A Bill before is being considered to allow the Groundwater Replenishment District to levy bonds for $500 million to be paid for by "Member Lands.  

 

Questions that need to be addressed: 

 

Where is the water coming from? In the Senate Hearing on the Bill SB1141 on February 1, 2010, the CAWCD representative said that the water would come from McMullen, Butler, and Harelequala basins. Why would a state agency rob water from these thriving rural communities in order to provide water for new development in Maricopa, Pinal and Pima counties? 

 

What percentage of the bond funds will fall on individual homeowners and what percentage will fall on Assured Water Supply water providers who will spread the cost over all their customers?  

How much will the individual homeowner expect to pay in the future?What is the percentage of the GRD customers for each water company/provider?

 

How much cost will have to be divided among non-GRD customers? Were the persons of “Member Lands” and persons of water providers with “Member Lands” included in the stakeholder’s meetings? Have they been informed? Lists of GRD members are easily available. 

 

How will the $500 million be rationed out?

Interest on bonds

Water costs

Delivery Infrastructure

Will environmental problems be created?

What about sustainability in the regions the water comes from? 

How much more money will be needed in the future?

The Groundwater Replenishment District (GRD) was established with a Bill written by the development community in 1993. They wrote the Bill so that they could have an entity to recharge water in accordance with the “Assured Water Supply” rules, which were intended to keep the water table from going down. But they made no plans for the development community to pay for the any of the needed water or infrastructure for the recharging projects to fulfill the requirements of the Bill. Now in order to procure more funds water, for they have no water. They have been promised CAP water for five more years. Legislators have introduced a new Bill/Amendment HB.2448/SB1141. These bills are intended to give authority to raise $500 million in bonds and collect fees for infrastructure and water from “Member Lands.” What are Member Lands: First, homes built after 1995 in developments in AMA’s with Assured Water Supply Rules. There are two types of members: 1) Individual home owners that are connected to a water company without an Assured Water Supply designation. The GRD fees are collected on their annual property tax statement. 

2) Water companies with Assured Water Supply designations. In this case, the water companies pay the fees to GRD directly and divide the cost among all its customers, even though the majority of them are not designated as GRD members.