PHOENIX – Negotiations on a drought plan for Arizona took a step forward Thursday when the head of the state water department said Gov. Doug Ducey will ask for $30 million in his upcoming budget proposal to help make the Drought Contingency Plan a reality.
The news came as the directors of two big water agencies, the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, presented a plan to water stakeholders in hopes of pushing the group closer to a resolution.
Arizona needs to finalize an internal drought deal so it can enter an agreement with the other six Colorado River Basin states. The deal, called the Drought Contingency Plan, will help keep Lake Mead from falling to disastrously low levels. Lake Mead, the lower basin’s main reservoir, is 38 percent full.
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“I fully endorse this plan, the state endorses this plan,” water-resources director Tom Buschatzke said at Thursday’s meeting of the Drought Contingency Plan Steering Committee. He said Ducey will “advocate strongly” to make sure the $30 million budget request gets passed by the Legislature.
However, Buschatzke also said several items still need to be worked out.
The plan builds on an earlier, three-year proposal from the Central Arizona Water Conservation District board put forward in case something longer-term could not garner support.