Arizona Capitol Times Your Inside Source for Arizona Government, Politics and Business

The future is murky for many Arizona rivers and streams now that changes to the Clean Water Act have narrowed federal oversight. Yet with no map or list delineating where state control begins, the number of vulnerable waterways in Arizona is immense.

As far as Rep. Regina Cobb, R-Kingman, is concerned, she has just begun to fight. Cobb remains steadfast against a deal that allows a farm along the Colorado River to sell millions of gallons of water to the city of Queen Creek.

President Trump on Tuesday signed the plan outlining how Arizona and other Colorado River basin states will divide up the limited water that’s now available.

Two weeks after water officials told Congress there was “urgent” need to approve the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan, the House and Senate both passed a plan Monday and sent it to the president’s desk.

With another deadline missed Monday, the head of the Bureau of Reclamation is now looking for the governors in the states in the Colorado River basin to tell her what they think she should do to keep water levels from dropping even lower.

Gov. Doug Ducey said Friday he sees no reason for farmers to give up growing cotton in the desert, even with the ongoing drought situation.

The Imperial Irrigation District wants $200 million for the Salton Sea, a massive, briny lake in the desert southeast of Los Angeles created when the Colorado River breached a dike in 1905 and flooded a dry lake bed.

After House Speaker Rusty Bowers created a kerfuffle by pushing a bill that threatened to tank Arizona’s efforts to sign onto a multi-state drought plan and craft a similar intrastate plan, he asked at the last minute for the contentious proposal to be held.

House Speaker Rusty Bowers is blowing off a threat by the Gila River Indian Community to pull out of the drought contingency plan − and deny the state its water − if he pursues his own legislation on forfeiture of water rights.

Despite much fanfare over Arizona’s Legislature passing and Gov. Doug Ducey signing drought plan legislation Thursday, the Department of the Interior is stepping in because federal officials say the drought plan isn’t done.