As an Arizona resident, my jaw dropped when I read this in an article from the Sedona Verde Valley Times:

Coconino County learned a painful lesson when the topic of water was brought up in a land-use approval process and permits were denied. Even though water was not the reason for the denial, developers appealed and won; claiming water use was discussed during the approval process.

Yavapai County will not make that mistake, according to Supervisor Davis. It is a no-no to talk water in our state at most levels.

The gag order is based on an antiquated-Arizona water law dating to 1933 when the Arizona Cotton Company sued the State of Arizona and won a judgment establishing, ‘first in use, first in right.’ In other words, ‘take what you want with no limits.’ This law still stands.”

How can it be that here, in the driest state in the nation, with a population that’s booming, it’s ILLEGAL to talk about water usage in land-use discussions?? It’s mind-boggling. Fortunately, there is a recent bill that will enable many counties or cities to avoid the gag order, but others will remain in the dark ages, unable to even raise the topic.

Equally astounding is that the state of Arizona has no state-wide water management plan. Shouldn’t this be a high priority, out here in the desert?

The Colorado River can’t supply ever-increasing populations in Phoenix, Las Vegas, and Los Angeles forever, and now Colorado wants to increase their share before it even gets to us. (Gee, maybe they’re growing too!)

Sedona currently relies on ground water for its supply, since they don’t get a share of the Colorado. All was fine, but now cities higher up like Flagstaff are digging wells 3000-4000 feet deep, which tap into the water that Sedona uses.

Read the article: Sedona no longer first on water chain

If you have any other information to share on this, please post in the comments. I’d love to hear some good news!

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We head up here a few times a year on our Sedona weekend getaways. Whenever I find items of interest for Sedona travelers, I’ll post in our Sedona category. As Arizona cities continue to grow, it will be interesting to see how they reconcile the competing water needs.