In Rio Verde Foothills, people paid the whole water from the city of Scottsdale
into their community for more than 30 years.
But now.
>> We're just using our buckets from the garage right now and
collecting the rainwater.
>> Folks like Karen Nabadi are desperately searching for alternatives.
>> I'm using rainwater in here to even wash my hands with,
to rinse dishes with, for flushing the toilets.
>> That's right.
Scottsdale, Arizona has cut off neighboring Rio Verde days water supply,
citing the ongoing drought and
the shrinking volume of groundwater as the reason for doing so.
Now you want to stick around for the details of this story because what isn't
being reported is how deregulation from decades ago has played a huge role in
the pain and suffering that residents in Rio Verde are experiencing today.
But before we get to that,
let's give you some more details including why Scottsdale has made this decision.
Now, Scottsdale said it had to focus on conserving water for its own residents and
could no longer sell water to the roughly 500 to 700 homes in Rio Verde.
This means that the town's nearly 1000 residents are left to fend for
themselves and will have to buy water from other suppliers and
that's if they can find other suppliers.
Now, the water they do end up buying will likely cause these residents a lot
more money because they will have to ship the water from further distances.
And in a scramble to conserve water people are flushing their toilets with
rainwater and
lugging laundry to their friends' homes just to make do with this awful situation.
In fact, this video gives you other examples of some of the extreme measures
that residents have taken.
Let's Watch.
>> Circle of Blue,
which investigates water scarcity warns a worst-case scenario for
Arizona could make Phoenix one of the most uninhabitable places in the world by 2060.
Residents statewide have been stepping up some avoiding raking leaves up to keep
the ground wet and using garden pavers to direct water into their plants and trees.
>> So that the water trickles down and gets to the root.
>> Others opting for toilets with sinks above them.
[SOUND].
And taking showers outside and collecting the runoff.
>> Water conservation is vital.
We live in the middle of the desert.
>> Ain't nobody interested in taking showers outside just keeping it 100 with
you all, okay?
I feel terrible for these people.
The sink situation that's connected to the toilet also not interested in that.
But the point here is the residents of Rio Verde have no choice.
They have been cut off from the water supply that they were previously getting
from Scottsdale Arizona.
Now, not everyone is conserving water and this is a similar situation
that we in California are experiencing as one resident put it.
I'm surrounded by plush golf courses,
one of the largest fountains in the world said Tony Johnson referring to
the 500-foot water feature in the neighboring town of Fountain Hills.
Maybe we don't prioritize fancy fountains when there is
a decades-long drought as is the case in Arizona.
But in fact, 70% of the water in Arizona goes straight to agriculture,
something similar that we are experiencing here in California as well.
But look, let's take a step back because in order to really understand this
crisis and what's transpiring in Arizona, you'd have to know where
the state gets its water and how the state more importantly manages its water.
Now, 35% of the state's water comes from the overburdened Colorado River.
The rest of their water actually comes from Arizona State's aquifers or rivers.
Now the town of Rio Verde, which is unincorporated, gets its water in a pretty
unconventional way and this is where the deregulation kind of plays a role.
I want to go to this next video because it does a pretty good job
explaining how water is basically shipped to the people of Rio Verde.
Previously from Scottsdale Arizona.
Let's watch.
>> John Hornewer moved here 23 years ago, discovered his new community
didn't have water service, and stumbled onto a new career.
>> The wells in my area are questionable at best.
So I just opted to grab a trailer and haul my own water.
>> And then did someone say, hey, could you grab some for me?
>> [LAUGH]. Exactly as my neighbor saw me coming
up the road of the trailer they were, hey, would you stop and
drop off the load for me.
>> Once every four to six weeks tops off my tank.
>> More than a quarter of Rio Verde relies on hauled water.
>> And the tank actually runs from here to over here.
>> Karen Nabadi bought here in 2014.
>> Yeah, we had talked to a lot of neighbors and they've been doing it for
50 years.
