OP-ED COLUMNS Files

2017-07-05 Water policy for new development a first step

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published July 5, 2017.

2017-04-05 Prescott pumping water residents need to save it

2017-03-04 Pathways to water resources sustainability

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published March 4, 2017.

2017-02-04- Water and Population

During conversations with the public, the Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG) frequently hears opposing opinions about our position on population growth: either that we “are ‘no-growthers’ trying to lock a gate across the highway into town” or that we are blind to the threat of growth and that we should lock the gate. 

We aren’t no-growth and we aren’t blind. Our official position states our goal: achieve a sustainable water supply – CWAG neither favors nor opposes growth. CWAG recognizes that growth is intimately connected to water, energy, and resource use. Managing that connectedness is complicated, but local government needs to do a better job.

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published February 4, 2017.

2016-12-01 Can We Resolve Rural Water Issues?

Sharp on the heels of one of the most divisive presidential elections in recent history comes more provocative news; this time, not for the country but for the county. The issue? Arizona’s most contentious one – water.

Yavapai County Supervisors Craig Brown, Dist. 4, and Tom Thurman, Dist. 2, were featured speakers at the Nov. 12 meeting of the Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG) where they expressed their frustration and concern over managing water at the county level. 

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published December 1, 2016.

2016-11-01 Water, Politics and Water Politics

Here in Arizona, a new “land rush” has begun in rural areas with the express intent of gaining access to aquifers virtually unregulated by Arizona state water law. Farmers from drought-stricken areas of California, outside investors and even corporations from Saudi Arabia are purchasing large tracts of land in rural counties to grow water intensive crops, often for international export. Counties that have already been impacted include Mohave, Cochise and La Paz. Could Yavapai County be next? 

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published November 1, 2016.

2016-09-29 The Water Game

Over the next few years, our elected officials will be discussing and voting on some very significant water issues that will affect every Prescott citizen, as well as everyone living in the Quad-Cities.

Among these are the Big Chino pipeline, planning and zoning ordinances aimed at limiting outdoor water use, residential and commercial water conservation policy, and a basin-wide sustainable water management plan.

The Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG) believes citizens must be “at the table” when decisions about our future water supply are made so that the availability and cost of our water will not be defined solely by influential groups like developers, agriculture and the business sector. 

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published September 29, 2016.

2016-09-02 Ten Reasons to Protect the Verde

The Verde River is a green artery pulsing through the heart of Arizona, a jewel of the Southwest, continuously flowing over 170 miles from Paulden to the Salt River near Scottsdale. 

The upper Verde, tucked away deep within the Prescott National Forest between Paulden and Clarkdale, is remote, unknown, underappreciated, and threatened. The upper Verde’s future is clouded by unmitigated groundwater pumping in the Big Chino Valley, which will eventually convert 25 miles of a living river into a dead, dry wash.

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published September 2, 2016.

2016-07-26 Groundwater Regulation: The Next Big Thing

There is a clear and urgent need for new groundwater regulations in rural Arizona. 

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published July 26, 2016.

2016-07-14 Water More Precious Than Diamonds

Economists have long used the “diamond-water paradox” to illustrate the relative “value” of things. While water is essential to life and diamonds are comparatively less useful, water has often been valued far less because its supply has seemed to be almost unlimited. That era is now coming to an end. 

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published July 14, 2016.

2016-05-03 Save Water Outdoors

Conservation can play a major role in achieving a sustainable water supply. This column shows simple steps homeowners can take to use captured rainwater and attractive drought-tolerant plants to save both water and money. 

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published May 3, 2016.

2016-04-01 April is Water Awareness Month

The Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG) would like to dedicate this month’s column to a short list of current and important regional water issues to make sure we are all aware of the challenges and choices ahead, as well as the opportunities for citizen advocacy and action.

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published April 1, 2016.

2016-03-04 Cleaning Up Granite Creek Pollution

Here in semiarid central Arizona, we are graced by the relative abundance of surface water. Depending on how you count them, the Prescott area has nine named creeks and four reservoirs within the Upper Granite Creek Watershed. These often clear-looking surface waters are a local destination for many. Looks, though, can be deceiving. That seemingly crystal-clear water is polluted. Working together is the only way we can change this.

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published March 4, 2016.

2016-02-13 2016's Water Issues

In 2016, Prescott and our region continue to face serious challenges when it comes to our limited water supply, but there are at least some solutions that the Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG) believes should be considered by our elected officials.

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published February 13, 2016.

