Arizona Rural Watershed Initiative: Addressing Arizona's Rural Watershed Needs through Regional Partnerships

Rural watersheds in Arizona are currently facing serious challenges due to explosive and unprecedented population growth. Often, existing water resources are not adequate to balance the needs of a growing region while preserving natural resources. The Arizona Department of Water Resource (ADWR) has recently tried to focus attention on the problems and issues these areas face by creating the Arizona Rural Watershed Initiative (ARWI), a program to encourage regional partnerships through state funding. Rural entities by themselves rarely have the resources to address their problems. By working proactively within a watershed partnership, rural areas can more effectively address and obtain funding for regional solutions to water quantity and quality issues. Several of these partnerships have already coalesced, with several more groups in the formative stages. Partnerships include local stakeholders as well as representatives of resource and regulatory agencies active in the area who have agreed to cooperate in addressing watershed issues. In FY2000, the Arizona Legislature appropriated $1.2 million for the ARWI to help watershed partnerships identify water resources and develop regional watershed management plans. More than $3 Million in additional federal, state, local, and private funds has also been secured due to partnership contributions and activities. These funds will enable partnerships to develop watershed management plans and identify feasible projects and funding sources in order to protect their community, economic potential, quality of life, and natural resources.