Bill to inform ‘sleepwalking’ Arizonans of Colorado River water cuts fails

As the state has built up its legal warchest ahead of a legal battle over how Colorado River water will be divvied up, one failed Republican proposal at the Capitol sought to notify Arizona residents of the worst case scenario. 

“When you live in the suburbs, you
get used to turning on the tap and water coming out and you don’t think
much about it,” Rep. Alexander Kolodin, R-Scottsdale, said Tuesday while
explaining his House Bill 4100 to the House Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee. 

Kolodin’s bill would have required
that every municipal water provider that receives water from the Central
Arizona Project notify customers of the potential increase to their
water rates if 100% of that water is no longer available.

The Central Arizona Project, a series
of canals that supplies Colorado River water to the Phoenix and Tucson
areas. But because it is one of the newest users of the Colorado River
water, it will be among the first to be cut if the states that are part
of the Colorado River Compact can’t reach an agreement before the
deadline set by the federal government. 

Seven states depend on water from the
Colorado River with Arizona, Nevada and California being in the Lower
Basin, while Colorado, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming form the Upper
Basin. The states have already missed two deadlines — one in November
and one last week — to reach a new water use agreement. 

Upper Basin states are not subject to
mandatory cuts in time of drought and have refused to agree to cuts
going forward and Lower Basin states already face mandatory cuts during
dry periods. 

If states can’t come to an agreement
before October, the federal government will implement one of its draft
plans, all of which place a major burden on Arizona. Kolodin said too
many people in the state are unaware of the prospect of deep cuts and
need to be educated. 

His Republican colleagues worried
that it could create alarm and misinformation that could put the
precarious negotiations at risk. 

“Water is a complicated, very, very,
complicated subject,” Rep. Teresa Martinez, R-Casa Grande, said to
Kolodin. She said she was concerned that his proposal would send
information to people without context, which might cause “mass
hysteria.” 

Kolodin disagreed, saying he believed that voters are smart enough to understand the information. 

Those that would be responsible for sending those notifications agreed with Martinez. 

The Arizona Municipal Water Users
Association, which represents the cities of Phoenix, Glendale, Peoria,
Scottsdale, Avondale, Tempe, Goodyear, Chandler, Gilbert and Mesa,
opposed the bill. Lobbyist Barry Aarons said he agreed with Kolodin that
the general public is mostly unaware of the larger issues at play with
the Colorado River negotiations.

And while Aarons said he understood
what Kolodin hoped to achieve, providing incomplete information about
fluid negotiations would unnecessarily alarm Arizonans. 

“We don’t think we can provide the information. We don’t want to provide guesses,” he said. 

Dean Miller, a lobbyist for Arizona
Water Company and the Water Utilities Association of Arizona, said that
the information Kolodin wants water providers to give people would be
“highly speculative” and would “scare the heck” out of their customers. 

But Kolodin said people ought to be
alarmed about the state of the Colorado River and the prospect that
access to affordable water could be affected in the near future.

“Why are they so scared of the public
finding out what happens if we lose these negotiations?” he said. “The
people out there in our communities, they’re sleep walking into oblivion
right now.” 

Kolodin’s Republican colleagues said
they felt that something like a public service announcement about the
negotiations would be more appropriate. 

Committee Chairwoman Gail Griffin, R-Hereford, rebuked claims that Arizona would ever run out of water. 

“We are not out of water. We have solutions,” Griffin said. 

The bill failed to pass on a 2-6 vote. Republican Reps. Ralph Heap and James Taylor were the only votes in favor.