For Immediate Release
Wednesday, Oct. 12th, 2022
Contact: Josselyn Berry, Jberry@azdem.org
Top Water Policy Expert Says Kari Lake’s Ideas Would Make Cost of Water “Drastically More Expensive” For Arizonans
PHOENIX– A top water policy expert has come out to say that Kari Lake’s ideas for tackling Arizona’s water crisis “would make the price of the water drastically more expensive for water users” and “might price out most people.” Sarah Porter with Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy, who also serves on the Governor’s Water Augmentation Council, said Lake’s key proposal, pipelining water in from Missouri and Mississippi, would be exceptionally pricey with significant logistical hurdles.
“The ideas Lake has for Arizona’s crisis hold no water when you really examine them. Under a Kari Lake administration, Arizona families and farmers would be at serious risk of losing access to water and skyrocketing water prices,” said Josselyn Berry, spokesperson for the Arizona Democratic Party. “Compare that to Katie Hobbs, who only days after winning the primary, traveled to Yuma, Arizona to discuss the drought with leaders of the agricultural community. Lake has shown how extreme and out-of-step her agenda for Arizona is while ignoring the real issues that Arizona voters care about like our worsening drought and water crisis.”
Securing Arizona’s water future has floated to the top in this year’s gubernatorial race, and the federal government recently announced further mandatory water cuts from the Colorado River to Arizona, but Kari Lake has been unphased by Arizona’s water crisis, as she said on the John Fredericks Radio Show. When asked what her plans are for addressing Arizona’s serious drought and water crisis, Kari Lake said, “We are going to be fine when it comes to water in Arizona, I am 100 percent sure of that.”
The rest of Arizona doesn’t share Lake’s casual attitude to our water crisis, as polling from earlier this year shows our ongoing drought is a serious concern among Arizona voters. Lake also repeated her far-fetched and nonsensical plan of “piping water in from the Mississippi River basin, the Missouri River Basin.” The Bureau of Reclamation did a thorough study of the idea of pumping Mississippi River water to Arizona in 2012, concluding that the project would cost $14 billion and take 30 years to complete.
Lake has repeatedly said that election conspiracies are more important to her than addressing our water crisis. Kari Lake told Sebastian Gorka, “We have a lot of other issues here in Arizona. But if we don’t get our election sorted out and make sure they’re secure and safe….we can’t get into tax policy, water policy unless we have a secure election.”
Meanwhile, Katie Hobbs has an effective and comprehensive plan that provides immediate solutions for addressing this burgeoning water crisis that preserves our natural resources and builds a 21st-century clean energy economy.