Foreign-Owned Farms Are Imperiling Water Availability In Southwest
In one of the world’s driest regions, residents and local officials are increasingly concerned over source water consumption by interests that originate far from home.
“Frustration is growing in Arizona’s La Paz County, as shallower wells run dry amid the Southwest’s worst drought in 1,200 years,” CNN reported. “Much of the frustration is pointed at the area’s huge, foreign-owned farms growing thirsty crops like alfalfa, which ultimately get shipped to feed cattle and other livestock overseas.”
Tensions around the availability of drinking water are already high in Arizona and throughout the American Southwest, 98% of which was recently found to be experiencing drought. The water scarcity has prompted Arizona to challenge its domestic neighbors and explore billion-dollar investments.
So, it should be no surprise that the state’s relatively lax agricultural laws, which allow for liberal use of increasingly precious groundwater, are now coming under scrutiny.
“Residents and local officials say lax groundwater laws give agriculture the upper hand, allowing farms to pump unlimited water as long as they own or lease the property to drill wells into,” according to CNN. “In around 80% of the state, Arizona has no laws overseeing how much water corporate megafarms are using, nor is there any way for the state to track it.”
And pressure to reduce outsized consumption by massive agricultural operations is growing throughout the region. In California, some of the country’s biggest water consumers are being asked to cut back.
“(A few hundred) farmers, in Imperial County, currently draw more water from the Colorado River than all of Arizona and Nevada combined,” per NPR. “They inherited the legal right to use that water, but they’re now under pressure to give up some of it.”
Perhaps the most enduring changes prompted by the ongoing drought will be to the outdated laws governing consumption throughout the Southwest. As those legislations are reshaped, the U.S. may emerge as a much more conscientious water consumer.
To read more about how the drought is impacting industries around the country, visit Water Online’s Water Scarcity Solutions Center.