How Badly are Arizona Budget Cuts Hurting Agencies Like ADWR and ADEQ?

There is an interesting article in today's Arizona Republic about the affects of budget cuts on state agencies like ADWR and ADEQ. It should be no surprise that the outlook is fairly grim. And while it's actually a decent article, if anything, the situation is actually much worse than the article hints at.

ADWR Funding Slashed

The FY 2011 budget for Arizona that has been passed by the legislature (but not signed into law yet) includes a cut of 60% for ADWR, which has already been cut significantly in the past 2 years, including a mass lay-off of over 25% of its workforce. Obviously these additional cuts would cripple and already under-funded agency that plays a critical role in the geoscience community and in the health, safety, and future of Arizona residents. I urge all AEG members and non-members reading this to consider writing letters to their representatives (follow this link for who and how to contact), the governor’s office (contact), and even the head of ADWR (contact) to plead for programs you feel are critical. The list of potential areas of cuts is long and includes things like InSAR and subsidence monitoring, well permitting, well data, the GWSI, the ability to regulate water usage, dam safety and many of the other key roles filled by ADWR.

I haven’t checked how other agencies fair in this proposed budget, but my guess is that agencies like ADEQ, AZGS, ADOT, State Lands, and others are hurt equally as bad.

I always find it ironic that legislators that speak of how important jobs are to the residents of Arizona cut so many of the jobs they actually have direct control over.

New Fissure Maps and Subsidence Workshop

The AZGS has released new earth fissure study area maps. New earth fissure maps showing confirmed and unconfirmed earth fissures for Harquahala, Maricopa County, and the Friendly Corners, Tator Hills and Signal Peak areas of Pinal County are complete. The 1:24,000 scale maps can be downloaded free at the Arizona Geological Survey’s (AZGS) Earth Fissure Center (http://azgs.az.gov/efmaps). For interactive viewing and custom map-making at up to 1:12,000 scale, visit the Arizona Department of Real Estate’s Earth Fissure Viewer at http://azmap.org/fissures.

Also of note is the Land Subsidence and Earth Fissure Workshop in August - the infromation below is from Brian Conway of ADWR:

I wanted to remind everyone again about the upcoming AHS Land Subsidence and Earth Fissure Workshop. I am still accepting abstracts and need at least three more talks to attempt to fill the full day workshop. I also want to remind you to register for the workshop whether you will be presenting or attending; either way you will have to pay for the workshop. I was also wondering if anyone would be interested on giving a presentation about the Arizona Land Subsidence Group. Here is the information about the workshop:

Arizona Hydrological Society

American Institute of Hydrology

2009 Annual Water Symposium

Land Subsidence and Earth Fissure Workshop

Sunday, August 30th, 8:30 am – 5:00 pm

Scottsdale, Arizona

Westin Kierland Resort and Spa

Abstracts should be 250 words or less and include title, authorship, and affiliations. Please include a brief biographical sketch of the primary author(s) and indicate that the abstract is for the Land Subsidence and Earth Fissure Workshop. Please submit abstracts no later than July 30th.

Abstracts must be submitted electronically to: hydrosymposium@a6consultants.com

Please copy Brian Conway (Workshop Moderator) on the email for the abstract submittal: bdconway@azwater.gov

If you have questions about the workshop, please contact:

Brian Conway
Arizona Department of Water Resources
602.771.1517
bdconway@azwater.gov

Arizona Department of Water Resources' Mission is Threatened

I just got this bit of depressing news over email. I encourage AEG members and concerned professionals and citizens to contact their state representation and let them know of the importance of ADWR to the needs and safety of the residents of Arizona.

You can find the contact info for your representatives at the following website: http://www.azleg.gov/alisStaticPages/HowToContactMember.asp

Friends,

I appreciate the great interest in the Department that you’ve expressed in your calls and emails over the last several weeks as we embark into this new territory of revenue shortfalls and budget cuts. It is becoming apparent that the importance of DWR’s mission is becoming lost in the budget discussions down at the Capitol. The leaked Republican budget worksheets from last week, the released budget proposal from House Democrats yesterday, and the House Republican budget would each give DWR a $10 million budget. To give you some perspective, our total appropriated FY 08 budget was $24.1 million including special line items (SLIs), $23 million from General Fund and $1.1 million from our Assured and Adequate Water Supply Fund.

A $10 million budget would require the Department to layoff approximately 140 of our 185 employees. You can probably imagine that the impact of such a reduction in force would be severe, and you would be correct – here are just a few examples of impacts: no more adjudications work, no assured or adequate water supply permitting, no hydrologic monitoring, no dam inspections, no long-term water planning for the state, no water conservation or drought planning. In order to function, an $18.4 million budget would allow us to continue our core work, but albeit at a significantly reduced level. It would still require us to close office(s), eliminate contracts, and make other difficult sacrifices.

Any help you can provide to support the Department’s mission is greatly appreciated.

Sincerely,
Fred Breedlove
Legislative Liaison Arizona Department of Water Resources
Office: (602) 771-8429
Mobile: (602) 679-4281

ADWR Posts Subsidence from InSAR in Arizona

ADWR has posted on their website a series of PDF images showing subsidence derived from InSAR in Arizona. This is a spectacular set of data to have readily available. The image to the right is an example of these maps that shows subsidence in north Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Paradise Valley over an 8-year period from 1992 to 2000.