Arizona is far less than California and Texas there are still over 6 million people in the state. This size in population ranks Arizona at 15 out of the 50 states. (Census, 2013) The larger population, relatively, and living in the desert does make water just that much more scarce on a larger scale. The water consumption was on the rise per resident from 1957-1980 at what many saw as an alarming rate. (Dunham, 2015) Action was taken by the state to try and not only slow down the rise in usage but also reverse it. In 1980 the state passed the Groundwater Management Act. (Groundwater Management Act, 2018)

The groundwater management act is one that trades groundwater rights and restricts how it can be used. The area with the most trading of the rights is that of the Phoenix metro area. This is also the 16^th largest city in the US and the fastest growing one at that. More than half of the states population lives in the Phoenix metro area while another 16% lives in the Tucson metro area, 1.5 hours south of Phoenix. The restrictions on usage also play a large role in the matter as well. Usage is now restricted, for groundwater, to that of domestic, irrigation, municipal, stock watering, power mining, recreation, wildlife and fish, or groundwater recharging. These regulations fall within the BLM (Bureau of Land Management) guidelines now. (Wastewater Rules AZ, 2018) The policies put into place are important ones as this resource is one that sustains life as we know it. These policies have an impact on nearly everyone in Arizona. Those that live in the Yuma county area, southwest corner of the state, actually fall under different water management as they are fed water off of the Colorado River. (Tucker, Wilhemli, Clegg and Hughes, 2015)

There are several stakeholders with the passage of these policies. Most importantly the population of Arizona as we need water to function. But it also leave the local governments and water districts as large stakeholders as well. The districts now have to work together, or against each other, to have a successful working relationship when it comes to groundwater rights. One large stakeholder not mentioned is that of the entire state of Utah. Though the water regulated under the act is only restricted to the Arizona state lines what isn’t accounted for is that the same groundwater system that supplies most of Arizona also supplies parts of Utah and that the largest groundwater system in Utah also supplies some small parts of Arizona as well. This omission of the residents of Utah by the regulations and the intent are another example of state governments not looking out for the people but rather their self interest. When state governments are given enough power to harm you, they often will.

The program, as of right now seems to be headed in the right direction towards more sustainability. The sharp decline in usage per resident would indicate that there is some success from this program and that the future of it looks bright. That being said there are still many worried that the regulations aren’t enough and or aren’t working well enough as intended. These concerns are being supported by many studies that are showing that the regulations will not reach the desired 2025 goals. (Smith, 2015) So while these regulations are having a large impact some still worry it is not enough. The issue I have with this is that no one nearly 40 years ago would’ve seen the Phoenix area being the fastest growing area in the United States. So when compared apples to apples, resident per water usage the numbers don’t look as well but on the overall scale it is hard to deny that with the growth the state has seen it is a very good sign that the state is headed in a direction of more sustainability than less.

The recommendations that I would make would be those based in free market principles, not those relying on the government to try and curb an issue they are struggling to do. Scarcity is a fact of capitalism, shortages are ones of regulated markets. In a free market a shortage won’t come about though scarcity is something that might very well happen. So while these policies are reducing the water usage it is other policies that make water so cheap to consume that many disregard the damage that is being caused over the long term. Prices in Arizona are set by the local governments not the market.(Executive Summary, 2014) This allows the price to be undervalued and water to be so cheap that no concern to conservation is given much by the consumer. In a free market, where the price of water can change due to the supply and demand of it rather than trying to appease constituents we would see higher prices more than likely but we would also expect to see more conservation. It is strange to many people out here that people have grass lawns… yes grass lawns in the desert. These are huge water consumers but water is so cheap, comparatively, that people will continue to have the lawns and not think twice about watering them two times a day. The consumption of water in Arizona is declining per resident but this is done through regulation and then pawning off some of the highest usage area, Yuma county, on to the Colorado River Pact which doesn’t include those numbers in the study. The usage in that county is very high as it is a large farming community, any lettuce you buy during the winter comes from Yuma or Imperial county, the adjacent county in California right on the other side of the Colorado River.

It is the free market that can better conserve water, not the government. Even by their own omission they aren’t meeting the desired results after millions of dollars have been spent trying to do just that. (Lienlgang, 2015) If this issue was left up to supply and demand the problem would sort itself out. Scarcity will happen in a free market, shortages happen when the market is regulated and the water market in Arizona is heavily regulated. These regulations restrict prices, usage and the areas that can consume it as well. These regulations stand in the way of progress and also breed crony capitalism as now only a few firms find themselves standing shoulder to shoulder with the government in a newly created monopoly. A truly free market and an government with less power would see a different environment for the supply of water. Fluctuating prices would be present. More firms would also be trying to win the business of the consumers. The crony capitalism would also be a thing not to worry about as there would be no reason for the firms to want to waste time and money trying to win over the government as there would be no point in doing so. Take the power away from the government, which it never had the right to in the first place, and watch the issue sort itself out.

In this post the Groundwater Management Act of 1980 was discussed. We went over how the system regulates groundwater usage for certain purposes and how the rights to the water an be traded between water districts. We also discussed briefly how the goals were not being met by the policies. The recommendations that were made were those of free market ideas and how those would do a better job at limiting scarcity. As with the regulated market we would see shortages for sure which would lead to devastating results. The Groundwater Management Act is another overburdening government overreach of power that hasn’t had the desired results while also spending millions and millions of dollars for nearly 40 years. It is time that the approach to this issue change. How many more decades of mediocre results should we accept? How many more millions of tax payer dollars need to be wasted? While Phoenix continues to grow these issues will be more and more difficult and expense to try and ‘solve’ with government regulation. The solution doesn’t lay in regulation but rather it lay in the free market. This kinda important thing called water shouldn’t be left up to the government to decide but rather the people and how they see fit. This issue will have a huge impact on Arizona in the not so distant future and the tried and failed method of government intervention is something we should be running away from not to.

Thank you for reading and please don’t forget to like and share!

Keep that coffee warm for us.

LWS

Citations:

Tucker, D., Wilhemli, C., Clegg, A., & Hughes, J. (2015, September). Water and Wastewater Service Pricing in Arizona: 201 4 – 1 5 Rates Survey Results. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from

Click to access Water%20and%20Wastewater%20Service%20Pricing%20in%20Arizona%202015%20FINAL_0.pdf

(n.d.). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.census.gov/

Smith, K. (2015, March 5). 35 years later, Arizona still pumps too much water. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/2015/03/05/arizona-groundwater-management/24464443/

Dunham, D. (2015, November). Ensuring Water Supply Sustainability: the Arizona Department of Water Resources’ Drought and Water Supply Planning. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from

Click to access arizona_water_supply_plan_final_10_28_15.pdf

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Arizona’s Next Century: A Strategic Vision for Water Supply Sustainability. (2014, January). Retrieved January 15, 2018, from

Click to access EXECUTIVESUMMARYMay_2014.pdf

Leingang, R. (2017, September 8). Water policy remake stirs fight unlike others in state history. Retrieved January 15, 2018, from