Impasse Over Who Loses Water, and How Much, Could Sink Arizona Drought Planning
A water dispute is playing out between Central Arizona cities, tribes and farms.
Field workers harvest cantaloupes in a field irrigated with CAP water on Oct. 23, 2018, in Maricopa, Arizona. (PHOTO: Mike Christy, Arizona Daily Star)
The “who’s who” of Arizona’s water community have been hashing out a plan to protect the state’s water future since last summer. The federal government has set a deadline to wrap up talks by the end of the year. With 2019 fast approaching and a shortage on Lake Mead looking increasingly imminent, the clock is ticking. But a dispute between Central Arizona’s cities, tribes and farms might drag the whole plan down.
Dan Thelander’s farm is about an hour and a half from Tucson, deep in Pinal County’s agricultural heartland. To get there, you pass fields of alfalfa and cotton, a big dairy farm with hundreds of black and white cows that munch on hay as you whizz past. Eventually, you turn onto a dirt road that leads to Thelander’s place.
He’s from a family of farmers. They used to cultivate fields in Tempe before development swallowed up their land. Today, there’s a Harley Davidson dealership sitting where Thelander’s dad used to harvest cotton. The family moved their operation to Pinal County in the ’90s.
