Gov. Katie Hobbs’ administration on Monday announced two steps to stop a controversial Saudi Arabian company from using groundwater beneath state land in western Arizona to grow and export alfalfa.
Hobbs said in a statement that the Arizona State Land Department had canceled one of its leases to Fondomonte Arizona, and would not renew three others that are set to expire in February.
Was this a big issue in Arizona? Were lots of people upset about it?
Yes and yes. Water intensive crop grown in a place that lacks water resources.
Source: Arizonian
X to doubt °=°
Source: Arizonan
Agriculture uses up the most water in the Southwest - particularly in AZ and California. So, yes curtailing water use from thirsty crops is a big issue. Furthermore, these companies are drawing ground water from increasingly deep wells which is unsustainable and leads to shallower neighboring wells drying up.
Lots of people in Nevada also need that water. So yes.
I’ve heard that Nevada in general and Las Vegas specifically are really leading the way in water conservation. We really need to get ahead of this issue and stop playing catch up.
As ironic as that sounds considering the vast golf courses, water fountains on the LV strip, LV has actually taken meaningful steps to reduce water consumption. They’ve halved their water use in the last 20 years. Still could/should do more