POLITICS & SOCIAL ISSUES Files

2017 Candidate Forum Questions

 On August 5, 2017 CWAG will hold a candidate forum for Prescott mayoral and council candidates. See our video archive after 8/5/17 to watch the forum.

To learn more, view a pdf of the questions. 

2016 Candidate Forum Questions

 On August 6, 2016 CWAG will hold a candidate forum for candidates for LD 1 House & Senate and for Yavapai County Supervisor in Districts 1, 2, 4 & 5. We sent the candidates the questions in advance. See our video archive after 8/6/16 to watch the forum.

To learn more, view a pdf of the questions. 

2015 Candidate Forum Questions

 On August 1, 2015, CWAG will hold a candidate forum for Prescott mayoral and council candidates. We sent the candidates the questions in advance. See our video archive to watch the forum.

 To learn more, view a pdf of the questions. 

2014 Candidate Forum Questions

 On August 2, 2014, CWAG will hold a candidate forum for Legislative District 1 candidates. We sent the candidates the questions in advance. See our video archive to watch the forum.

 To learn more, view a pdf of the questions. 

2013 Candidate Forum Questions

 On August 10, 2013,CWAG will hold a candidate forum for Prescott Mayor and Council candidates. We have sent the candidates the questions we will ask them to discuss. 

 To learn more, view a pdf of the questions. 

How Federal Policies Affect the Allocation of Water

Use of the nation's freshwater resources attracts particular scrutiny in times of drought. When water is scarce, people are more aware of its importance. The mechanisms that govern the allocation and use of water are complicated, however. To examine how society uses its water resources, this Congressional Budget Office analysis addresses several major questions:
What are this country's water sources, and how is the water used?
What determines the underlying allocation, and does that allocation maximize water's potential benefits to society as a whole?
What policies might the federal government consider toward that end? View Document.

West is Best. How Public Lands in the West Create a Competitive Economic Advantage

This report finds that the West's popular national parks, monuments, wilderness areas and other public lands offer its growing high-tech and services industries a competitive advantage, which is a major reason why the western economy has outperformed the rest of the U.S. economy in key measures of growth—employment, population, and personal income—during the last four decades.
In addition, as the West's economy shifts toward a knowledge-based economy, new research shows that protected federal public lands support faster rates of job growth and are correlated with higher levels of per capita income. View Document.

Arizona at the Crossroads: Water Scarcity or Water Sustainability

Authored by Karen Smith of the Grand Canyon Institute (24 pages), the report focus is on statewide water issues and the challenges Arizona faces concerning water resources. The analysis looks more closely at the economics of water supply and demand and suggests five specific recommendations for legislative action that, if enacted, will place Arizona firmly on the path of more sustainable water use. View Document.

Rethinking the Contribution of Water Conservation

Presentation to CWAG by Linda Stitzer of Western Resource Advocates advocating a greater role for water conservation. View Document.

Watering the Sun Corridor

Report by the Morrison Institute for Public Policy analyzing the long-term adequacy of Arizona's water supply. View Document.

2012-04-16 The Importance of Conservation

Where we use water is a key to conservation. Water used outside the home, most typically for watering vegetation, is lost to the atmosphere. Water used in the home can be returned to the aquifer. This is performed efficiently in municipalities that have central collection, treatment and recharge facilities. It is done less efficiently in communities that use septic tanks with leach fields. While conservation of all uses is valuable, the greatest benefits will come from outdoor uses. View document.

Tragedy of the Commons

Seminal essay by Garret Hardin addressing the necessity of social control of shared public resources. View Document.

2014-07-23 How Many More Homes Can Be Built in Prescott Without New Sources of Water?

If Prescott resumes the growth rate it had prior to the 2007-2010 housing bust, the city can continue to build new homes for about 27 years without additional water supplies. Written by Howard Mechanic, 2010. View Document.

Arizona Rivers Navigability Status

Summary report from American Whitewater: "The Arizona Navigable Stream Adjudication Commission ("ANSAC") has determined that, with the exception of the Colorado River, none of Arizona's watercourses is navigable. Ownership of the streambeds of non-navigable watercourses rests with either the federal government or private parties. Although the public likely enjoys recreational rights on waters above federally-owned streambeds, it has no such right to access waters above privately-owned streambeds." View Document.

Civano Homes Energy & Water Use Report 2008

Civano homes as a group perform at a significantly higher level than homes built before energy codes were enforced in Tucson, as well as most homes built in the Tucson region today. Based on the housing sample used for the 2008 study year, Civano average total energy use per year, per home in 2008 was approximately 31% over non energy-code homes and 27% better than the energy code group. Civano's heating and cooling energy reduction over non energy-code homes was approximately 42% and was 38% better than energy code homes. Overall potable water use reductions in sample Civano homes compared to city-at-large homes are also significant. Development practices, technology and social convention in Civano have yielded an approximate reduction of overall water use per year, per household of 41%. Potable water consumption has been cut approximately 55%. View Document.

Colorado River Watershed

The study seeks to clarify key concepts and criteria for sustainable water use within the Colorado River Basin and then, using those criteria, present patterns of water use, allocation, and management that are environmentally sound and sustainable. Published by the Pacific Institute,18 pages. View Document.

COP-PV-SRP Agreement in Principle, 2010

The agreement in principle is a legally non-binding agreement replacing litigation with cooperation. View Document.