>> Now, just to give you a few more details on how the people in Rio Verde get
their water the trucks would fill up with Scottsdale
water at a pipe 15 minutes drive from the Rio Verde Foothills and
then deliver water directly to people's front doors.
Or rather, to 5,000-gallon storage tanks buried in their yards,
enough water to last an average family about a month.
When the tanks ran low, homeowners would call or
send an electronic signal to the water haulers for another delivery.
So again, a little unusual, especially when you compare how Rio Verde receives
its water versus how other municipalities get their water through the tap.
Now, an average family's water bill by the way is likely to
explode now that they have to look for other water sources,
other places to buy the water, and then haul the water to Rio Verde.
An average family's water bill has jumped $660 a month from
the previous $220, and it is unclear how long the water trucks
will be able to keep drawing tens of thousands of gallons from some of
the backup sources that they have been relying on.
Now, here's where the story gets interesting.
And this is something that people should be aware of because laws matter,
regulations matter, and when deregulation from 30 years ago really
starts to make an impact, we should really reconsider whether we should
allow developers to make decisions about critical infrastructure.
Now, what do I mean?
So what's really at play here is the unregulated growth
in housing, in developments in places like Arizona.
And it's something that I want, I think really smart savvy people
on the left who are concerned about housing to take into account.
Because if you simply deregulate some of the zoning laws,
if you essentially play into the hands of developers who just want to build
with a deregulated model, there could be some unintended consequences for
residents who end up buying these homes or living in these homes.
And here's a perfect example of that.
Now, Arizona is one of the fastest-growing states in the US, okay?
And that does come at a cost.
In order for developments to be approved in Arizona,
developers have to prove that the community that they wanna build has access
to enough water to be sustainable for the next century, for the next 100 years.
Now, I would venture to say that the laws should indicate that there should be
a sustainable water supply indefinitely.
There shouldn't be a 100 year limit to it.
But nonetheless, that is what their initial law was.
So in other words, they have to prove that there is a sufficient source of water for
the new proposed communities.
That regulation was tied to a critical moment in history for Arizona and
I love doing a deep dive and giving you guys some historical context.
Let's talk about that.
In 1978, there was a swindler Ned Warren, he was convicted of
20 counts of fraud for selling land in Arizona without access to water.
Two years later, the drafters of the Arizona Groundwater Management Act
put an end to that practice by requiring
an assured water supply in advance of selling subdivision lots.
Sounds like it makes a lot of sense.
A good legislative response to a swindler.
Now in 1980, an assured water supply meant a renewable surface water supply,
such as Central Arizona Project water from the Colorado River or
water from the salt and Verde rivers, okay?
So again, renewable surface water supply was the specific
element of that legislation of that law, okay?
It did not include groundwater which is far more finite, okay?
But this is where the deregulation comes in.
Let me read the rest of that graphic too because the rest is important.
It did not mean groundwater.
Again, it did not mean groundwater.
The Groundwater Management Act aims to halt the overuse of groundwater
that plagued the state for decades.
So the reason why I partly plagues the state is it is a finite resource of
course, but also when you rely too much on groundwater, the land starts to sink.
So there were some issues with that and so the initial Act,
the initial law that was passed, specified that they couldn't note or
rely on groundwater in order to get approved for these developments.
But things started to change in the 1990s and
that's when things started to become incredibly problematic.
30 years ago, in 1993, the Arizona legislature ended up amending a law
at the behest of developers of course, and communities that did not have access
to surface water to allow the use of groundwater to show assured water supply.
So basically the lobbyists tied to the developers started
lobbying the state legislature and
the state legislature made some amendments to the initial or original law.
Let's watch.
>> The politics of construction in Rio Verde even lots with no water are still
guaranteed building permits by the pro-growth state government.
>> Do you anticipate there being other communities like that facing this in
the years ahead?
>> Based on the pioneer attitude that still exists in Arizona is gonna
continue to happen.
>> It's gonna continue to happen.
Do you guys understand what's happening?
