HB 2132~Supervisor Tom Sockwell Statement of Support

SENATE NATURAL RESOURCES COMMITTEE MARCH 19, 2008
CHAIRMAN FLAKE & MEMBERS OF THE COMMITTEE:

Good afternoon. I am Tom Sockwell, a member of the Mohave County Board of Supervisors and the County's appointed representative to the Mohave County Water Authority. I am here to urge your support of HB 2132. For those of you who may not know, the members of the Authority, in addition to Mohave County, are Bullhead City, Lake Havasu City, the City of Kingman, Mohave Water Conservation District, Mohave Valley Irrigation and Drainage District and Golden Shores Irrigation District. The members voted unanimously to seek the legislation which is before you today as HB 2132.

The purpose of this legislation is to eliminate the industrial use restriction on a portion of Mohave County Water Authority's (Authority) Colorado River allocation in order to make said water available for all municipal and industrial uses, including industrial, commercial and residential uses.

Industrial uses are defined in ARS 45-2201 (8) as follows: 8. "Industrial use" means a non-agricultural use of water not supplied by a city, town or private water company, including animal industry use as defined in § 45-402. Since MCWA's formation in 1996 it has not received a single request for water for an industrial use. During that same time frame our members have been looking for additional water for municipal purposes (which includes industrial uses).

The Authority's members have done water resource planning, drought planning, and water conservation planning and implementation in order to deal responsibly with water resource issues. These efforts, however, still leave Mohave County's river communities, both incorporated and unincorporated, without sufficient water. This legislation would serve to restore to those Mohave County communities, for full use, 3500 alf of 4th priority water always intended for such use, consistent with the Authority's contract with the Bureau of Reclamation.

The water has not yet been allocated among our members since passage of this legislation is necessary to put it to full use. Authority policy is to first offer the water to Authority members based on need as supported by the water resource demands of the various members. Four of our members have expressed an interest in acquiring this water if the industrial use limitation is removed, including unincorporated areas in Mohave Valley and Golden Shores. In fact Golden Shores needed this water yesterday but we needed to wait for the Arizona Water Settlements Act to be effective. One of the provisions of this settlement was that this water would be restored to MCWA for all municipal and industrial purposes. One of the reasons the Authority has been successful to date is the ability of our members to assess their various needs and fairly apportion its resources in response to same and seeks this legislation to permit it to continue doing so.

I am here, therefore, to seek your approval of HB 2132 which will eliminate the industrial restriction on the 3500 a/f. This would then result in additional water being available to Authority members for municipal use as well as providing the City of Kingman with additional funds to develop its groundwater resources. With passage of this legislation Kingman's additional water developed with these funds, as well as the water which would be subcontracted to our members, would be available for a wide range of uses as determined by the elected officials and boards of our various members to whom subcontracts would be made available. Included in those uses would most certainly be industrial uses as illustrated, for example, by the development of industrial parks in Kingman, Lake Havasu City, and Bullhead City and the importance those communities place on industrial development. Likewise as Golden Shores and the Mohave Valley develop they will see increased demand for water for ALL uses, which will in all likelihood include industrial uses. The distribution of this water, however, should be left to those local communities who are best positioned to assess the competing demands in their area.

Thank you for your attention.
Tom Sockwell
Mohave County Board of Supervisors
P.O. Box 7000
Kingman, Arizona 86402
928 753-9141
Tom.Sockwell@co.mohave.az.us