U.S. Water News Online
TUCSON, Ariz. -- Despite the rapid population growth in Arizona, groundwater consumption has fallen in recent decades as homes have replaced farms, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.
Groundwater pumping in Arizona fell 28 percent in the last 25 years of the 20th century, a 476 million gallon decline. In Maricopa County, water consumption fell 14 percent from 1985 to 2000.
In the Southwest, where population soared 250 percent from 1950 to 2000, annual water use increased only 58 percent to 20.5 trillion gallons.
It may seem counterintuitive given the population growth, but agriculture continues to consume most of the water in the Sun Belt. As farms are replaced by development, less water is used.
The report released by USGS found that farms still used four-fifths of the Southwest's water in 2000. But that was a decline from 94 percent in 1950.
The amount of irrigated farmland in Maricopa County fell 40 percent in that time.
Jim Klinker, executive secretary of the Arizona Farm Bureau, said he can see the difference when he looks out his office window in Gilbert.
"To my east is alfalfa and it's really green with all this rain,'' he said by phone. "I look out the other side of the building and it's wall-to-wall stucco and tile.''
The decline of the farm business is inevitable, he said, despite the move toward specialty crops for niche markets and other adaptations.
"It's strange for the state's largest farm organization to be talking about retiring itself out of existence, but you've got to deal with reality,'' he said. "People are coming to live in Arizona and we have a finite water supply.''
The state's farms still use more water per acre than those in California, Nevada, Utah and New Mexico, the study found.
Hydrologist Alice Konieczki, who worked on the study, said the higher water use is probably the result of the arid climate, the long growing season and the loss of water through unlined canals.
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