It didn’t take long for the completion of the Drought Contingency Plan to create value to Arizona and the Colorado River Basin.

Small water providers are feeling the pressure to upgrade equipment and infrastructure under terms of the state’s Drought Contingency Plan.

rizona will need to bring the same quality of leadership and creative problem-solving that produced the DCP success story when water stakeholders resume work on the other pillars of a sustainable water future: protecting groundwater in both urban and rural areas, starting the regional process of re-negotiating the 2007 Interim Guidelines, and finding collaborative ways of conserving water while benefitting Arizona’s rivers and streams.

The federal government is warning irrigation districts in Pinal County that using a $20 million state loan to drill new wells to replace Colorado River water they are losing as part of the drought contingency plan could cost them.

The business and private sectors should appreciate the goals of the Ducey administration’s initiative to improve government referred to as the Arizona Management System (AMS), which focuses on understanding “customer” needs, identifying problems, improving processes and measuring results.

State legislators will have mere weeks to pass a complex Colorado River drought plan by Jan. 31 — the deadline imposed by federal officials.

Gov. Doug Ducey vowed Thursday to work with the state Legislature to allocate $30 million to water mitigation efforts so the state can sign onto a multi-state plan to stabilize water levels in Lake Mead, which could soon face a water shortage.

Much work has been done and much will continue to be done – but the sooner we have the drought-contingency plan in place, the greater the benefits we will all reap via a plan that is acceptable to all Arizona water users.

The conclusion of Ken Behringer, counsel for the Arizona Legislative Council, will further complicate Gov. Doug Ducey’s efforts to pass a plan that aims to prevent levels in Lake Mead from falling below thresholds that would trigger catastrophic reductions in Arizona’s water allocation.

Reaching a lasting accord on these challenges is not done by one group working the process alone, but by all of us working together to eliminate uncertainty and strengthen our state’s negotiating posture as we prepare to meet the demands of growth.