The gap between Pinal County farmers and the Gila River Indians over how to protect the Colorado River and Lake Mead is far wider than the interstate highway separating their communities.
But non-Indian farmers, tribal leaders, cities, developers and other interest groups can’t agree on what to cut.
Under the guidelines, when Lake Mead first falls below 1,075 feet at the end of a calendar year, the CAP would lose 320,000 acre-feet of water.
Pinal farmers would lose nearly half their CAP supplies under the 2007 guidelines, but all of them under early versions of the drought plan.
The Pinal farmers, numbering about 200 in four irrigation districts that get CAP water, are fighting to get the cuts reduced by the committee.
I’d have to give it back,” said Pearson, who has a “Born to be a farmer” sign in her office.
Pearson’s Santa Rosa Produce farm has long-term contracts to sell melons to Walmart, Costco, Aldi’s and Kroger, grosses $30 million to $40 million annually and employs up to 1,200 people during peak harvest seasons, her state representative, David Cook, recently wrote to Gov.
But if his CAP supplies went away in 2020 — when the Colorado River’s first shortage could be declared — his Maricopa-area farm would drop from 1,700 to 775 acres, reducing crop yields 45 percent, he said.
Thelander said that under the 595,000 acre-foot plan, farms would get 35 percent of their current supplies over the next seven years.
When Mead drops to 1,025 feet, under any plan, cities and tribes would still get water while non-Indian farms would get none.

Then boom!
“We got a fairly decent rain during the monsoon, and then October hit and really pushed us over the edge” O’Malley explained.
Before we were even halfway through the month, we hit our wettest October on record, according to the National Weather Service.
It was the Oct. 13 storm that put us over the top.
In June, most of the state was either in the exceptional or extreme drought category.
While that’s decidedly better, it’s still not great.
“We are seeing improvements in soil moisture and rangeland conditions but still we are lagging in the water-resource department,” said O’Malley.
+2 One super rainy month isn’t going to take Arizona out of its 15-year drought but we’re looking at a weak El Niño pattern for this winter.
That means the odds are tilted in Arizona’s favor of possibly seeing above-average rainfall numbers continue in the coming months.
The key to the forecast will be snow this winter — and lots of it.

Prolonged drought stalks Arizona The dark side of low-water levels could mean cutbacks to Arizona, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation.
Arizona water experts said mainly farms and rural areas, rather than cities, could be restricted.
If Lake Mead’s water level falls below 1,050 feet, Arizona would lose an additional 80,000 acre-feet of water, according to the Bureau of Reclamation.
But bigger cities are already considering policies that would reduce their water use and float their water allotments over to Pinal County.
Although California receives the largest allotment from Lake Mead, agreements forged years ago give it priority.
California, the most populous state in the country, has some disadvantages compared to Arizona when it comes to storing water, Porter said.
“So they have a need for it that is more immediate.” Arizona has not needed its entire allocation of water from Lake Mead, Porter said, so CAP and the Arizona Water Banking Authority have used the excess to recharge aquifers.
Beaches, boat ramps updated as Mead drops The recreational opportunities brought on by drought at Lake Mead National Recreation Area also come at a cost – $2 million in updates for every 10-foot drop in the water level.
“With every change, there’s a new fun thing to do here,” said Christie Vanover, public affairs officer for the recreation area.
But considering the Bureau of Reclamation’s prediction, they are likely to stay above water, at least for the next few years.

