Friday, Mar 18 2011 9:05AM
Arizona lawmakers have proposed collecting rainwater in an effort to increase the state's water supply.
New legislation entering the Arizona House of Representatives would allow local governments and subdivisions to harvest rainwater in an attempt to solve the state's water supply problems, reported the Prescott Daily Courier.
The bill, sponsored by Senator Steve Pierce, was passed by the Arizona state senate. The legislation would be particularly beneficial for the rural community of Prescott, which the newspaper said has few surface water supplies. The Prescott Active Management Area, a
water system services company, currently depends on groundwater supplies that are depleting at a rate of more than 11,000 acre-feet per year.
"We recognize there are issues in the Prescott area, and we've got to identify reasonable alternatives," Sandra Fabritz-Whitney, the acting director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, told the paper.
The source said the legislation would give subdivision developers a 50 percent credit on all the rainwater they collect. They would be able to collect one-acre foot for every two-acre feet of water pumped into an aquifer.
If the system were successful, Prescott would be able to abandon plans for a pipeline to connect the town with the Big Chino aquifer. Opponents of the project believe it would drain the Upper Verde River, according to a previous report from the paper.