Arizona winemakers warn their industry would be stunted if voters approve a new state-run governing body to restrict water usage in a basin home to most of their grapevines.
Proposition 420 is on the ballots of some voters in both Graham and Cochise counties in southeastern Arizona. It asks whether the Willcox Groundwater Basin should become an Active Management Area, which would freeze the drilling of new wells unless approved by a state-managed panel. Arizona has five other AMAs, which were all established by the Legislature. The Willcox measure is a citizen initiative.
Members of the Arizona Wine Growers Association warn that an AMA would hobble an industry that brings economic activity into rural areas such as Willcox.
“All of this money effectively stays in the state,” said Kent Callaghan, winemaker at Callaghan Vineyards, referencing wine tourism drawn into rural communities. “If you shut that kind of thing down, regardless of where the vineyards are, you’re killing one aspect of growth that could be a good thing for a lot of these Arizona towns.”
While most of the basin’s water is used for agriculture, grapevines aren’t a thirsty plant. A study from a Yavapai College professor using USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service data shows grapes use less than half or even a third of the water that crops like hay and corn need. Those and other crops are being grown in the basin by a large farm siphoning much of the water in recent years. The basin is home to more than a dozen vineyards on hundreds of acres.
Callaghan channeled Nietzsche in calling the AMA “a sledgehammer where you need a tuning fork.”
Organizers of the initiative say the measure would prevent new wells from being drilled but insist that the process is built for local input.
“An AMA isn’t a perfect solution, but it is a solution that is available to us,” said Arizona Water Defenders Treasurer Rebekah Wilce.
AWD is the political action committee behind the ballot measure. Wilce said a successful AMA would require the Arizona Department of Water Resources to hold hearings as they build rules and goals, inviting local input. AWD blames overpumping for high rates of land subsidence and fissures opening across roadways.
Jesse Noble, winegrower at Caduceus Cellars’ Buhl Memorial Vineyard in Willcox, said the uncertainty of a state board creating rules threatens local vineyard growth.
“It’s basically ‘vote for an AMA and then we’ll tell you what the rules are,’” he said. “We all know that something has to be done but this isn’t going to save their domestic wells. Anyone that’s been convinced that this is going to reverse the issue and their wells are not going to go dry have been lied to.”
Joan Dahmer, co-owner of Aridus Wines, welcomes state intervention. She said large farms are unchecked in their draining of the basin.
“These big corporations are coming from outside of the state and, in some cases, outside of the country and raping the aquifer because nobody’s stopping them,” Dahmer said.
While Aridus grows grapes in an area that would fall under the AMA, Dahmer said her vineyard is “built out” with no plans for expansion.
Early voting in Arizona begins October 12.
Republished with the permission of The Center Square.
