00;00;00;00 - 00;00;31;29 Speaker 1 Thanks. My name is Nino Peterson, so I know Peterson and I represent Neil Water Company, which is a small municipal company. I know, I know, Douglas. Tell you a little story. Back in 1980, when the family first moved to the valley, was that level of the water company. Well, it's at 178ft. Two months ago, I had to drop that. 00;00;31;29 - 00;01;00;22 Speaker 1 Well, you know, the 290ft was static at 220. So this is a story that's been repeated all over the valley. Continuous times. And people many times over have not even enough resources to be able to do what we did, which is to up the well put further down. Well, so this this is really an issue of fairness. 00;01;00;25 - 00;01;08;14 Speaker 1 We're talking about lessons that we learned in kindergarten. If you have. 00;01;08;17 - 00;01;43;03 Speaker 1 Training for Kennedy. And somebody ahead of you grabs all chocolate candy bars, you're left with an intangible. So I guess what we're looking for here is fairness and equity. I'm not sure the current plan really addresses that because the burden is going to fall on the small user, the small farmer and small individual households. There is, from what I can tell, the limits on, winning. 00;01;43;05 - 00;02;16;16 Speaker 1 You know, also concerns about, the major players, the larger users, basically taking those cars and maybe asking for. So, I think there are some things that can be approved. Obviously, the 5 to 10% reduction target is a step in the right direction. But I think we need you further. So with that, I'll turn it back to the table. 00;02;16;18 - 00;02;36;09 Speaker 1 And so the very, the control have been there usage other and other folks have more resources can dig much deeper. Right. This is what they have in pump 24 seven for ten times the amount that my neighbors do. 00;02;36;11 - 00;03;02;02 Speaker 1 Yeah. And, As far you know, water is, unbelievably cheap in this valley because it's free. It's free underneath my feet as well. Where I live, we bring the water up with the wind, and we also bring it up with electricity. We grow much of our own food. I live on Social Security, and I have the resources to pump a new well down. 00;03;02;05 - 00;03;26;14 Speaker 1 And, I live a decent and a good life. And I have a good time with family and friends and neighbors. So I'm just a resident, and I understand that there are challenges all across the board. But since I've been in this valley, there have been a whole bunch of new activities that, really just came here for the water because it was as cheap as the water I get every day. 00;03;26;17 - 00;03;58;08 Speaker 1 It's free, and they got a lot of resources to dig deep, and all of a sudden what used to be local people raising a few cows, making a living and getting by, they're now double and triple cropping to feed, feed lots of cows acres and destroying the land, damaging the air. I see it, I've been watching it now for 16 years, and I'm, you know, I'm not a not a guy who's been here a long time. 00;03;58;11 - 00;04;27;13 Speaker 1 But I love this place. And, it's hard to see the changes going on because the damage is starting at the top. And like much of the trickle down theories in general, those of us at the bottom and we are the bottom and we're working hard, I have to say, there's so many farmers and ranchers, this valley really need help to be considered decently, that the usage that is coming from the top is really the most critical. 00;04;27;16 - 00;04;51;19 Speaker 1 And they if they really are conscious and they can afford to be more respectful and use less, our water tables may have a chance at stabilizing. But if we plan aggressive depletion, which is what I see this going on right now, 5%, it's a drop in the bucket and those at the bottom shouldn't have any of that. It's those at the top needs to go up. 00;04;51;27 - 00;05;13;29 Speaker 1 Has to be a percentage that is viable and real by the sword taking the bulk of the water. Some of these farms take as much water as a city of Tucson every day. And so this is not right. And something has to change. And as a citizen, I'm deeply concerned. And again, I love this place and I love my neighbors. 00;05;14;02 - 00;05;20;08 Speaker 1 So thank you very much. 00;05;20;10 - 00;05;28;08 Speaker 1 Yeah. My name is Harry Howard. Very, last name. I'd like. 00;05;28;10 - 00;05;40;08 Speaker 2 Thank you, Mr. Howard. Next up is Christian Sawyer. 00;05;40;11 - 00;05;44;08 Speaker 2 And if you'll make sure you talk closely to the microphone, for the record, I think. 00;05;44;10 - 00;06;23;13 Speaker 1 It'll be pup. Poppy. Good afternoon. Thank you for trekking down here today. I'm sure a lot of us nights last night. And as many of you know, I've been involved in an appeal case with the Department of Water Resorts. Final arguments were just last week, and, under the unfortunate that I believe we've, unnecessarily expedited the process, adopting the bill and having this hearing, based on, new and, I believe, incorrect statutory interpretation by the department. 00;06;23;16 - 00;06;55;25 Speaker 1 But in any case, the, several issues in the case could lead the court to rule in the favor of either party, and potentially impacting the first management plan after this hearing, one critical point is the distinction between commercial water users who are not residents of Arizona and the Douglas Basin. If the court rules in my favor, I propose that the management plan be modified so that if irrigation grandfathered rights are sold to entities outside of the basin, there's a 20% reduction immediately. 