Arizona restricts farming to protect groundwater supply
By FELICIA FONSECA
Associated Press
FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) — Large-scale farming is now restricted in part of western Arizona in a bid to protect dwindling groundwater supplies. The Arizona Department of Water Resources this week designated the Hualapai Valley near Kingman as an irrigation non-expansion area. That means anyone who hasn’t farmed more than 2 acres of land there during the past five years can’t. It’s the first such designation in Arizona in four decades — highlighting a struggle across the U.S. West for reliable water supplies and growing tensions between agriculture, municipal and residential use. Elected officials supported the designation. Farmers did not.