Evolution and Evaluation of the Active Management Area Management Plans

Written by Sharon Megdal of the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center, this study evaluates the Active Management Areas by describing the current status, stakeholder perspectives, and recommendations. 102 pages. View Document.

Hearing Things: The Rumble of the 900-lb SRP Gorilla in Administrative Hearings on Prescott's Pipeline

Entertaining analysis of the 2009 hearings on Prescott's application for a permit to pump the Big Chino. View Document.

Instream Flow Water Rights: Arizona’s Approach

Paper by Herb Dishlip, then Director of ADWR, presented at a symposium in 1988. View Document.

Managing the Interconnecting Waters:The Groundwater-Surface Water Dilemma

States confront a difficult and complex task when defining and managing the hydrological connection between groundwater and surface water. The issue has broad management implications. At stake is the ownership and control of water, a driving issue in western politics. By Joe Gelt of the U of A WRRC. View Document.

Policy Options for Water Management in the Verde Valley

The water of the Verde Valley, both in the ground and flowing at the surface, is a natural resource that is critical to the regional economy, environmental sustainability, and quality of life—but the Verde River faces unprecedented threats from over-allocation, development, and lack of cohesive water management. This report presents the results of three related initiatives designed to examine possible futures for the Verde and provides information for stakeholders and decision makers regarding the Verde Valley's water resources, its economic value, and possible tools for sustainable water management.
Our analysis included modeling the effects of growth on river flows and on the regional economy. Population growth and development in the basin, if not mitigated, are likely to cause further decrease in the summer base flow in the Verde River. Decreases in the Verde River's flow have already been observed, and further reductions could have harmful side effects on the region's economy and could lead to federal intervention in local water management to maintain habitat for endangered species. View Document.

Public Opinion Survey on Water Use – Chino Valley

In 2008 the Central Yavapai Regional Partners conducted a survey of public opinion on water conservation. This compressed file includes the results from Chino Valley residents. View Document.

Rivers and Water Management in the Southwest

In the Southwest, the water needs of a rapidly expanding human population are coming in direct conflict with the water needs of natural systems. Rivers and wetlands support a disproportionately large number of plants and animals relative to the area they occupy and also offer multiple benefits to humans. Each freshwater ecosystem has varying degrees of reliance on surface water and groundwater. Maintaining a natural flow regime and shallow groundwater levels is critically important for sustaining them. Can water management to support continued growth be considered sustainable if it causes loss or impairment of our remaining rivers and wetlands? View Document.

Safe Yield Workgroup Final Report: UVRWPC

In the spring of 2008, the Upper Verde River Watershed Protection Coalition Board appointed a Safe Yield Workgroup to develop a plan for the Prescott Active Management Area to reach safe yield by 2025. The Coalition Board instructed the Safe Yield Workgroup to prepare a report describing strategies for achieving safe yield in the Prescott Active Management Area. View Document.

Sustainable Water Management in the Southwestern United States: Reality or Rhetoric?

While freshwater sustainability is generally defined as the provisioning of water for both people and the environment, in practice it is largely focused only on supplying water to furnish human population growth. Symptomatic of this is the state of Arizona, where rapid growth outside of the metropolitan Phoenix-Tucson corridor relies on the same groundwater that supplies year-round flow in rivers. Using Arizona as a case study, we present the first study in the southwestern United States that evaluates the potential impact of future population growth and water demand on streamflow depletion across multiple watersheds.
We modeled population growth and water demand through 2050 and used four scenarios to explore the potential effects of alternative growth and water management strategies on river flows. Under the base population projection, we found that rivers in seven of the 18 study watersheds could be dewatered due to municipal demand. Implementing alternative growth and water management strategies, however, could prevent four of these rivers from being dewatered.
The window of opportunity to implement water management strategies is narrowing. Because impacts from groundwater extraction are cumulative and cannot be immediately reversed, proactive water management strategies should be implemented where groundwater will be used to support new municipal demand. Our approach provides a low-cost method to identify where alternative water and growth management strategies may have the most impact, and demonstrates that such strategies can maintain a continued water supply for both people and the environment.
Published by The Nature Conservancy. View Document.

Sustainable Water Management: Guidelines.

Sonoran Institute report detailing the importance of riparian habitat, the impacts of groundwater mining, and offering a framework for sustainable water management. Case studies of the upper San Pedro River, the upper Santa Cruz River, and the upper Verde River. 52 pages. View Document.

The Last Drop: Climate Change and the Southwest Water Crisis

At present, without climate change, the Southwest is relying on the unsustainable withdrawal of groundwater reserves to meet today's demand; those reserves will be drained over the next century as population and incomes grow. With climate change, the Southwest water crisis will grow far worse. Continuing the current trend in global greenhouse-gas emissions will make the cost of the next century's projected water shortage at least 25 percent higher. Adaptation (conservation and efficiency) measures, however, have the potential to greatly lower water use throughout the region. As climate change exacerbates water woes, some adaptation will be essential to stave off unplanned water shortages and restrictions. Bringing the Southwest's water use down to sustainable levels will necessitate either very strong residential adaptation measures, or a combination of strong agricultural adaptation measures (including the elimination of some low-value crops) and moderate residential measures. View Document.

The Verde river – A Desert Treasure at Risk

A 4 page informational brochure written by the Verde River Basin Partnership: "The Verde River is an irreplaceable treasure viewed as unique by people around the world. Unfortunately, the continued existence of its year-round flow and the life and lifestyles it supports are at risk." Published by the Verde River Basin Partnership. View Document.