Arizona Republic - It's Time to Talk Water

Op-Ed

By Senator Jeff Flake

Nowhere else in the country are people more keenly aware of the value of water than here in the desert Southwest. It's the lifeblood of our communities.

Yet growing demands on shared water supplies have generated intense interest and regional tensions. Throughout our country and around the world, water continues to be one of the most important issues of our time.

That is why I am pleased to announce that on Saturday, World Water Day, I am launching a yearlong conversation on domestic and international water issues. This project will focus on bringing attention to water-security challenges with an eye toward identifying effective policies that could inform water-management decisions.

I look forward to tapping the reservoir of expertise we have in Arizona at the Department of Water Resources, the University of Arizona's Water Resource Research Center, and Arizona State University's Morrison Institute, among others.

For more than a century, Arizona has been on the cutting edge of water management, and our breadth of experience will ensure we can successfully tackle the water challenges ahead. Arizona as we know it today is due in large part to the historic vision that led to the development of the Salt River Project, construction of Roosevelt Dam and creation of the Central Arizona Project. We continued with the passage of prudent conservation policies such as the Groundwater Management Code.

Because we are home to 22 federally recognized American Indian tribes, we have also had the opportunity to work on mutually beneficial water settlements. Our location along the border has enabled us to be a part of water treaty negotiations with Mexico. This diverse set of water challenges, and Arizona's know-how in addressing them, will serve as a valuable resource for the rest of the United States and the world.

With recent events in California and continued attention on global water scarcity in Africa and elsewhere, it is clear the time for a conversation about water policy is now. Hundreds of millions of people at home and abroad face issues with access to safe drinking water, sanitation and hygiene.

Thankfully, leaders like Gov. Jan Brewer and former Sen. Jon Kyl, along with others in the water community, have helped pave the way to address these problems in Arizona. With the release of Arizona's Strategic Water Vision in January and Kyl's work with the Morrison Institute to refine that discussion, the state is proactively looking at ways to plan our future.

My hope is to build on those efforts, and better understand how our local solutions might inform federal policy.

I am pleased to say our experience has shown the best solutions to these problems are driven by water managers at the local level. We are fortunate in Arizona to have some of the best leaders and best water-management practices in the world.

The domestic and international challenges related to this issue are real; now is the time to understand them and advance better water policies. I look forward to getting started.

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