2016-01-08 Will vegetation management boost our water supply?

Vegetation management (thinning) has gotten a lot of press lately. Historically, thinning has been a tool to reduce the threat of uncontrollable, damaging wildfires. However, the Upper Verde River Watershed Protection Coalition (Coalition) now proposes thinning as a technique to increase the fraction of precipitation that recharges our aquifers. Is this expensive activity worth considering? 

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Daily Courier, published January 8, 2016.

2015-10-31 Deep Well Ranch and water use

In her Oct. 5 [2015] column about the City's proposed annexation of the Deep Well Ranch, Catherine Sebold, Communications and Public Affairs Manager for the City of Prescott, purported to correct statements in a Sept. 25 column by Leslie Hoy of the Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG). The City's column incorrectly suggested that CWAG opposes the annexation or believes that the annexation will use more water than if development occurred under County zoning.

2015-09-25 Water and the Deep Well Ranch annexation

An annexation of 1,625 acres initiated by the City of Prescott is now underway. The land  under proposal is part of the James family's Deep Well Ranch. In this column, we address some water aspects of the proposed annexation. 

2015-09-04 Time for a regional water district?

Is it possible that competing economic priorities and disagreements about the most effective water management strategies have created a situation in which PrAMA decision-makers simply cannot agree on a unified plan for reaching safe yield and creating long-term water sustainability?

Could a regional water district do what the PrAMA communities apparently cannot do? Or is a water district just another layer of government with its own political, structural and legal decision-making limitations?

2015-07-17 Candidates should know essential water facts

Over the next four years, city staff will provide council with information and advice on technical issues, but council members make all final decisions on water policy. To do that competently, they must know some essential facts.

2015-06-22 Water conservation: choice or necessity?

Now that the numbers have been crunched and everyone has looked at the staggering cost of building any pipeline, there is renewed interest in emphasizing the importance of water conservation in an effort to at least add years – perhaps decades – to the calendar before we (might) have to import water.

2015-05-08 Can technology save us?

Since 1863, Prescott has repeatedly outgrown its water supply. Each water shortage has been “solved” in the same way: by getting water from somewhere else. Now, area cities plan to import water from the Big Chino Valley at monumental expense, while posing an unacceptable threat to the flowing Verde River. The historical solution has run dry. There is no more “somewhere else.” We need a new idea.

2015-03-30 Is desalination solution to water woes?

In recent years, the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has pointed to desalination as a possible solution to the state’s water needs.  There are, however, questions concerning its viability, particularly for the Prescott region with transfer of water rights likely a necessary component.

2015-03-06 Big Chino needs less talk, more action

2015-02-03 Predictions of groundwater and river declines

To learn more, view a pdf of CWAG's monthly column in the Prescott Daily Courier, published February 3, 2015.

2014-12-27 2015's water issues

Media coverage of water issues in the Western states has suddenly become thorough, detailed and persistent. The message: although the water problems facing the West are daunting, much can be done if decision-makers agree to make water planning a top priority in 2015.

2014-10-25 Officials should evaluate water alternatives

Citizens deserve a sustainable water future, including protection of our environment. Our officials need to come together and thoroughly evaluate and publicly discuss the alternatives described in the CYHWRMS report, including the effect of a no-action alternative. They then need to determine which, if any, alternatives should be further evaluated in a BOR Feasibility Level Study.

2014-09-06 Conservation - We can and must do more

Conservation is the least expensive way to stretch tight water supplies, plus it is widely supported by citizens. When you have a problem, common sense says, "First, don't make it worse." Conservation can extend our water supply, reduce the size and cost of importation projects, help protect the Verde River, and provide citizens a role in addressing our water problem. 

2014-08-16 Should state help fix local water issues?

To learn more,view a pdfof CWAG's monthly column in the Prescott Daily Courier, published August 16, 2014.

2014-07-18 What you can do about the water crisis

"What can we do to help?" That's often the first question asked when CWAG speaks to a local club or organization. 

It's a logical question because most people know that the policy-level actions that must be taken to both maximize our current water supply and guarantee a sustainable water future are the responsibility of elected officials in state, county and local governments.

But there are at least three basic things citizens can do to help: (1) learn about our water problems, as well as the solutions currently under consideration; (2) conserve water, both indoors and out; (3) vote for political candidates who understand our water issues and offer responsible solutions.

To learn more,view a pdfof CWAG's monthly column in the Prescott Daily Courier, published July 18, 2014.