By almost any characterization, this past legislative session was not particularly productive when it comes to one of Arizona’s most pressing issues: water. If anyone expected 2024 to be the session of water, there wasn’t much to be celebrated. 

It’s unsurprising, then, that the interim has been busy, with policy makers and water leaders continuing to discuss a path forward to help improve rural Arizona’s water security. The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority has something valuable to add to this conversation: a program dedicated specifically to helping rural communities use less water, use the water they have more effectively, and build the infrastructure they need to ensure reliable water service to all their residents. That program is WIFA’s Water Supply Development Revolving Fund (WSDRF). 

First created in 2016, and then refined in 2022, the WSDRF provides grants of up to $2 million and loans of up to $3 million for a potential $5 million in total financial assistance for rural water providers, natural resource conservation districts, tribal entities, and more. The fund can assist communities with a broad range of projects including conveyance, storage, reclaiming and recycling, and conservation.

Rural communities will require additional resources, not only to comply with demands for additional efficiency and conservation, but also to build and maintain the infrastructure they need to overcome even more basic water supply challenges. Rural Arizona cannot often afford the infrastructure it needs to facilitate ultra-efficient deliveries, early leak detection, and other tools that more populous communities consider par-for-the-course. Similarly, conservation infrastructure like drip irrigation, canal lining, and water delivery improvements can be extremely effective tools for conserving agricultural water, but they often come at a high price tag. 

That’s precisely why the WSDRF was created. Depending on the financial need of the borrower and the characteristics of the project, it offers both low-interest, flexible repayment loans, and no-match, no-obligation grants to facilitate stronger, more resilient rural water systems. WIFA awarded the first round of these applications in September, including $2 million for emergency repairs in the Willcox Basin, where low water levels caused significant damage to a well, jeopardizing the water supply of the entire City of Willcox. There are dozens more applications in the queue, and water providers are welcome to apply to the revolving program at any time. 

Last year, the State’s fiscal situation required difficult choices and painful cuts to many agency budgets, WIFA chief among them. Budget cuts swept nearly 30 percent of the WSDRF’s available funding. To effectively administer a program that will be sustainable for decades to come, WIFA needs a firm commitment from state policy makers to avoid further cuts to the program.    

The WSDRF is the only program available exclusively to rural Arizona to facilitate more effective and efficient water use practices in those communities. To make progress in securing rural Arizona’s water future, Arizona must commit to protecting the Water Supply Development Revolving Fund. Failing to do so would be a costly mistake. 

Susan Montgomery and Buchanan Davis are members of the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority’s board of directors.