Arizona Water Facts

In our new weekly series, we want to share the important facts about LAMA’s policy priorities. This week, we are focusing on water in Arizona!

The Lutheran Perspective

Water use and access intersect with every issue we care about, from food production and cost, to dignity for the unhoused. It is also a vital part of our own daily lives.

As Christians, we are called to live in harmony with and to care for all of God's creation, which means that we must steward our resources with wisdom and foresight, that we may best provide for ourselves, our neighbors, the future, and the planet. In 1993, the ELCA adopted an official Social Statement titled “Caring for Creation: Vision, Hope, and Justice,” which details the ways to best live out this calling in our modern era. On the topic of global resource use, the statement says, 

• “The idea of the earth as a boundless warehouse has proven both false and dangerous. Damage to the environment eventually will affect most people through increased conflict over scarce resources, decline in food security, and greater vulnerability to disease.” Despite the complexity of the issue of water in Arizona, the many competing needs, the different problems, we have adopted water policy as a priority this year because, “It is in hope of God’s promised fulfillment that we hear the call to justice; it is in hope that we take action. When we act interdependently and in solidarity with creation, we do justice. We serve and keep the earth, trusting its bounty can be sufficient for all, and sustainable.”

How does AZ source and use its water?

Az water comes from four sources: surface water (lakes, rivers, streams, etc), Colorado River, groundwater (water held in soil and porous rock), effluent (waste water)

• 41% of the state’s water comes from ground water reserves, and reliance on these sources are increasing as population grows and Colorado River water levels become less stable. 36% of our water comes from the Colorado River, allotted through our agreements with the other western states and Mexico. 18% comes from in-state rivers and other surface water. 5% comes from reclaimed waste water.

• Water use is 72% agriculture, 22% municipal, 6% industrial

At LAMA, we focus on three issue areas related to water:

1. Conservation

   • Arizona’s water supply from the Colorado River has decreased by 21%, due to droughts 

   • Population growth is driving up the amount of water spent on municipal use; the average Arizonan uses over 140 gallons of water a day

   • Despite the 3 trillion ache feet stored in groundwater recharge programs, the state is facing a 4.6 million acre feet (4%) shortage over the next century

   • The Water Irrigation Efficiency Program with the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension Program has helped farms transition to irrigation systems that use and lose drastically less water

2. Contamination

   • Nationally, there is a growing concern over “Forever Chemicals” in our water. Polyfluoroalkyl substances, known as PFAS, are used in many common consumer and industrial goods, but if ingested, they are connected to many poor health outcomes, including a reduction in vaccine efficacy, cancers, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. 

   • PFAS are present in 45 % of US tap water, at least 57 public water systems in Arizona. 

   • The AZ attorney general sued 3M, Raytheon, DuPont, and several more, for contaminating water, and joined a national group of attorneys general appealing the settlement for not filling in enough gaps

   • AZDEQ is testing all water systems in the state for PFAS

   • Capture and removal of PFAS are possible, just costly and difficult. Currently, a municipality is not required to treat PFAS contaminated water

3. Navajo Nation

• Over 30% of houses on the Navajo reservation have no running water, thousands more only have access to contaminated water. At LAMA, we wish to see a world where all of God’s children have abundant access to clean water.

We are advocating for… 

• Programs and legislation that help strengthen conservation efforts in our state, such as educational materials from the state water management agencies 

• Support for the Water Irrigation Efficiency Program with the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension

• Requiring municipalities to treat PFAS contaminated water systems

• Continued work with representatives from the Navajo Nation, in good faith, in pursuit of an equitable and just water settlement, as their communities are some of Arizona’s most vulnerable.