AZ Freedumb Fans Gobsmacked When Out-Of-State Investors Arrive, Guzzle Their Unregulated Groundwater [View all]

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Seven years ago, there was virtually no farming in Mohave County. That changed in a big way when a Las Vegas real estate developer, East Coast investors and California nut farmers were lured to the area by its nonexistent groundwater regulations. They snatched up thousands of acres and poked industrial wells more than 1,000 feet into the ground.

Since 2011, they've drilled at least 163 wells, according to county officials. The development drove county officials into a panic. The county seat, Kingman, relies entirely on groundwater for its population of about 30,000. Based on historical use and modeling, the city thought it had hundreds of years' worth of water in the Hualapai Valley Basin aquifers it relies upon. But the farms quadrupled the amount of water getting pulled out for agriculture, far exceeding recharge rates, according to U.S. Geological Survey estimates. "We are seeing extraordinarily steep declines," said Keith Nelson, a hydrologist with the Arizona Department of Water Resources, referring to groundwater levels. The data suggest "we basically have a groundwater mining situation," he said.

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Enter Cobb, 58, the determined state legislator. Cobb wrote the only water-related bill that passed the Arizona Legislature last year, a modest measure that appropriated money to study the groundwater basins in Mohave County. It's an uphill fight. A more far-reaching bill that would likely lead to well monitoring — and eventually, more regulation — failed. It was blocked by Republicans who feared it would set a precedent for far-reaching water use restrictions across the state. Cobb will try again next year. She said the rural Western mindset has to change.

She's starting by trying to convince Mohave County, which backed President Trump with 73 percent of its vote in 2016, to back her efforts. "We have always wanted to be the 'Land of the Free.' We decided we didn't want any regulation," she said over lunch. "It was all fine and good until someone comes in and wants to take all of our water. They can come in and take as much as they want."

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https://www.eenews.net/stories/1060110247