CAP-dependent Pinal farmers look for drought alternatives

by Jake Kincaid | Arizona City Independent

While there is support for preventing a drought contingency plan from devastating Pinal County agriculture, nobody is quite sure how to do it. But on one point there is consensus — hard decisions will have to be made.

The drought contingency plan steering committee heard ideas on how to prevent a devastating impact on area farmers, with Pinal agriculture representative Paul Orme saying that losing surface water from the Colorado River would result in more than half of Pinal County farmland going out of production.

Under the current drought contingency plan proposal, it is very probable that Lake Mead will go into a Tier 1 shortage, which would mean Pinal County farmers wouldn’t get any Central Arizona Project water unless a mitigation plan is developed.

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