Developers are gonna wanna build no matter what.
Knowing full well that they might even try to build in lots that do not have access
do not have sufficient access to water, which of course you need to live, right?
They just wanna build and sell.
Because at the end of the day, their motive is to make money.
So they effectively lobbied the state legislature to
deregulate the original law to essentially state that you
can use groundwater into this equation of making the case that
there is sufficient water supply to build that community.
But it turns out that that groundwater is not enough to rely on,
especially when it comes to towns like Rio Verde.
Developers did not like the assured water supply restrictions on
groundwater pumping.
So, in 1993, the Arizona Legislature created an exception
that allows houses to be built on raw desert land and
their owners to use groundwater on the assumption that the government
will purchase water supplies to replenish groundwater that is pumped.
Well, you know what they say about assumptions.
When you make an assumption you really make a mistake,
especially when you're relying on the government to mitigate
whatever shortages there may be in the water supply.
And that certainly is the case in Arizona, which is only exacerbated by the ongoing
drought, which has been going on for literally decades at this point.
And so let's talk a little bit about the drought.
And more importantly, the impact of climate change and
how it has exacerbated an already dubious situation with these developments
in desert areas that clearly do not have access to enough water.
The individual in Arizona who is in charge of managing
the water supply, explains how climate change and
the warming planet has exacerbated this issue.
He articulates it way better than I can.
So let's take a look at what he has to say.
>> It's still snowing and raining 80, 90, 100% of what it did historically,
but instead of that turning into water that goes into the river,
the water is disappearing.
>> What does that mean?
Where is it going? >> We're getting 40 or
60% of that water going into the river.
>> So, in 90% of the snowfall, 40% of the water.
>> And so it's happening because the soil is much drier because it's been hotter.
The snow is melting sooner and trees and
other vegetation are growing earlier in the year because of the warming climate.
>> So there you have a government official in the state of Arizona,
not only acknowledging that climate change is real, but
specifically acknowledging how the climate emergency has exacerbated
the conditions in Arizona exacerbated the drought in Arizona.
And more importantly, exacerbated this crisis for
people living in communities like Rio Verde.
But I want to be absolutely clear, the developments in Arizona like Rio Verde
should not have been built in the first place, the developers should
not have been granted the permits they were granted to build those homes
knowing full well there wasn't enough water to support that community.
It started off pretty terribly and it was only exacerbated more with the fact that
we are dealing with an ongoing drought that is caused by this climate emergency.
And so, what are the people of Rio Verde gonna do?
Well, so far, they have filed a lawsuit against the city of Scottsdale,
hoping that a judge will implement a permanent stay and reverse the decision
that Scottsdale made in cutting off Rio Verde of its water supply.
They're also asking the courts again to implement that stay.
But there's a private company that is now working, this is also not good
in my opinion, but private company known as Epico who is planning to
essentially supply water to Rio Verde, but they say they won't be able to do so,
they won't be able to be up and running for another two years, okay?
And we're also talking about Rio Verde specifically relying
on a private company to get them water and private companies
have one thing in mind which is what can we do to maximize our profits.
I'm concerned about what that means in terms of their water bills.
But they are in a terrible situation right now, precarious situation, and while I
have no problem with them going after Scottsdale Arizona for cutting them off.
We also have to acknowledge that there is a limited supply of water.
And the real individuals that I think the residents of Rio Verde need to go after
are the developers, are the individuals who made the decision to build a community
in the desert knowing full well that they would eventually run out of water and
find themselves in the situation they're in today.
And let me also be clear, these aren't renters,
these aren't people who can just easily get up and leave.
These are people who put their life savings into purchasing these homes, okay?
And I feel absolutely terrible for them.
But this is what happens when you deregulate.
This is what happens when you allow money in politics to rule all of us.
Everyone suffers the consequences of that.
Except for other than the very corporations that succeed in
essentially legally bribing these politicians to
deregulate important industries in this country.
We suffer the losses, they reap the rewards.
It's absolutely disgusting.