The Daily Agenda: It finally rained! Now, let's talk about groundwater
UA farming initiative poised to save boatloads of water ... Resolution reached in border wall suits ... Red-flag laws could make a return
The 2023 monsoon season officially kicked off in Tucson Monday night, and it didn’t disappoint.
Although less than an inch of rainfall was recorded at the Tucson International Airport, strong winds and heavy rain left storm damage in other parts of town. It’s safe to say the first storm of the season made an impression.
This is great news, because Tucson was approaching the record for the latest official start of the monsoon season that involved measurable rain, set more than a century ago, on July 20, 1901, the Arizona Daily Star reported Saturday. And Tucson already set a new record Saturday after we had three consecutive days with low temperatures of 85 degrees or warmer.
So, since water is finally falling from the sky, let’s shift our focus to what’s being done to make sure we have enough of it in the ground.
We want to highlight a locally grown program that is poised to help farmers to save boatloads of water in the next few years while maintaining soil health and cutting down on dust and particulates for us city folk.
The plan is relatively simple: Convert more than 18,000 acres of flood irrigation farmland to other types of irrigation, including center-pivot, micro sprinklers or drip.
The projected savings from these changes — about 37,000 water acre feet of water — is enough to provide water for more than 100,000 homes, or about 12 times the amount of water in Tempe Town lake, according to Ethan Orr, a former state representative, works as the associate director of agriculture, natural resources and economic development at the UA’s Cooperative Extension, where the program is housed.
Program staffers will measure the water savings of the systems they’ve put into place over the next three years. They’ll also help farmers deal with workforce and soil issues, Orr told attendees at University of Arizona’s recent Water Resources Research Center annual conference.
More than 60 farmers have already been reimbursed with the $23 million, after a team of academic and industry experts were sent out to help evaluate and install water-saving systems.
In addition to it’s projected savings of about 12 billion of gallons of water, the program is also saving taxpayer money, Orr said. The grant is funding $628 per acre foot, or 60% of each project’s cost, with farmers or contributors from the private sector paying the remaining 40%.
The program was made possible last year, when lawmakers and the governor created the Water Irrigation Efficiency Program, championed by state Rep. Tim Dunn, a farmer from Yuma. Officials set aside $30 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds for the program and some of that money is used to reimburse farmers for saving water. In February, Gov. Katie Hobbs transferred the $30 million to the UA, with $23 million allocated to on-farm irrigation systems and another $1 million going towards research.
Lawmakers seem to be pleased with the program’s success in its first several months. They’ve already allocated an additional $15.2 million in funding, $14 million of which will go to on-farm system improvements. From there, businesses and other non-governmental agencies quickly stepped up to match those taxpayer funds.
“You gave the University of Arizona $30 million,” Orr said. “We’ve taken that and partnered with private sector, partnered with the Legislature and in five months, turned that $30 million into $61 million in investment and support, and will continue to grow that.”
And this kind of conservation is a lot cheaper than trying to augment the state’s water supply through desalination, which costs upwards of $2,000 to $3,000 per system, according to Orr.
“For one-third to one-fifth of the cost and by investing in ourselves and investing in farmers, we’re saving water,” Orr said.
Farmers can apply to the program online. A committee of UA and industry experts evaluate the applicants and give them a score based on water efficiency improvement, project feasibility and long-term rate of investment.
But why does someone in the city care about investing in agriculture? For 80% of the state, it’s a livability issue, Orr said.
The 6 million people who live in the Sun Corridor — the area between Yavapai and Santa Cruz counties — have to contend with excessive dust, high rates of airborne particulate matter and haboobs.
But helping farmers maintain healthy soil can mitigate those issues, Orr said. With that and a little rain, we can all breathe a little easier.
Hearing back on: The public meeting to discuss rezoning 3,550 acres of land in Rio Rico, which could lead to large-scale commercial, industrial, and residential projects, is now scheduled for August 1, the Patagonia Regional Times’ Nisa Stover Talavera reports. The meeting was postponed last month after some residents said they were worried the rezoning could transform the town.
Border wall lawsuits come to a close: A settlement was reached Monday in two lawsuits centered around the Trump administration’s unlawful attempt to use billions in military construction project funding for border walls, according to the Tucson Sentinel’s Paul Ingram. As part of the settlement between the Biden administration, environmentalists and 18 states, the Department of Homeland Security will stop using the funding for border wall construction, return more than $427 million to the states, remediate construction sites and fund the protection of thousands of acres of habitat in California.
Conover calls for red-flag laws: At an event in Tucson to raise awareness of gun violence, Pima County Attorney Laura Conover said she wants to try again on legislation that would allow judges to determine whether a person is a danger to themselves or others and should not be allowed to possess a firearm, the Arizona Daily Star’s Eddie Celaya reports.
“It’s one of the most sensible of all of the suggested reforms, because due process is really packed in,” Conover said.
Money, money, everywhere: At the Tucson Agenda, we’re focused on how campaign contributions and outside money are flowing into Tucson’s elections. The Arizona Agenda, our sister-newsletter, breaks down the money situation in Arizona’s congressional and U.S. Senate race.
Learning to live together: It seems as if the midtown rodent issue has reached a conclusion after last week’s widely attended presentation by a UA entomologist, according to Ward 6 councilman Steve Kozachik’s latest newsletter. But the 80 people tuning in online and the full-house of attendees that packed the Ward 6 community room might not be satisfied with Kozachik’s “general takeaway” of “keep them in their space while we stay in ours.”
“Several species of rodents are present in our environment, they’re not going away and the best we can do is to manage our interactions with them,” Kozachik said
In 2021, Arizona residents used 7 million acre feet of water, according to UA cooperative extension’s Ethan Orr. That’s about the same amount of water used in 1962, when the state only had 1.3 million residents (there were 7 million in 2021) and produced half as much crop and livestock value.