This memo argues toward a locally-driven approach towards solving the water crisis in the Southwest, specifically in Phoenix, Arizona. The Colorado River is the primary water source for the metropolitan area. Decreasing snowfall and a shorter spring thaw in recent years have called into question the continued reliability of the river’s resources and Southwestern cities have begun to pioneer creative uses of their unstable water supply. Las Vegas, for example, grants rebates to homeowners for developing lawns “naturally.” In order to sustain the current rate of growth in the region, metropolitan areas must adopt “smart” policies such as these. Phoenix is currently the fifth-largest city in the United States, and the second-fastest growing after Las Vegas (the population has grown by more than 24% since 2000). In order to develop more intelligently, the city needs to adopt stringent and potentially unpopular conservation policies. As a first step, the city and state should ban further construction of golf courses, resort areas that unnecessarily consume large amounts of water.
In 1922, California, Arizona, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming entered into the Colorado River Compact. The Compact allocated acre-feet of annual river water flow to these states, based on population. It has been known for some time that the allocations were made during heavy flow years and that average annual flows are much lower; the states have arrived at compromises in their allocations as a result. But continued worries about climate change and a possible “perpetual drought” have reignited debates about the structure of the Compact. The combination of rapid growth in Las Vegas and the Phoenix area, as well as continued growth in southern California and the need to sustain a multi-million dollar agricultural industry in both Arizona and southern California, have stressed the system to the breaking point. Development in the region cannot continue at this pace: hydrologists estimate the level of Lake Mead, Las Vegas’s primary water source, will continue to fall: “…the enormous reservoir in Arizona and Nevada that supplies nearly all the water for Las Vegas…is half-empty, and statistical models indicate that it will never be full again” (The New York Times Magazine, October 21, 2007). Indeed, Lake Powell, which feeds Lake Mead, “could, if the drought continues, be empty by 2007” (Pearce 2006). If nothing else, urban development in the region has outpaced available water, and shifts in the American economy have begun to call into question the necessity of allocating to farms water that could go to homes.
Subsidized water for agriculture spurred the initial growth of these regions, and agriculture still acts as an economic spine. Long-standing public and private agreements dictate agribusiness’ water development rights. Historically these subsidies have been utilized to grow incredibly water-thirsty crops, such as citrus, avocados, cotton, and berries, adding additional strain to an overtaxed ecological system. Agriculture more and more finds itself displaced, both economically and in terms of water allocation, by the increased development of a suburban and urban “information economy.” Somehow, the Colorado River Compact needs to be revised. Doing so, though, requires careful balancing of an almost infinite number of interests: long-established urban and suburban centers like Los Angeles (and its resulting legislative clout), newer and rapidly growing cities like Phoenix and Las Vegas and the private investment pouring into those regions, housing advocates in those areas, agribusiness and the various local, state, and federal government agencies that have jurisdiction over the issue.
Phoenix used to draw much of its water from underground sources (Reisner 1986). In 1968, Congress authorized the construction of the Central Arizona Project, to draw water as part of the state’s Colorado River allocation. The CAP, completed finally in the mid-90s, is the most expensive water development project in the history of the United States. It provided a continuous water source for the Phoenix and Tucson areas and made possible the economic expansion of the region in the last decade. But the CAP is in a precarious political and environmental position. In order to appropriate funds for the project, the Arizona congressional delegation had to enter into a legislative deal with California: before the CAP could receive its allocation required by law, the state of California had to be provided its entire allocation, the largest in the system. Continual flow of water from the CAP is, of course, subject to the same environmental crises listed above, if not more so. Lake Havasu, the source for the CAP, is the last dammed reservoir on the river, and is thus dependent on the reservoirs of Lake Mead, Lake Powell, and additional reservoirs upriver.
Marc Reisner wrote in the mid-80s that the demand for CAP water was always an “article of faith.” The presence of CAP water helped fuel the rapid growth of Phoenix and the development of a tourism economy predicated in part on the ability to golf all year round. Nearly 35 golf courses exist in the city alone. Courses require extensive watering and irrigation to maintain the grasslands of the course in a region where the temperature reaches or exceeds 100 degrees an average of 89 days out of the year. In such high temperatures it is difficult if not impossible to “reclaim” this water. It simply evaporates. One could argue, then, that every gallon used to water a golf course disappears from the local cycle. No one will ever drink it and no crops can be grown from it. Development of the golf course industry has been one major aspect of “water-intensive” development in the region, which includes well-manicured lawns and swimming pools in homes. Banning further development of golf courses will probably not be a very popular decision, given the industry’s wealth and its economic importance to the region. However, Phoenix’s economy is by now sufficiently diversified that the city should be able to absorb the economic shift. Three Fortune 500 companies call the city their headquarters. The growth of Arizona State University in nearby Tempe provides both jobs and professional training. Golfing is furthermore a luxury industry, not a basic commodity essential to human survival – and as such an easy first sacrifice in the region’s efforts to conserve intelligently and manage its continued growth effectively.
Ultimately a national reckoning about the rapid development of a region dependent on a decreasingly viable natural resource must occur. Policymakers will be called to make difficult choices between the interests of agriculture (particularly growing water-thirsty crops in arid areas) and urban development, and between competing urban centers. These problems can be addressed pre-crisis, or they can be shelved until some point in the near future when Phoenix’s 1.5 million residents no longer have any drinking water. I contend that such a solution may only be possible from the local level upward, given the contentious issues between states and between states and the federal government. Municipalities, most directly and immediately threatened by scarce water resources, can more quickly and effectively adopt policies to address their immediate concerns, which can, in turn, exert pressure on state and federal officials. For Phoenix, curbing and eventually eliminating the development of a water-hungry luxury industry is a sensible initial step.
Works Discussed
Gerter, John. “The Future is Drying Up.” The New York Times Magazine; October 21, 2007.
Pearce, Fred. When the Rivers Run Dry. Boston: Beacon Press, 2006.
Reisner, Marc. Cadillac Desert. New York: Penguin, 1986
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