Sign up to the Independent Climate email for the latest advice on saving the planetGet our free Climate emailGet our free Climate emailA small town in rural Arizona sinks almost 3 inches each year — and the ground will likely only continue to collapse as locals and corporate mega-farms battle over access to clean water. Residents of Wenden, an unincorporated community of less than 1,000 people about 75 miles southeast of the Colorado River, have been forced to dig deep underground just to access water, NBC News reported. Wenden, like many communities, including Los Angeles, gets some of its water from the nearby Colorado River, though the river’s water level continues to drop due to the impacts of climate change. “It’s a train wreck waiting to happen,” Gary Saiter, who leads Wendon’s water district, told NBC. “In the last 15 years, Wendon itself has sunk into a subsidence bowl. We sink at another 2.2 inches per year,” Saiter said. open image in galleryA small town in Arizona sinks almost 3 inches a year and will likely only worsen as access to clean water and the depleting Colorado River exacerbate climate change (Getty Images)With little water coming from the Colorado River, the town has come to rely entirely on groundwater – but it’s draining its supply faster than it could ever be replenished. “It’s absolutely out of balance. It’s not sustainable,” Saiter said. Locals and megafarms are both vying for the precious resource. An Arizona State University study found that nearly 80 percent of the state has no regulations for groundwater, meaning corporations don’t have to report exactly how much they take. It’s also impossible to know how much groundwater even remains, according to the report. Many locals find this lack of oversight to be troubling, especially those running businesses that need water to remain in operation. While farmers flush all their funds to keep digging deeper, they’re often beaten out by megafarms strapped with cash. That includes Rob McDermott, who owns an RV park in Wenden and says it feels impossible to compete because the corporations can dig deeper than small businesses. After nearby over-pumping dried out McDermott’s well, he was forced to dig an 800-foot well, costing him $120,000. “It’s pretty tough to absorb that,” McDermott said. Another study by Arizona State University found that the dramatic sinking is caused by the rapid use of groundwater in the Colorado River Basin. “Just the way air keeps the tire pumped up, water keeps the land pumped up,” Jay Famiglietti, the professor who led the study, told ABC 15.“Clay minerals are flat, and so when the water that’s between them disappears, gets pumped out, then the flat minerals stack up, kind of like dishes in a sink, and that has the impact of lowering the ground surface,” he said.open image in galleryThe Colorado River’s supply has long been diminishing, meaning towns like Wenden have been forced to rely on groundwater (Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)The lack of regulations over the groundwater also means that companies can buy water and land usage rights in communities like Wenden — and then pump that water and sell it to people living in different communities, Saiter said. The crisis has led Arizona’s Attorney General Kris Mayes to file a lawsuit against one megafarm company, Fondomonte, for supposedly harming Wenden with its excessive digging. Fondomonte is owned by Almarai, Saudi Arabia’s biggest dairy company. “The water has disappeared for them because the Saudis are sucking it out of the ground,” Mayes told NBC News. “I think this is the ultimate David vs. Goliath situation,” Mayes said. Mayes’ office says it estimates that Fondomonte has used up over 80 percent of the groundwater in the area. In a statement to NBC News, Fondomonte said its water use is reasonable and that it makes a “conscious effort to manage water use.”
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The Arizona town that’s sinking more than two inches every year
