2 minute read
Helping rural Arizona communities protect their groundwater
Over 40 years ago, Arizona took an important step toward long-term water security with the Groundwater Management Act. The act focused on the state’s most populous areas, leaving rural groundwater largely unprotected.
Today, however, protecting rural groundwater is one of Arizona’s top priorities, and one of its thorniest challenges.
Like many rural residents in Arizona, the people of Sulphur Springs Valley in Cochise County are facing groundwater declines while attempting to balance a multitude of community needs, including protecting their agricultural heritage and economy, as well as supporting overall quality of life.
To address water challenges in the Sulphur Springs Valley, community members helped design and conduct a planning workshop to explore possible futures for agriculture and groundwater, identifying strategies for adapting to various changes and outcomes. This Exploratory Scenario Planning (XSP) for Water Resilient Agriculture project was co-led by teams from two units of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy — the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy and the Consortium for Scenario Planning — and ASU’s Arizona Water Innovation Initiative .
The AWII is a multi-year partnership with the state led by ASU’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering.
The teams also produced a film, “Agriculture and Water in the West: A Community Takes Charge,” which documents the work to collaboratively address the community’s groundwater issues after years of conflict.
Using the workshop as a jumping off point, the film provides insight into the groundwater challenges and potential solutions rural communities across the state are contending with. It also highlights the deep relationship people have with water.
After the workshop and a screening of the film held in Willcox, Arizona, one of the largest water users in the Willcox groundwater basin has reduced their water use by 14%.
