Protecting Rural Arizona's Groundwater

Tom Prezelski's mission is to educate Arizona voters and residents on issues impacting rural areas and the folks who call it home. His current priority is protecting the state's groundwater supply so that agribusiness and foreign interests don't run it dry.

Tom Prezelski is the Senior Policy Advisor for Rural Arizona Action.

Tom Prezelski current role as Senior Policy Advisor for Rural Arizona Action affords hims a chance to advocate for issues facing rural Arizonans, including tribal nations.

The current hot topic is Arizona's groundwater supplies and the lack of regulations that would prevent large users such as agribusiness and foreign interests from pumping so much it can leave local residents' wells dry or at least facing an expensive bill to drill farther down into the earth for water.

The issue has been shrouded by one well publicized case that allowed a Saudi Arabia firm to aggressively pump groundwater to grow alfalfa for their horses. That situation arose in La Paz County

while another case in Cochise County saw a large dairy operation move in from out of state and leave local well owners dry. Prezelski says its about more than one or two cases.

"It's not about the Saudis, it's not about the Californians," he told ImpactoAZ. "It's that we don't have the regulations. So people outside the state target Arizona for this really aggressive groundwater extraction."

To hear the full interview, click here.