My Commitment to Water Conservation
During my seven plus years on City Council, including two terms as your Mayor, I have taken on many important issues in support of the community. One constant for me has been water use, conservation and management for Prescott and our entire region. I believe that how we manage our water supply today, will have an impact for decades to come. I started by studying water use and its impacts in our area. Then, as Mayor I worked to change the way the City of Prescott manages our water consumption. Recently, my efforts have gone beyond our local area and have included participation at the State level as well. This level of involvement is something I plan to continue on behalf of the citizens of Prescott and Yavapai County, past my term as Mayor.
Even before my time on Council, I became aware of the issues around water use in Prescott, including the Prescott Active Management Area (PrAMA), and the 100 Year Assured Water supply requirements for development. Understanding how the State regulates water supplies is critical to developing a local plan to meet or exceed state mandated requirements.
I became active in the Citizen Water Advocacy Group (CWAG), where I began serving on their Public Policy Committee. During this time, I gathered a great deal of information about water use and learned firsthand about the policies and politics of water in our region.
With my acquired knowledge and experience, I began my term as Mayor of Prescott working with Council to establish a revised water policy, with the intention of regulating water allocation to manage the pace of development. The new policy established an ad hoc water policy review and monitoring committee to review residential and commercial requests for water allocations. Early on, the Council established the Water Issues Subcommittee, to evaluate water service agreements. While the ad hoc water policy review committee was disbanded, we continue monthly Water Issues Subcommittee meetings, monitoring requests for water use in commercial and residential projects, against a “bank” of available water set down by the water policy.
Concurrently, the City has redoubled efforts to encourage individual conservation through educational programs and rebates to offset costs for installing water efficient appliances, low water use landscaping materials and rainwater harvesting.
During my term as Mayor, I was an early member of a Rural Groundwater Working Group, inviting citizens and government leaders from around northern Arizona to participate. I am also a member of the Northern Arizona Municipal Water Users Associations (NAMWUA), where I have been elected board Chairman for three terms in a row.
Of course, water usage and aquifer protection has become an acute state-wide concern. We have learned about foreign and out of state interests acquiring land and water rights in Arizona for intensive agricultural development. Further, extensive new residential and commercial development in Maricopa and Pinal Counties are creating concern about available water supplies to support such growth. I was
invited to stand with other rural Mayors and county supervisors in supporting the Governor’s efforts to start crafting state-wide solutions.
Water resource management and responsible growth have been cornerstones to my public service in Prescott, and I look forward to continuing to advance these issues in the future. I want to assure you that responsible, water use in Prescott and around our State will continue to be a priority for me following my term as Mayor.
