Robbie Woodhouse’s grandfather began farming a farm along the Gila River near Yuma in the mid-1920s, digging up some mesquite trees to clear land for barley, wheat, cotton, and melons.
The operation never got off the ground at the Woodhouse farm until 1954, when the federal government finished building a 75-mile (120-kilometer) canal to carry water from the Colorado River in what is known as the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage, covering 23,600 hectares in eastern Colorado, along the Gila River.
Today, Woodhouse chairs the board of directors for a district with more than 120 farming operations that grow about 100 vegetables. Wellton-Mohawk is one of six agricultural districts in the Yuma region, which produces 90% of the cauliflower, lettuce, broccoli and other winter vegetables sold in the United States.
But now the future of this district, Yuma’s crops in general, and the second largest source of drinking water for urban Arizonans is surrounded by uncertainty. Due to delays in negotiations between several states over reducing the use of Colorado River waters, farmers and cities don’t know how much water they will have to give up, possibly as early as next year.
All of Yuma’s irrigation districts rely entirely on water from the Colorado River.
“Obviously we are very, very concerned,” said Woodhouse, whose 505-hectare farm produces mostly cauliflower, broccoli and lettuce. “But I wouldn’t say we’re scared. We feel the obligation to contribute what is ours”.
EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is part of a series on the 100th anniversary of the historic “Colorado Compact,” a 1922 agreement that regulates the use of Colorado River waters. The series is a collaboration between the Associated Press, The Colorado Sun, The Albuquerque Journal, The Salt Lake Tribune, The Arizona Daily Star and The Nevada Independent, exploring the pressures on the river in 2022.
Arizona’s cities most dependent on the Colorado (Tucson, Goodyear and Scottsdale) receive their water through a $4 billion, 336-mile (540-kilometer) canal system managed by the Central Arizona Project, which runs from the river to the Phoenix and Tucson area.
These cities have water reserves, especially groundwater, which can help in the short and medium term if they have to reduce the use of river water. In the long term, however, the picture is more uncertain.
Arizona received 36% of its total water supply from the river in 2020. That figure has since dropped, as a Drought Contingency Plan went into effect, a federal initiative that will reduce by 21% the amount of water consumed by the state from 2023. Consumption is expected to drop even further in the future, although no one knows how much.
Arizona farmers and cities alike agree that the Colorado Basin states and the national government have not done enough to reduce water use.
“The Bureau of Water Management (Bureau of Reclamation) has to show leadership and say what needs to be done, give us a roadmap on how to protect the system, as the commissioner promised” of that agency Camille Touton, said Wade Noble , an attorney representing Yuma area irrigation districts.
In the absence of news, some in Arizona ignored their commitment not to touch the water of Lake Mead. Tucson, for example, said it will demand all its water by 2023. The Gila River Indian Community did the same.
Many Arizona cities that use river water are bracing for the inevitable, knowing they will have to cut back. Goodyear, a city of 101,000 inhabitants, for example, has water reserves that would cover seven years and does not anticipate problems in the short term, according to Ray Díaz, in charge of managing the city’s water.
Another troubling issue is a study by the Office of Water Management that revealed that, with global warming, the amount of snow melting in the mountains of the Southwest and feeding rivers may decrease and there will be less water to fill reservoirs. .
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