PHOENIX (AP) — Progress is being made in talks toward a set of agreements for cities, farmers and tribes to share in Colorado River water cutbacks, according to Arizona water officials.
The Arizona Republic reports that the state water officials also want to join in a larger proposed deal to prevent Lake Mead from dropping even further.
Two officials leading the talks said they’re optimistic about finalizing agreements within Arizona in November so the state Legislature can sign off in January.
The proposed three-state plan would involve California, Arizona and Nevada jointly taking less water out of Lake Mead to give the reservoir a boost.
Based on Arizona’s priority system of water rights, complying with the plan without an additional adjustment would cut off water for farmers who depend on deliveries from the Central Arizona Project.
Tom Buschatzke, director of the state Department of Water Resources, said the idea is to reach an agreement that "more equitably spreads around the pain and the benefits" of the drought-contingency plan in Arizona.
Central Arizona Project General Manager Ted Cooke also said he’s optimistic about finishing a deal during the next two months.
"Nobody wants to see that hardship come to anybody, but there is going to be hardship and we need to spread it around."
Under the current rules, if the reservoir’s water level reaches 1,075 feet above sea level at the end of any year, the federal government will declare a shortage and supplies to Arizona and Nevada will be cut back.
Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.

According to U.S. Drought Monitor for Sept. 25 released Sept. 27, the combination of energetics from northern Mexico lifting toward the Southern Rockies/Great Plains and enhanced moisture from the remains of a tropical depression led to heavy precipitation events across the south-central U.S., particularly notable as a frontal zone stalled.
Significant rain fell across much of the South, leading to much improved drought conditions in many areas.
As summer comes to a close and fall begins, many areas across the High Plains continue to experience dry conditions.
In eastern Kansas, extreme drought (D3) was extended into the northern half of Osage County as well as southwestward into northeastern Marion County.
Extreme drought was also introduced in Eddy County in east central North Dakota, with adjoining extreme (D2) and moderate (D1) drought each extending slightly farther south to southern Foster County.
These counties have each received less than 25 percent of their typical precipitation over the past two months.
Among some of the local observances: “Soybean yields are disappointing.
Grasshoppers are thick in some areas of the county, damaging some late season crops.
Some producers have started feeding their cattle, which typically does not happen until first snowfall.
Producer are having to haul cattle home from pastures”.

Others sell them for extra income.
She researches ways pinyon pines survive drought—at a time when a hotter, drier climate is predicted to drive the trees out of Arizona entirely.
So you’re out here today collecting cones and this orange bucket I guess is your cone collecting kit.
Today was just reconnaissance to see if it’s worth coming out to do any more collecting, and it doesn’t turn out to be a very good year this year, so all I had with me today was just gloves, because it’s a sticky work and you don’t want that resin on your hands if you can help it, and paper bags to collect a few cones in.
So what have you found so far about what makes a pinyon pine more likely to survive a drought?
It’s probably not the insect itself.
What we think is happening is the insect is picking the most vigorous trees.
What’s been interesting is the moth populations have dropped a little bit with the drought, and now it seems like the trees that were susceptible to the moth now are doing much, much better over the last 10 years than the ones that are resistant to the moth.
So that’s what we’re looking for is these ones that managed to survive when the others have died, and what is it about them that allows them to survive and will they ensure the future of pinyon pine.
Catherine thanks much for the field trip today, appreciate it.

These compounds have been found in water sources all over the country, including elsewhere in the Tucson Metro Region.
For example, the EPA’s health advisory level for 1, 4 Dioxane is 0.35 parts per billion, but Alaska set their standard at 77 parts per billion and New Hampshire’s is 0.25.
As far as a funding source, he suggested that an additional sales tax might be an option.
Marana and other local jurisdictions, along with the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, are continuing to investigate whether the contaminants came from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base or another source, but so far no definitive source has been identified.
The contamination levels in a number of the wells have dropped since the town began testing the water in late 2016, though a few have slightly increased.
Marana Water looked at other options besides treating the water, but advised against them.
One of those options is “water blending,” which happens when a contaminated system is connected with a clean system.
The Northwest Recharge, Recover, and Delivery System is another project in the works, to be constructed in 2023.
Kmiec said because of these challenges, this option “quickly fell off the radar.” Town Manager Jamsheed Mehta said the town staff will put together a proposal on how and when to build the treatment centers, which should be ready to present to council sometime in late-September to early-October.
Mayor Ed Honea said the council wants to see the treatment facilities happen as quickly as possible.

