Back to Winter 2012 Newsletter
“We need to grow up and not just grow – we need to become water wise.” – David Daugherty, ASU Morrison Institute
The 2012 WRRC Annual Conference, “Urbanization, Uncertainty and Water: Planning for Arizona’s Second Hundred Years,” was held on January 24, 2012, at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Organized in collaboration with the ASU Morrison Institute for Public Policy, the conference attracted more than 300 people to its discussions of the future of water in Arizona. The conference kicked off first with a welcome from WRRC Director, Sharon Megdal, who asked conference participants to consider how, moving forward, we will meet the needs of Arizona’s people, agriculture and environment. The welcome by David Daugherty, Director of Research for the Morrison Institute, directed participants’ attention to water as one of Arizona’s most important issues, one which continues to demand active planning despite the recent budget cuts suffered by the Department of Water Resources. While there are likely to be as many opinions about water management as people in the room, Daugherty stated, “We need to grow up and not just grow – we need to become water wise.”
The opening keynote featured Robert Lang, Director of Brookings Mountain West at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Lang kept the audience engaged through his irreverent comparison of water policy in the East versus the West. Making light of Atlanta’s claims in their dispute over Lake Lanier, he stated, “Drunk surveyors in the 19th century are responsible for most of what’s wrong in America.” On a more serious note, he also pointed out that, unlike the East, the West has its best people working on water because the stakes are so high; we see the scarcity every day.
Session 1A brought together three recent water reports, which all gave similar answers to the question: Will Arizona run out of water? – “Well, it depends”. Grady Gammage, the main author of the report by the Morrison Institute, “Watering the Sun Corridor: Managing Choices in Arizona’s Megapolitan Area,” summarized the report’s findings. He told the audience that the report goes beyond whether or not we will have water in the future and into issues of how we use the water we have in an efficient manner, while also accounting for growth. David Brown, Co-Chair of the Water Resources Development Commission described the final report of that Commission. Brown stressed the continued need for study and debate regarding groundwater and surface water and insisted, in a reference to Rob Lang’s talk, that we consider the needs of the whole state and not to let the “East Coast/Maricopa mentality” rule. The third speaker of the session, Karen Smith, a Fellow at the Grand Canyon Institute, presented the Institute’s recent report “Arizona at the Crossroads: Water Scarcity or Water Sustainability?” Smith suggested emphasizing conservation, consideration of water as an economic good, and creation of financing mechanisms and reliable revenue streams to help finance Arizona’s water infrastructure needs.
Session 1B featured commentary regarding the three reports from session 1A. Although the panelists presented diverse perspectives, there was a great deal of agreement on the premise that now is the time to scrutinize the relationship between economic growth and maintaining other important values. Holly Richter, Director of Conservation at the Nature Conservancy, argued for a new way of looking at the need for a balance. The old way requires too much compromise on both sides; we need to try harder to find win-win solutions to our water problems. Her idea was to find solutions that are not gray, but solutions that are both black AND white. During the question and answer period, the audience raised questions regarding “safe yield” versus “sustainable yield” and gave the panel the opportunity to agree that the two terms are not synonymous and we should be thinking more sustainably. The audience also wondered why we are only planning for 100 years of assured supply. In answer, the panel noted that “safe yield” and “100 years” are artifacts of the Groundwater Management Act of 1980. They emphasized, however, that 100 years may be an arbitrary time frame, but it is looking further out than any other state (California only plans for 20 years).
Following Session 1B, Jim Holway, Director of the Western Lands and Communities, presented the results from the pre-conference workshop on January 23, 2012, an in-depth look at the “Watering the Sun Corridor” report. The workshop was organized by the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and the Sonoran Institute to elicit feedback from a group of about 80 participants on goals and priorities for water policy in the Sun Corridor. Most of the participants agreed that future water management will benefit greatly from a broader engagement of citizens on the fundamental values and policy choices that underlie water management decisions. The organizers will be following up the workshop with a more comprehensive analysis of the results, as well as future workshops.
The first afternoon session featured perspectives from various industry sectors. Real estate development, recreation and tourism, and mining were represented on the panel. Each of the speakers described the importance of their industries to the state, their water concerns, and actions that have been or should be taken to improve water use efficiency. For example, the audience learned from Dale Larsen, Professor of Practice of the School of Community Resources & Development at ASU, that golfing is in decline. He told the audience that although golf courses coupled with resorts bring tourists to the state, Arizona has more golf courses than we need (300+). A move towards trails and open space could continue to bring in tourists without the high water use required by golf courses. Audience members commented that pricing will be a large factor in curbing water use for industry and spur innovation. Discussion of the importance of education brought the suggestion that featuring signage about water conservation on golf courses that use reclaimed water will enhance both water education and public image.
A panel on natural resources and land use followed the industry panel. David Rousseau, President of the Board of the Salt River Project, told the story of his experience in farming and then put on his SRP hat to discuss the necessity of conservation across the US, but particularly urged the protection of Central Arizona’s forest reserves and water storage. Maria Baier, Commissioner of the Arizona State Lands Department, explained the limits placed on the disposition of State Lands by the Arizona Constitution and the meaning of their trusteeship of lands for Arizona’s future. Comments from the audience suggested there are political tradeoffs among factors such as costs, quality and quantity that affect resource use. We need to face these trade-offs, but people are innately resistant to change and do not respond until the impact is visible. Pricing may help in this regard because many people pay attention as soon as their wallets are affected. A Prescott College student expressed the need for urgency in taking action about these water issues, because some areas of Arizona are threatened with scarcity sooner than others.
Finally, the wrap-up session featured a look to the future of Arizona water. Grady Gammage moderated this session and kept the panelists on their toes with pointed and provocative questions. David Snider, District 3 Supervisor for the Pinal County Board of Supervisors, expressed the opinion that facing the hard issues in water is going to be inevitable. He drew an analogy to facing the problems of aging. “If you’re not concerned about aging,” he said, “just wait!” Audience members made several pointed comments, including the fact that Flagstaff is not included in the Sun Corridor. The commenter said they are working now on actions to avoid growing into the urban corridor. In support of public involvement, conference participants mentioned the importance of water education programs, and held up the Tucson-Pima County regional partnership on water and wastewater infrastructure as an example of how to do things right.
Grady Gammage brought the Annual Conference to a close by pointing out that just the fact that we are talking about the Sun Corridor as an entity is a success. Water planning discussions have never happened on this scale before in such a cohesive fashion. “We’re breaking new ground by having these conversations and shifting the water paradigm.”