Urgent Action on SB1221: Basin Management Areas will make water shortages worse in rural Arizona

Sink hole in Willcox area

I just got an email from Sandy Bahr at the Sierra Club: SB1221 regarding Basin Management Areas will hurt rural Arizona. (See her comment below.)  Included are 2 documents that explain how bad this bill is.

SB1221 basin management areas; appropriation (Kerr: Griffin) establishes a process for creating basin management areas via a petition with signatures from 15 percent of the registered voters that live in the basin and receive their drinking water from the basin. These can only be established if land subsidence is endangering property or affecting water storage, and there is an accelerated decline in groundwater levels. This would be too difficult to pass until it is too late. Why wait until the situation is critical?

If you haven't already, please sign onto the Request to Speak and oppose SB1221.

Sign onto the RTS app:
https://apps.azleg.gov/account/signon

Review RTS directions:
https://desktopactivisttucson.blogspot.com/2018/03/request-to-speak-time.html

If you already weighed in on RTS, consider contacting the members of the Senate Natural Resources. Energy, Water Committee before the bill goes for a vote in the committee at 9:00 AM and urge them to vote NO on SB1221 to protect rural groundwater. If the committee member is the representative of your district, please, mention that you are their constituent and from (city). 

Sen. Frank Carroll (Republican, District 28): FCARROLL@azleg.gov, 602-926-3374

Sen. Brian Fernandez (Democrat, District 23): BFERNANDEZ@azleg.gov, 602-926-3098

Sen. David Gowan (Republican, District 19): DGOWAN@azleg.gov, 602-926-5154

Chairman Sine Kerr (Majority Whip, Rep, District 25): SKERR@azleg.gov , 602-926-5955

Sen. Juan Mendez (Dem, Assist. Minority Leader, Dist. 8): JMENDEZ@azleg.gov , 620-926-4124

Vice-Chairman Thomas "T.J." Shope (Rep. President Pro Tempore, D 16) TSHOPE@azleg.gov, 602-926-3012

Sen. Priya Sundareshan (Democrat, District 18) PSUNDARESHAN@azleg.gov, 602-926-3437 (Priya is an Environmental Lawyer, UA professor and champion for water.)

Email from Sandy Bahr:

I wanted to give you a heads up that this bill is being heard on Thursday and would have negative implications for Oak Flat as it locks in groundwater mining outside of AMAs. Attached are some info sheets on the process. If you can sign in against it, we encourage you to do so. 

https://apps.azleg.gov/RequestToSpeak 

SB1221 would create new rules for groundwater basins (the geographic areas overlying water-storing aquifers). Under SB1221, “Basin Management Areas” or “BMAs” could be created and would bring new groundwater laws for communities in the basin. But these new laws would not require a stop to groundwater overpumping. Instead, they would lock overpumping in place (pages 4-5) and make it nearly impossible to stop the decline. While the bill would require a cut to the aquifer for transfers or changes to groundwater certificates (page 5), the only way to require a reduction across a BMA would be to upgrade the BMA to an “Active” BMA. Even then, an Active BMA could only reduce pumping by 2% per year, capped at a total of 10% reduction—and only if the Active BMA council unanimously agrees to require that reduction. (Page 10).

See materials prepared by the counties and the Water for AZ Coalition.

file:///C:/Users/janas/OneDrive/Pictures/Trees%20and%20Poppies/BMAs%20Hurt%20Rural%20AZ_1%20pager_2-02-2024_w%20index%20well%20diagram.pdf

file:///C:/Users/janas/OneDrive/Pictures/Trees%20and%20Poppies/SB%201221_Problems%20Step%20By%20Step_2-5-2024%20(1).pdf