U.S. Water News Online
TUCSON, Ariz. -- The Southern Arizona Water Users Association over the next two months will pitch the idea of a long-discussed regional water cooperative to governing bodies that control water utilities.
The agencies that support the basic idea will then negotiate the details of how it will work. As proposed, the cooperative would represent a united front in negotiations for more water supplies.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry acknowledged that the cooperative represents a new approach. "There has been some fierce competition in the past," Huckelberry said. "The words 'water wars' have been used."
The cooperative would be modeled on the Southern Nevada Water Authority, a regional cooperative formed in 1991 to serve Las Vegas and six surrounding communities.
"Before 1991, there was serious competition, and there was a use-it-or-lose-it mentality toward water resources," said J.C. Davis, a spokesman for the Nevada cooperative.
In Arizona, interests that have competed for water in the past are joining forces to push for the cooperative.
"We of Southern Arizona certainly need to be of one voice," said Brad DeSpain, utilities director for the town of Marana and president of the Southern Arizona Water Users Association. "We haven't always been in the past, and that's been very convenient for Maricopa County. They've played us against each other."
The proposed cooperative here would not replace the independent water utilities.
It would look at water needs each year and divide the available water accordingly.
Rule said that might include allowing one community to use another community's unused allotment on a temporary basis.
Shortfalls also would be divided equally, he said.
The water withdrawal bills are Senate Bills 850-852, 854 and 857.
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