Parched from p 15 from its share of the Colorado River. “Now that we’re looking at an official Tier 1 shortage on Colorado, that is one portion of any city’s water sources portfo- lio that can be seen to be in a little bit of trouble,” Dulaney, the water expert said. “But a lot of cities have access to Salt River Project water so they can offset that to some extent, and then there’s ground- water.” Dulaney predicted that if the Colorado River levels prompt a Tier 2 shortage, cit- ies across Arizona will likely limit how many people are using water stations dedi- cated for their taxpayers. The city of Phoenix cut off water to New River and Desert Hills residents sev- eral years ago. Individuals could face crim- inal charges from the city if the water purchased at its water stations is trucked outside of city limits. Cave Creek is looking to limit providing water outside of its city limits too. Rio Verde Foothills drew in Nabity more than a decade ago after her long ca- reer in finance. “The wide-open spaces, horses, and chickens. Hearing the coyotes serenade you at night. It’s just a great life,” she said. Now she is spearheading one option for the community to keep the water flowing — a homegrown Domestic Water Improve- ment District — which is not without con- troversy due to the specter of big government rules. The Rio Verde Foothills community paid water haulers to bring 48 million gal- lons to their homes each year, according to water hauler estimates. Nabity has paid about $80 each month for the past six years for water trucked to her property from the Scottsdale fill sta- tion. Years ago, she didn’t bother to drill a well because she felt it was too much money — upward of $20,000 — to sink into a potentially dry hole in the ground. “I thought, there’s no way Scottsdale is going to cut us off, that was my initial gut reaction,” she said. “But I quickly learned we have no right to [Scottsdale’s water]. And so many [Rio Verde Foothills] wells have dried up over the last 20 years.” Lack of Regulation Despite its precarious future, new custom homes are still sprouting up amongst the saguaros and mesquite trees where the birds and rattlesnakes live. In theory, there shouldn’t be a single- family home in Arizona without reliable access to water for at least 100 years, ac- cording to state rules. But that’s not what happens in practice. All the government officials contacted for this story claim there’s nothing they can do about that reality. Nothing they are willing to do, at least. The Maricopa County Board of Super- 16 visors controls the fate of Rio Verde Foot- hills residents’ future access to water, not Scottsdale, nearly everyone interviewed for this story concurs. More than 500 people have signed a Zee Peralta petition to create the water district, a gov- ernmental entity with powers critics say are too far-reaching. Community organiz- ers submitted a proposal to Maricopa County in mid-February 2021 but a deci- sion was pushed back for months while residents in opposition presented their concerns to the board. In October 2021, then-District 2 board member Steve Chucri resigned suddenly, after recordings of him supporting the partisan sham audit of the November 2020 presidential election were released to the public. But his replacement, Thomas Galvin, skipped the most recent community-wide meeting with hundreds of residents in at- tendance. Galvin did not even appear to send members of his staff to the mid-Janu- ary meeting. Galvan, who was appointed in early De- cember, claims he didn’t need to attend the meeting because he met with organizers directly beforehand and had prior commit- ments that night. “I do not want folks to be without water for one day, one hour, one minute,” Galvan said in an interview with Phoenix New Times. “I do not have an opinion or have decided on what should happen here. I am working through this process. I do know that we are running up against deadlines.” But Galvan declined to offer further de- tails about when organizers might have an- other chance to have the water district on the county’s agenda for potential approval. Galvan wouldn’t even estimate how long his research may take. He’s not interested in developing a county-wide proposal to help rural resi- dents ensure access to water. Nor would he review how many parcels of land the county has approved for residential devel- opment. “I don’t want to create any false hopes or expectations,” Galvan said. “The prob- lem here is that the county can’t violate state law. The county cannot issue a mora- torium to preemptively block state law.” Adventurous homesteaders left Rio Verde Foothills after World War II when they discovered there wasn’t enough wa- ter, county historic records detail. It took 20 years for the community to add 330 homes but the pace of development picked up rapidly since the early 2000s, according to the county. Now the median home price in the area is $674,000, up 22.5 percent from last year. But residents worry the value of their homes could plummet if there’s no water when Scottsdale turns off their faucets. Where the Water Runs On a recent weeknight, a discussion of the water crisis brought hundreds of people. They hiked along dimly lit dirt paths in the moonlight to Reigning Grace Ranch to gather in a horse-riding arena. Residents brought lawn chairs and wrapped them- selves in blankets to stave off the chilly winter night air. The crowd was a mix of weathered Car- hartt work jackets and dusty leather boots inside the horse corral, while others donned cozy wool sweaters and bootcut jeans, with their cowgirl boot heels digging into the soft ground. The proposed water district would levy taxes and fees upon only residents who sign up in a piecemeal non-contiguous ser- vice area. Organizers estimate it would cost $1,000 per land parcel every year in addition to $16 a month. And then $10 per 1,000 gallons each month for water, which doesn’t include the delivery cost by a water hauler. The district would take out a low- interest loan from a bank or credit union to purchase 200 acre-feet of water from the Harquahala Valley to provide the commu- Rio Verde Water’s tanker filling up in Scottsdale. nity water for 99 years. The Harquahala Valley water would be added from its West Valley reservoir and transported along with the Central Ari- zona Project before reaching Scottsdale’s water treatment plant. Scottsdale could process the district’s water to make it clean enough to drink. Eventually, the district would build its own pipelines, water sta- tion for businesses and residents. Cost: up- ward of $2 million. But even that potential water source has competition. The city of Queen Creek al- ready approved purchasing 5,000 acre-feet of water from the Harquahala Valley. Sam Henson, who has lived in Rio Verde Foothills for the past 13 years, feels stuck and doesn’t know who to trust. Henson has a shared well but is cau- tiously optimistic about his future. Still, he’s watching his neighbors begin to sell homes and leave. “There’s no monitoring of the aquifer here so you don’t know if the water level is dropping from being pumped out too much or not,” he said. “We have no way of knowing what’s going to happen with our aquifer even a year from now. There’s a lot of people out here fighting.” Scottsdale ensures water for its future residents. Scottsdale approved hundreds of new homes nearby Rio Verde Foothills on a six-acre plot and is willing to run wa- ter pipelines to that location. But there are people less than a mile away who are left parched. “The city of Scottsdale is not cutting back on building out here, but they are cut- ting back on giving water,” he said. “I’m nervous and may end up moving. I love where I live but I’m just very concerned.” There’s no consensus on the so- >> p 18 FEB 3RD– FEB 9TH, 2022 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