00;06;55;26 - 00;07;23;05 Speaker 1 But for the correlated water duties, if they, yes, if they're residents of Arizona but not residents at the base, 40% for those who would not be residents of Arizona, citizens of Arizona, and 60% reduction for those who would not be, citizens of the United States. If the court rules in my favor, the management plan will require amendments, at least to restate the management pool. 00;07;23;08 - 00;07;52;11 Speaker 1 And I would ask that any such amendments follow the, relevant statutory procedures, regardless of the court's decision. I suggest this plan establish additional conservation measures for industrial use specifically should be limits or no water duties for new groundwater allocated to mineral extraction without caps on certain industrial water users. The agency's projections for reduced water demands over the next ten years could be undermined and threatened. 00;07;52;11 - 00;08;26;23 Speaker 1 The goals on irrigation efficiency informed comments suggest that efficiency schedules alone may be challenging, and also unlikely to deliver the necessary conservation. I recommend smaller farmers receive generous efficiency allowances, but that the department also consider a a adjacent, let's say, graded water reduction schedule. The schedule should involve tiered reductions by farm size, with larger farms mean greater reductions and possibly exempting the small. 00;08;26;26 - 00;09;05;27 Speaker 1 Managing groundwater in the Douglas Basin is and will be for decades and for the future generations. Here a don't ask. We're just at the beginning of what might be, I think, a brighter future. I don't know the staff. I don't envy the farmers. I don't envy my neighbors and residential well owners in the area. And I especially don't envy those who have already seen their wells grow dry like people in the Leslie Canyon area, elderly who can't afford to keep in their well, who can't even afford the infrastructure for, new plumbing to that that works with deliver and they have to use water out of a barrel. 00;09;05;27 - 00;09;29;16 Speaker 1 No, to wash the dishes and wash themselves. And I especially feel for the future residents of this basin on both sides of the border, who may no longer be able to live or farm here due to the possibility of other sources. For. 00;09;29;19 - 00;09;35;05 Speaker 1 Where Christy Sawyer, as like Eli. 00;09;35;08 - 00;09;53;07 Speaker 2 Thank you, Mr. Sawyer. Next up we have Diana Lamar. 00;09;53;09 - 00;10;30;03 Speaker 3 Diana. Lamar. Diana and a Lamar LA capital and a pass. This is going to be a bit dry, but it's time for. I believe that this is a time to fold our. Since this is a credit crunch and it's limited water resources a state, a stronger AMA for the region is essential to ensuring sustainable water use, protecting both the environment and communities that depend on it. 00;10;30;06 - 00;11;08;13 Speaker 3 With water supplies already stressed by over extraction climate variability, stronger management will help balance water and across agricultural, municipal and ecological needs. More robust AMA would enforce stricter limits on water usage, creating equitable restrictions that ensure no sector agriculture over exploits the aquifer. Moreover, stronger water management policies would foster investment in water saving technologies and promote alternative water sources such as treated wastewater. 00;11;08;15 - 00;11;59;25 Speaker 3 Crucially, the AMA would ensure that these restrictions are equitably distributed, taking into account the needs of low income communities and market groups that may be most vulnerable to water shortages. We should effectively cap new ground water use for mines and feedlots. New large scale mining and feedlot operations can drastically increase groundwater demand, straining already limited aquifers. Mines and feedlots often do not offer the same sustainable benefits to local economy as smaller or more diversified farming operations, research from the Pacific Institute suggest regions with stricter water use reductions in the first years of management have seen better recovery in aquifer levels over the long term. 00;11;59;27 - 00;12;30;23 Speaker 3 Let largest farms be responsible for the largest cuts they have greater access to water resources and typically more capital to implement water saving technologies or switch less water intensive crops. We should ask for larger cuts from out of state, corporate, farm local, then local family farms. Out of state corporate farms often have fewer ties to local communities and property costs over sustainable practices. 00;12;30;25 - 00;13;24;21 Speaker 3 Local farmers are often more dependent on the land and are less likely to jeopardize long term water sustainability for short term gains. Farms that water crops have a significantly lower water footprint than those growing water intensive crops, and can reduce water use by up to 40% compared to conventional crops. A study by the Arizona State University Morrison Institute for Public Policy showed that farms transitioning to low water use were able to reduce water consumption by up to 30%, embracing a vision for a rural community that transcends the traditional reliance on mining, large scale agriculture and feedlots, but emphasize sustainability, resilience and our well-being. 