Arizona's water future depends on strong leadership in Congress

As a bipartisan policymaker in Arizona for more than 20 years, I’ve learned that what Arizona families want from their elected representatives is honest, hard work to address the problems our state is facing.

They don’t care about party politics; they care about finding solutions to the issues we face. And the biggest issue facing Arizona today is our uncertain water future.

Water is essential to our way of life, especially as our state’s population grows and our economy flourishes – families want to live in Arizona, and we need to ensure we can continue to support this important growth.

During my time in elected office at the state level, I led both parties to create Arizona’s first-ever conservation, drought and statewide water management plan. I wrote this legislation and saw it passed by colleagues on both sides of the aisle, becoming law.

I believe that the best policy is blind to politics.

Now, in the U.S. House, I’ve worked to make water and drought top priorities in Washington, building diverse coalitions willing to vote in support of resources for our state.

I'm working in Congress to solve water problems

Under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, I secured $8.3 billion to construct and strengthen Western water infrastructure. And, recently, I voted to pass a new law that sends $4 billion in drought mitigation funding to Western states.

Throughout my time in Congress, I’ve supported commonsense water protection, like the removal of nonnative, water-sucking plants, water security for Pinal County farmers in the 2018 Farm Bill, and upholding a ban on new uranium mining near the Grand Canyon, home of the Colorado River, which supplies water to nearly 40 million Americans. Uranium contamination of this water supply would be unfathomable.

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But it’s not just conservation that we must address. Outside of the Phoenix metro area, rural and tribal communities too often lack access to clean drinking water and basic water infrastructure.

The 1st Congressional District is home to 12 sovereign tribes, each with their own unique water priorities. Along with state leaders and water management experts at every level, I’ve worked towards ratifying water rights settlements for the White Mountain Apache Tribe and the Hualapai Tribe, and secured new water infrastructure investments for the Gila River Indian Community, the Navajo Nation and the Hopi Tribe.

As water leaders know, tribal settlements and participation are critical to ensuring Arizona water security into the future.

Arizona needs level-headed leaders to act

Arizona faces new water cuts that will go into place in 2023, via an agreement that stems from water policy that began taking shape in 1922. Last month, when I traveled to Page to host a town hall meeting, I drove out over Glen Canyon Dam Bridge so my staff and I could see firsthand the stark white walls of a canyon where water no longer flows.

Our future depends on the strength and resiliency of our water supply, and Arizona has been a solution leader the whole way. Others need to step up, and I’ll continue to work to make sure they do.

Part of this process is holding accountable those who need to do their fair share – like California, a basin state that will make no cuts next year – and bad actors like Fondomonte, a Saudi Arabian company that’s been permitted to pump unlimited amounts of groundwater from a West Phoenix reserve without paying market-base rates for the leased land.

I called on the Arizona State Land Department to put an end to this and recoup financial losses to the state immediately.

As our changing climate continues to affect our water supply, the coming years will see these problems compounded. We need to make sure that level-headed policymakers – ones who can work on both sides of the aisle and with stakeholders at every level – are at the table to find solutions.

I’m proud that our wild Western lands hold a history of true maverick leaders who fought to put the needs of Arizonans over politics to accomplish goals. We must ensure that our state continues to be represented by honest people willing to ignore ego to do what they know is right and to secure our water future.

Rep. Tom O’Halleran represents Arizona’s 1st Congressional District and is running to represent the state's newly established 2nd Congressional District. A Democrat, he lives in the Village of Oak Creek. Reach him at OHalleran.Questions@gmail.com; on Twitter: @TomOHalleran.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona's water supply cannot be assured without Congress' help