Infrastructure Asset Management Ideas for Arizona to Avoid Water Crisis

Arizonan residents are concerned that in the next few years, their state could rapidly follow California and join the long-term drought conditions that have beset the American West.

Due to innovative measures to increase Arizona’s effective water supply, such as underground banking, the state is likely to avoid California-ish conditions for at least 3-5 years, but what about the next decade?

Jeff Gibbs, a resident, and former planning commissioner suggest some solutions to avoid Arizona’s impending dry spell.

He believes that the state should develop a public sector organization that has the authority to issue bonds to finance large-scale regional infrastructure projects that will be required in the 2020s and that water pricing should be changed to reflect the future costs of new water supplies among other ideas.

AZ Central reports:

“…Again, California has shown us the way — a case in point being the new San Diego County desalination plant that will go into production shortly at a cost of $1 billion after more than 15 years of planning, design, permitting and construction.

If we start now, we have a chance to realize our plans for the future and avoid the Draconian water regime that California has been forced to implement.

So what do you say? Are we content to follow the path California has blazed for us, or are we serious about realizing our plans for the future — and the water it will require?”

These are all good ideas worth discussing for Arizona, and in partnership with the appropriate level of infrastructure asset management, ideas like these, if implemented, could make a very real difference for the future of Arizona when the drought eventually catches up to it.

What is important to note from an infrastructure asset management viewpoint, is that these big-picture future investment discussions take a reasonable amount of time to occur in communities – sometimes up to a decade before the community and subsequent political agreement is reached.  

With long lead times for agreement, and then additional long planning, design, permitting and construction times, it is important to start future demand and investment discussions sooner rather than later.