The arid landscape of Arizona's water politics is heating up as state Attorney General Kris Mayes takes aim at both foreign and domestic players for their role in the deepening water crisis. Mayes recently challenged a decision by the Arizona Department of Water Resources, which approved new well-drilling for Fondomonte, a Saudi-owned alfalfa farm. In a statement obtained by AZPM, Mayes expressed her concerns saying, "This is an area that we are already investigating for over-pumping by the Saudis, and it's also an area that has a formerly utilized munitions site."
Fueling further controversy, the office of Governor Katie Hobbs released comments criticizing Mayes for potentially hampering enforcement actions. Hobbs' spokesperson, Christian Slater, relayed to AZPM, "The only elected official who has taken any action to hold Fondomonte accountable is Governor Hobbs, not the Attorney General," adding that Hobbs would to step in if the legislature fails to amend rural water laws.
But the water issues extend beyond Fondomonte. Mayes calls attention to Water Asset Management, a private equity fund that recently dropped $100 million to acquire farmland in the region. Talking to AZPM, Mayes suggests that such corporate water purchases are starting "to feel a little bit like a possible antitrust problem."
The plight is not lost on the people of Cochise County, where Minnesota-based Riverview LLP has reportedly caused locals to contend with aquifer depletion. One resident shared a harrowing encounter with an aquifer-related fissure, Mayes relayed to AZPM, depicting the very tangible dangers of the situation. Moreover, longstanding concerns about foreign investment in critical resources have been brought back into focus thanks to reporter Nate Halverson, who in 2015 had started to trace Saudi agricultural ventures in Arizona's lands as a harbinger of broader water scarcity issues.
In Halverson's documentary "The Grab," set to stream on Hulu on October 10, the journalist expands on the implications of corporate interests in agriculture and their pursuit of waning water resources globally. Halverson illustrates a world where surging farm sizes are a mere reflection of a larger strategy—to secure food chains and avoid the destabilizing economic forces that once fueled mass uprisings like the Arab Spring. His previous conviction that domestic water resources could become a geopolitical pawn is no longer a distant prospect, as government officials grapple with the reality of diminishing supplies and increasing fissures, both in the ground and within their governance.
.jpg){kind=link}