PHOENIX — Some Arizona Republicans are blaming Gov. Katie Hobbs for the state receiving the largest share of new Colorado River water cuts.
Under the federal government’s new Colorado River plan, Arizona will give up 760,000 acre-feet of water, nearly one-third of the state’s full allocation. California will give up 440,000 acre-feet, while Nevada will lose 50,000.
“We don’t have a water shortage crisis in Arizona, we have a water management crisis because of Katie Hobbs,” Republican gubernatorial candidate Andy Biggs said on X.
Other Republicans, including state Sen. Wendy Rogers and Tyler Bowyer from Turning Point USA have posted similar criticism.
For her part, Governor Hobbs has called those attacks “political gamesmanship.”
“That is absolutely invalid criticism, and quite frankly, nothing more than political gamesmanship from people who have not been involved in the process at all,” Hobbs said.
Water experts say Arizona’s position at the front of the cut line was established decades before Hobbs became governor, or was even born.
The reason Arizona takes the largest reduction dates back to 1968, when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed legislation authorizing construction of the Central Arizona Project.
The 336-mile canal system brought Colorado River water to the Phoenix and Tucson areas and helped fuel the region’s growth.
“In order to get the Central Arizona Project built, Arizona had to agree to being lower on the totem pole than other states and even other entities within Arizona,” said Kyle Roerink with the Great Basin Water Network.
That legal history, combined with prolonged drought, is why Arizona faces the first and largest reductions.
“Arizonans really shouldn’t be blaming the present-day politicians,” Roerink said. “We are, for all intents and purposes, dealing with the decisions of lawmakers who are dead.”
While Hobbs did not create Arizona’s junior-priority status, her administration participated in the Lower Basin negotiations that determined how the immediate cuts would be divided among Arizona, California and Nevada.
Hobbs, or Biggs if he defeats her in November, will be responsible for how Arizona responds to a future with less Colorado River water.
That response could include conservation, water-recycling infrastructure, agricultural changes and investments in alternative supplies.
The federal plan is also facing a legal challenge. Nevada sued the federal government Monday, asking a judge to block the new operating guidelines before they take effect Oct. 1.