BULLHEAD CITY — Arizona Steering Committee work began Thursday in Phoenix on the Lower Basin Drought Contingency Plan.
Lois Wakimoto, steering committee representative.
“The four key elements for DCP implementation are going to be agricultural mitigation, tribal intentionally created surplus, Arizona conservation plans and excess water.” LBDCP is a plan developed by Arizona, California, Nevada and the United States to create additional contributions to Lake Mead from Arizona and Nevada, along with new contributions from California and the U.S. with incentives for additional storage in Lake Mead.
Should Bureau of Reclamation declare a shortage in August, Arizona would take the deepest allocation cuts beginning in January.
The plan works to reduce reduction risks by requiring additional incremental water-delivery reductions by Arizona water users, primarily Central Arizona Project water users and most significantly, CAP non-Indian agricultural water users, who would bear the brunt of a Tier 1 shortage.
“It’s not if it’s going to happen — it’s going to happen because of the (Lake Mead) water levels.
We’re looking for ways to mitigate some of the situations that we have to deal with unless we get a huge rain — which with snowpack down over the winter doesn’t seem like it will happen anytime soon.” Steering Committee objectives include recommending appropriate and sustainable processes and tools to implement the plan in Arizona, as well as obtaining Arizona Legislature approval for a joint resolution authorizing the director of Arizona Department of Water Resources to agree to the plan.
As a municipality representative on the committee, Wakimoto is urging Arizona municipalities to contact her regarding their water issues.
“I will try to reach out to them, but they also need to reach out to me,” Wakimoto said.
“I know what Mohave County water issues are, but La Paz issues are a little different and I’m looking for information on what they want.” Arizona Department of Water Resources and Central Arizona Water Conservation District representatives announced the formation of the steering committee at a joint briefing in May.

Paup, who until a few days earlier had never been to Arizona, was exhilarated to have finally arrived at the house on East Hopi Drive — a blue two-bedroom trailer on two acres of land — but also exhausted.
The move from Fallentimber, Pa., where the family lived for 15 years, required a cross-country trip in the semi-truck that Lori’s husband, Craig, drove for work, and now a long list of chores awaited.
“The same color.” Running her hand under the stream, she found what appeared to be small grains of sand.
A small woman with a tight smile and a bright orange streak in her hair, Lori was immediately unnerved by the sight.
Like all homes in the valley, where there are no reservoirs or rivers, the Paups’ house drew its water from a private well drilled into the underlying aquifer.
According to the real estate listing, the well reached a depth of more than 300 feet.
Lori, who is 51 and a mother of five, reminded herself of this when, a few moments later, the sand appeared to clear and the water again looked normal.
Busy with other projects, she scribbled a note to call the previous owners, figuring there was dirt clogged in the kitchen pipes.
A few days later, Lori and her daughter Amy were doing laundry when the washing machine stopped filling with water.
Craig, who had serviced his own diesel truck for some 20 years, inspected both machines but couldn’t find anything wrong with either.

Our misuse and abuse of land and water is changing fertile land into deserts.
But not only developing countries are at risk; almost 1 billion tonnes of soil is lost every year because of erosion resulting from poor land management in Europe alone.
Desertification is one of the biggest environmental problems facing humanity, and has already affected over 40 per cent of the world’s population — 3.2 billion people.
Given that climate change could cause more frequent droughts and that population growth puts more pressure on natural resources, land degradation is an increasing global threat to food security, a contributor to poverty and a barrier to achieving the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.
It is clear that desertification is a problem of global proportions, requiring a unified strategy among all countries.
The threat of land degradation is so widely recognised that the UN established the Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) nearly 25 years ago, in 1994.
However, Canada rejoined last year, acknowledging the link between desertification and many of Canada’s development priorities.
Why Canada should care Canada has already cooperated on a regional level with other countries to combat drought and minimize the impacts of reduced agricultural productivity, wildfires and water shortages.
And although North America is one of five regions identified by the UN as facing relatively fewer challenges related to land compared to the countries most at risk, the region does face significant water stress challenges.
We must also look to how we manage our water resources to help agriculture adapt to climate change and stop desertification.