Arizona legislators did a good and notable thing this summer. They passed a good water bill (HB2873) and a bi-partisan budget. The legislation includes substantial funding for conservation projects along with generous funding for long-term projects (desalinization, transporting water from water-rich areas, etc.).
Looking at what legislators accomplished, sometimes working into late nights at the end of their session, one can be excused for expressing gratitude at the progress being made.
This is not a completely popular sentiment. It is easy to say “too little, too late,” or, conversely, “none at all is too much.” Progress comes like that; in small pieces, easy to spit out or to digest.
We can be grateful for what has been accomplished, not because it is enough, but because it is not nothing, is a step forward, and not a start down the road to cynicism or the peddling of desperation.
In the course of coming to terms with annual budget factors, the legislators negotiated $200 million from federal American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds for water conservation projects, including $20 million dedicated to Tribes; increased funding $3 million over last year’s budget for Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) to establish rules for drinking water quality; and allocated $30 million for state Department of Agriculture water-efficiency programs.
The $200m conservation fund can be used immediately, not only for education and research, but for rainwater harvesting, gray water systems, efficiency upgrades, and drought-resistant landscaping.
For those of us whose checklist includes clothes closet, food pantry, soup kitchen; compost heap and recycling bins; rain catchment basins and barrels; solar panels and storage batteries; xeriscaping and community gardens; heat respite shelters; and other mitigation and climate-responsible practices, this can only come as good news.
Not great news, not everything any particular person or group wanted, but a lot nevertheless, and representing a practical agreement between people of different interests and backgrounds.
Politics is the art of the possible, much as we hate to say it; politics involves listening to and working with people we might rather be shouting at, dissing from a distance, or simply ignoring. And that means the work of imaginative charity, of putting ourselves in the same room as people with different voices and concerns.
It’s a step forward and worth recognition. Hard work, under pressure, but with results. Bravo.
What next? We need to work together on protecting against over-pumping of groundwater in rural areas of the state, management throughout the state - perhaps including a new form of active management area for rural contexts, environment impact review of water projects, and rethinking ecosystem and water dependent crops (including thirsty alfalfa and other export crops).
As a local resident, I'm concerned with conservation and water resources. As an Episcopal priest, I serve on the creation care council of the diocese of Arizona.
John Leech
Foothills
9/5/22 submitted to the Arizona Daily Star as a guest opinion.
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