Outwardly, a fierce battle is raging over how to manage water supplies in areas of Arizona that lack regulation.
Critics on both sides are pressing lawmakers to abandon competing bills that promise to provide the locally focused option that many in these areas say they want.
But behind the scenes, the bills’ sponsors and other groups are meeting in hopes of finding common ground — and are cautiously optimistic that they can find it.
I know. It’s tempting to say, “Yeah, right,” and brace for the fallout when everything falls apart.
Compromise is a dirty word in state politics these days.
Not to mention that just a few weeks ago — or, heck, if we’re honest, even now — many observers believed that efforts to regulate rural water use were DOA.
They suspected that Republicans would ram their preferred solution, unchanged, through the House and Senate.
And then the Democratic governor — who considers some provisions in that solution as non-starters — would swiftly veto it, putting us back at square one.
But a couple of things have happened since then.
First, House Bill 2857 — the legislation that fleshes out a proposal from the Governor’s Water Policy Council to create rural groundwater management areas — was introduced.
And while some farmers still think the bill is too top-down restrictive, others were pleasantly surprised to see language that addressed some of their priorities, such as creating a water right of sorts for existing users.
They took it as a signal that the bill’s proponents may be willing to compromise on more.
Then, Senate Bill 1221 — which would create similar management areas, albeit via a vastly different process — was heard in the Senate water committee.
The bill is the brainchild of Republican Sen. Sine Kerr, who wrote it after quitting the governor’s council in disgust this fall.
Kerr chairs the committee, so the hearing was a given.
But when critics said her management areas would be too difficult to create and might not lead to lower water use, Kerr invited them to work with her to make them better.
That might sound like window dressing, but she didn’t have to say it.
Many Republicans already support SB 1221. Kerr could have simply powered it through the process without changes.
Governor throws:A hand grenade into the water debate
But she invited revisions. And, in fact, she did one better:
Kerr is meeting with Democratic Sen. Priya Sundareshan, who co-sponsored HB 2857, to go through the finer points of both bills.
The goal, both senators agree, is to meld their ideas into a single bill that can win support from the House, the Senate and the governor.
Their willingness to extend an olive branch has energized others, including farm organizations, to begin poring through the bills and talking about where they could find middle ground.
And while few have yet to find consensus, it is heartening to hear about these efforts.
I’ve been saying for years that the only way to move forward on water is via compromise and mutual sacrifice. Not to hold out for the deal you love, but to take the deal that you can live with — for the greater good.
The irony is that, despite all the public feuding, we’re closer than we’ve ever been to creating ground rules on water use in the areas where there are none.
Though legislation has been proposed for years, this is the first where everyone agrees on the points of this exercise:
Maybe both sides disagree whether the local council that would help form these plans should be elected or appointed. But — good grief — both bills agree that there should be a local council.
We’re not that far off, if we can somehow keep the politics that kill plenty of other good-faith efforts out of the way.
Reach Allhands at joanna.allhands@arizonarepublic.com. On X, formerly Twitter: @joannaallhands.
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