Warren Tenney, executive director of the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association said he believes the plan, delivered to lawmakers this week and awaiting legislative action, has been more than generous to the farmers.
It includes a promise of 105,000 acre feet of Colorado River water for the next three years, 70,000 acre feet of groundwater for four years after that.
The draft legislation also includes $5 million in state cash to drill wells and construct delivery systems for that water.
And they want the state to be the backstop if the federal government does not come through with additional cash for well construction for farmers to be able to get that groundwater, a figure that could approach $50 million.
It also has prepared its own report seeking to debunk — or at least minimize — a report commissioned by Pinal farmers about how not getting the water they need would have a major impact on the economy.
But the organization said this has to be put into perspective, saying that the agriculture and agribusiness in Pinal represented only about two-tenths of a percent of the state’s economy, half as much as does golf.
Dan Thelander said last year he grew 2,200 acres of alfalfa sold a local dairy for milk cows.
That, he said, is why that 105,000 acre feet of water should be guaranteed for at least three years plus the cash to build wells and pipelines for groundwater after that.
Those agreements, Tenney said, would give the farmers only about 70,000 to 80,000 acre feet of water a year,far less than the plan would provide for the next three years.
Orme said what the farmers demanded — that 105,000 acre feet annually of river water followed by 70,000 acre feet from groundwater — is based on what was available, on average, for the prior eight years, before the cities took their full allocation.