Release: Arizona Democrats Hold Press Call on Addressing Arizona’s Water Crisis
With rapidly dwindling water resources, Democrats say that Arizona can wait no longer for serious leadership to prevent catastrophe
PHOENIX, AZ – Today Assistant Minority Leader and Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Board Chair Representative Jennifer Longdon joined State Representative and LD12 Senate candidate Mitzi Epstein, Representative Marcelino Quiñonez, Representative Judy Schwiebert, and Legislative District 12 House candidate Stacey Travers for a press call discussing the water crisis facing Arizona and the path Democrats will take going forward.
With the federal government declaring a Tier 2a water shortage this year on the Colorado River, the need for serious leadership to address Arizona’s water crisis has never been more stark. Today’s speakers laid out the state of the crisis, the failures of Republican leadership, and charted out the steps that a Democratic majority in the legislature will take to manage and mitigate the ongoing challenge.
Speakers noted that the Republican strategy up to now has been focused almost exclusively on unrealistic augmentation, leaving Arizona with no real plan. Democrats will instead look to build a new allocation regimen based on fact, not fantasy–bringing all stakeholders together. Groundwater must be actively managed across the state, investments that build long-term sustainability must be invested in, and predatory use of water–such as the Saudi alfalfa farms–must be stopped.
“Arizona’s at a crossroads… Even though our population continues to grow, our Republican state leadership is avoiding the hard work and the tough choices needed to properly manage this crisis,” said Assistant Minority Leader and Arizona Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee Board Chair Representative Jennifer Longdon. “If we don’t address this crisis, costs will continue to rise and our economic growth in Arizona will slow and perhaps even stop. But if we act now Arizona will continue to thrive.”
“The Colorado river is drying up, and that’s unavoidable,” said Representative Marcelino Quiñonez. “What’s clear is that Democrats have an approach of dealing with the situation as it is, and managing that towards the future. And Republicans are simply interested in buying something that cannot be bought.”
“The first and foremost step that we must take is to look at the allocations of water between all the stakeholders of Arizona. Farmers, Industry, municipalities, and the tribes need a clear, fair approach to sharing water resources based on fact, not fantasy.” said State Representative and LD12 Senate candidate Mitzi Epstein.
“We’ve had a Republican Legislature in charge, pretty much since 1997, and we’ve been sort of kicking the can down the road,” emphasized Legislative District 12 House candidate Stacey Travers. “...The management areas that we allocated were supposed to achieve safe yield, which hasn’t happened yet. The water department lacks the authority that it needs.”
“We just can’t afford the Republicans’ strategy of, very literally, pipedreams and wishful thinking,” said Representative Judy Schwiebert. “Reasonable people can take different positions on all sorts of issues, but no serious person or political party can claim that Arizona is not facing a crisis–with the drying rivers we’re seeing, dying farms, higher energy bills, and an economic catastrophe waiting for us if we don’t step up now.”
“This is our pitch to Arizona voters: the economic and environmental viability of our state is at stake. There is a clear choice this November. Really, only the Democrats have a serious plan to address water. But we need your votes to enact it.”
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