00;13;24;24 - 00;13;27;15 Speaker 1 Thank you. 00;13;27;17 - 00;13;36;08 Speaker 2 Thank you, Miss Lamar Ethan or. 00;13;36;11 - 00;14;03;16 Speaker 1 Thank you. Thank you very much. My name is Ethan, or. I work for the University of Arizona. I'm an assistant or substitute professor and agriculture technology. And then I also work for the Cooperative Extension on the associate director for agriculture and natural resources. I'm here because some of the local farmers, the current growers about me to be here, sympathetic to the science and the research science versity of Arizona is done. 00;14;03;18 - 00;14;20;12 Speaker 1 Before I start, I want to say thank you to the committee and to everyone here. I to say I'm a fourth generation Arizona. My grandparents lived here, and I remember coming here and it's it really is a special of the sacred place. And I believe everyone is doing everything they can to protect what we have here. 00;14;20;19 - 00;14;41;17 Speaker 1 And I think that's the goal is to really attack and sustain and and restore what we have. And I really want to thank the committee for taking on a Herculean task. So thank you for being part of the state. What I want to speak to really is just the pure research that we've done, speaking to consumptive use and then efficiency requirements. 00;14;41;19 - 00;15;06;11 Speaker 1 I'm going to say my predecessor talked about Brown series of studies with the Pechanga orchards out of, Sarita and Buie. And this is both systems, the geography and time. We published this at the University of Arizona last year, and, it was done from a study comprehensive from 2014 to 2016. And what we found was the comprehensive cut and consumptive use of pecans. 00;15;06;11 - 00;15;35;13 Speaker 1 Now, this is 100% efficiency. No crop cover and no leaching coefficient was, 52 images 51.95 over the time I then took that cropping coefficient, I took this year's weather. We have a weather station approach is what we have. Wilcox I oversee our asset at our weather stations, and I extrapolated that data for the entire growing season from March 1st all the way to November 30th last and said, okay, if I had 100% efficiency, what would I need to have? 00;15;35;13 - 00;15;54;16 Speaker 1 And it turned out to be 55in 55.0, which is no cover crop, 100% efficiency. And then I looked at the research out of Nebraska and some of these other things. I said, what if I put a cover crop on? Because a lot of it for a lot of our growers, it's more effective to have a cover crop. It actually takes better care of the plant, particularly in the winter season. 00;15;54;19 - 00;16;14;03 Speaker 1 And if you look at it, depending on the crop, you're adding another 12 to 14in. And so you're consumptive, use it 100% with the cover crop and the surrounding areas is 69in. And then I started looking at our efficiency. Now one program that I have and I'm very proud of, I do this in conjunction with state is we go around and we work with farmers. 00;16;14;03 - 00;16;45;05 Speaker 1 We're working with 110 farmers across the state to basically make micro and then system changes. We've saved 48,581 acre feet. That's a lot of water. That's more than what, 300 and 293,000 people drink. And this is with basically voluntary changes and investments in ourselves and what I found working with them. And then also looking at the literature again out of the university, Nebraska is 75% efficiency is very it's attainable, but it's hard and it is difficult to get. 00;16;45;05 - 00;17;20;13 Speaker 1 If you look at the systems solid and micro sprinklers, which are the most effective systems out there, they range from 60 to 85%. So I would actually say 75% is something we can achieve. And I know my time's almost up. One thing that I will say, basically from my lessons learned from every county in the state that we've been working with from the university, and I'm here to offer the resource to the university is to work with us at the municipal, residential and farming level to implement best practices, because what we can do is we can save water and we can protect our aquifer, and we can protect this basin, but we really need 00;17;20;13 - 00;17;44;15 Speaker 1 to do it with transparency and work together. And really, again, by relying on the iterative science. And what we found is for farmers, because we don't want dead trees, we don't want that, and we don't want people not to have water. We want everyone in this band to be able to have access to this precious resource. What I'm saying is, let's rely on that science, which is consumptive use of 55in the. 00;17;44;17 - 00;18;02;29 Speaker 1 And if there's no cover crop, about 6769. If there is a cover crop and they're looking at really a can we get a 75% efficiency? I may be a new hire, but let's really push that and work together. And I will say, I'm happy to share all of the data that we have a diversity with all of these projects. 00;18;03;01 - 00;18;07;24 Speaker 1 So thank you very much for your time. Thank you for being. 00;18;07;27 - 00;18;17;15 Speaker 2 Thank you. Mr.. Or is there anyone else in person who would like to speak at this time? 00;18;17;17 - 00;18;23;22 Speaker 2 Let the record reflect that no one else in person wishes to speak. 00;18;23;24 - 00;18;32;15 Speaker 2 Is there anyone here who wishes to submit any written comments or evidence that they have brought with them? 00;18;32;18 - 00;18;53;29 Speaker 2 Let the record reflect that no one wishes to submit any written comments or evidence. As I mentioned earlier, written comments on the proposed management plan may be submitted prior to midnight today. If you would like to submit written comments after the close of the hearing, but no earlier than midnight today, please fax or email them to Sharon Scantlebury, the department's docket supervisor. 00;18;54;01 - 00;19;15;28 Speaker 2 Her fax number is (602) 771-8686, and her email address is Docket supervisor at Easy Watercolor. Sharon's business cards with her contact information are located on the table near the entrance. If you would like one. This public hearing is now adjourned. Thank you all for attending and providing comments today.