Like sand between your fingers, water exported from Arizona

“You can’t take water and export it out of the state, there’s laws about that,” said Arizona geohydrologist Marvin Glotfelty, a well-drilling expert. “But you can take ‘virtual’ water and export it; alfalfa, cotton, electricity or anything created in part from the use of water.”

Residents and local officials say lax groundwater laws give agriculture the upper hand, allowing (sometimes foreign owned) farms to pump unlimited water as long as they own or lease the property to drill wells into. In around 80% of the state, Arizona has no laws overseeing how much water corporate megafarms are using, nor is there any way for the state to track it.

I wonder, if you take a map of the US and cross off all the areas which are dependent on non-renewable water, and then cross off the “tornado zone” and the hurricane-prone areas, the earthquake zones and the areas with extremely hot or cold weather what you are left with?

Jeff

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Such as semiconductors? Of course there isn’t anything that doesn’t require the use of water.

The article seems to ignore the benefits of exports.

DB2

I guess if you add value to water, it can goose the drop of the trade deficit (which is probably little comfort to those who will one day have to either move, die of thirst or buy bottles of Poland Springs (Disclosure: Nestle has been a major equity position of mine for years)

Jeff

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Maybe in AZ, but not in Michigan. I have posted before that, unlike AZ and water, unlike Texas and oil, Michigan virtually gives groundwater away to the “JCs”. Bottling companies pump out over a million gallons/day, and the only “burden” is a $200/year permit.

I used to have stock in Pinnacle West, the parent company of Arizona Public Service. Sold it, due to the chances of water shortage inhibiting growth in that state.

Steve.

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Saudi Arabia tried an experiment where it used groundwater to irrigate desert and grow hay for export. This was profitable until the groundwater was depleted. Saudi Arabia is now doing this in Arizona and other places with unregulated groundwater. Seems a bit like Private Equity: identify an undervalued resource, buy it, monetize it, and then move on to the next project.

Arizona has undervalued its water resources. Some are getting rich in depleting the groundwater. Most Arizona citizens are getting nothing in return. This could happen anywhere with poor water regulations. Water is needed for people and most economic activities, and it is a shared resource with one deep well able to deplete many neighboring wells. Water use on one property can affect a neighboring property. Clear regulations are needed to establish water rights and limit usage.

The Great Arizona Water Grab
A surprising group of investors is fueling a global scramble for water in the most unlikely of places – the Arizona desert. As wells run dry, there’s a race for profits. July 29, 2023
“over the course of a year in an area that normally only gets five inches of rain, they pump up 10 feet of water onto the land… Corporations are tapping into free and unregulated water supplies in rural counties like La Paz and growing crops that are shipped halfway around the world… A lot’s changed over the last 10, 15 years… I’ve seen so many 18-wheelers packed with hay, which is then going to slowly make its way halfway around the world to places where water has also become a huge issue. This global grab for water driven by countries like Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates is now being funded by pension funds across the US, not just Arizona’s. It’s retirement money for New York City teachers, union workers from California and Michigan, even Carnegie Hall, all invested in land deals here in the arid West. It’s big business so long as there’s water.”

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The key takeaway from Marc Reisner’s Cadillac Desert for me was the line, “In the West, it is said, water flows uphill toward money.

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As noted here before, the same is happening in Michigan. Bottling companies can pump out over a million gallons/day of ground while only paying a $200/year permit fee to the state. Meanwhile, people in some areas are seeing their wells go dry, or salty, but the state doesn’t have any funding to help them.

Steve

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And the state legislators are all bought with campaign contributions, so the laws won’t change

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too bad Arizona has wasted so much bandwidth/brainpower on bs claims about election fraud. The elected officials in Arizona are doing a pathetic job of representing their constituents interests, but the constituents did elect them, so there’s that… Maybe not water related, but same junk is going on in States all over the country, elected officials chasing their tail over the most dubious “issues”. Hate to say it, but we’re going to get what we deserve.

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I know more than a few people on well water, am not aware of any of them having water issues (yet, anyways ). But I’m with you, the idea of giving these water pumpers free access to Michigan groundwater for $200 a year is a bad joke. Some politician(s) somewhere got paid a nice wad of money for that sellout of Michigan residents.

I feel the same way about all of the logging/clearcutting going on in northern Michigan. There are spots in the woods that used to be beautiful forests that look like a bomb got dropped on them. DNR says no, it’s not a problem, this will be prime wildlife habitat in a few years. The loggers knock down slow growing oak trees, and up pops what we call poplar trees, can’t even walk thru that area in a couple years, it’s such a tangled up mess. I’m sure some pol got a nice payoff for those timber rights…

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The shortage area that has received the most reporting is Ottawa County, between Grand Rapids and the lakeshore. The most widely reported bottler is pumping in Osceola Country, south of Cadillac. The Marshall aquifer underlies both.

But charge the bottling “JCs” enough to help the people in Ottawa, or the several other counties that are seeing their water table fall, or even to pay for adequate treatment for the city water in Flint, which the city residents were being taxed for? Nope. Must not “burden” the “JCs”.

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Some good news out of Arizona:

Arizona to cancel leases allowing Saudi-owned farm access to state’s groundwater, October 3, 2023
"Arizona governor Katie Hobbs said this week her administration is terminating state land leases that for years have given a Saudi-owned farm nearly unfettered access to pump groundwater in the dry southwestern state… Fondomonte also farms in Southern California’s Palo Verde Valley, an area that gets its water from the shrinking Colorado River. "

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Yes, saw that on another thread, and suggested the Saudis move their operation to Michigan, because the state virtually gives away ground water, to “JCs”.

Steve

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Pension funds you don’t say…

Retirees? The Me Generation? My generation acting ignorantly, self aggrandizing and selfish? Investing in Arizona “Projects” because where else would we retire?

If there is a mistake to be made the Me Generation will make it.

Sometimes wisdom escapes a generation even into old age.

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