First off this "small town" borders the Phoenix metro area, so its not that far. Second don't complain when you live in a gated golf course community in the desert and they tell you for almost a year they are going to stop shipping water to you. It's the community's fault for not securing a contract with someone to supply water not the city you don't belong to fault.
@@williebeamish5879golf is such a small use of water that it’s far down the list of cuts. You’ll know it’s serious when agriculture starts faces significantly harsher cuts to water use. For decades residents were encouraged to spend their money to replace the little bit of water their lawns use, and people wonder why nothing changed.
@@someusername4129 don’t forget conservatives just voted in Thomas Galvin recently to the maricopa county board of supervisors, a lifelong Republican and former lobbyist for the Saudi company you are talking about. It really should be surprising that libertarians would sell out our natural resources, that is their ideology.
How did they not mention that this town of ~2,000 people has at least two 18-hole golf courses, both of which require an expensive membership to play? This is not the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. This is a bunch of millionaires who built their own unincorporated community so they wouldn't have to pay Scottsdale property taxes.
@Nothing Ruler wasted water? The reason we're in drought is because we're not using water. Its like 99% of the planet doesn't understand that we are causing the drought by not letting water move.
Multiple People of The Flint, Michigan, Water Crisis Died due to Government Cover-up of Heavy Metal Toxic Lead Poisoning and and Legionnaires' Disease.
Then getting upset when your water gets cut off because you didn't bother to order it from someone else.... You can't tell me that the city of Scottsdale is the only place they can order water from.... They can order water from ANYWHERE.. they can order it from Italy if they felt like it... would just cost a bit more :) I have a feeling this is about price, the city is probably the cheapest.. but Cost goes UP as supply goes down and demand goes up.. and supply is going down..
I hope the city wins. Those residents knew of the problem long before this and didn’t take action to stand on their own. Instead, they just look at the city and expect to have water. You cannot leave your survival up to someone else. It’s a screwed up world we live in and if you’re going to survive you better have your stuff in order and be prepared.
Oh, the suburb residents who built homes in that area purposely so they won't have to pay taxes over certain utilities, now realize that they shouldn't have been selfish? Now they're begging for help from the same city and their utilities they didn't want their money going to? You get what you pay for lol
It reminds me of the people who move to the unincorporated areas of the foothills and mountains to avoid municipal taxes and services. But when the wildfires erupt, they want every nearby fire department, the hotshots and smoke jumpers, the national guard, the air force, army, and navy to show up and save them.
The entitlement is unreal. You didn’t want to pay for any services. Go get one of those devices the Navajo use to condense drinking water from the air with solar panels. No more lawns, no more washing clothes at home. Just enough water to drink and cook with.
I feel for them, but from a legal standpoint I hope they lose the lawsuit. The city has been warning them for years about the water supply, and they did nothing about it, but now that they're days away from running out completely, they're crying and moaning about it.
@@gagejernigan5277 well! You don't move to an area without it. Pretty simple. If you wanna live remotely at least pick an area near a creek or lake or have access to something that provides water. Vs Moving out of the middle of nowhere.
I agree- the lawsuit they *should* be filing is with the developers who started building there without contractually ensuring water for the next 100 years. As an ecologist *and* an anthropologist, I see this as *the* epitome of the crisis we're currently facing. People cannot continue to pretend things are fine and skirting not only current laws, but also ignoring the need for common sense legislation that incorporates our knowledge of climate change's ongoing effects on human settlements.
@@gagejernigan5277 No, of course not. However, if you move to a place that has *no* regular water supply or move to an area with a *spotty* water supply, you need to do due diligence. It is *not* the city's fault that the developers did not abide by the law, and they have given fair legal warning. The developers should be held accountable, not the city. They are barking up the wrong tree. The developers should be mandated to pay for the importation of water in perpetuity since they skirted the law, essentially committed fraud, and then profited off of it. The truth is that humans have overused water nearly everywhere, and this is a stark reminder that: a) our current lifestyles are not sustainable b) that we need to get back to basics and live within our means c) we need to stop thinking we are invincible and can do whatever we want (i.e., living in the path of the world's most active volcano (Hawaii), living in biomes that are designed to burn themselves to the ground annually (California/Oregon), biomes that are arid and receive little rainfall or precipitation (most of the southwest). Essentially, as humans we are *not* entitled to live anywhere at any time without consequence. We used to have rules that were instilled in us via our community about safe places to make our homes. This information is gone and what's left, particularly in the US, is a profound sense of entitlement. Mother nature doesn't give a rat's patooty about humanity's entitlement, so everyone better get in line or hold onto your butts because this is just the beginning.
Well they also want a private solution. But really they get what they deserve. A proposal to create a water taxing district was defeated in August when the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted it down. Supervisor Tom Galvin, who represents the district encompassing Rio Verde Foothills, voted against the proposal after overseeing months of discussion and bickering between neighbors, citing concerns about the long-term viability of the district and its potential costs. Instead, he favored a long-term agreement with private water utility EPCOR. That solution is currently in the works, but since the company is regulated by the state, the plan first must go through the Arizona Corporation Commission. And interim plans hinge on Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega, who has repeatedly called himself a “hard no” on helping Rio Verde residents, saying that water isn’t “a compassion game.” To back that up, he’s expressed concern over ongoing drought conditions on the Colorado River. He’s also opposed allowing any water serving Rio Verde Foothills residents to flow through the city’s water treatment plant and pipes, citing the impacts of water hauling trucks on Scottsdale roads and saying the city gave the county and Rio Verde Foothills residents ample notice that it wouldn’t provide water or infrastructure forever.
It almost sounds like a 'game' of chicken. If a gated community, could they form a water coop and negotiate with the state? Not sure how much water they would have to truck anyway.
So the town was told for a year this was coming, and now they’re surprised they did the exact thing they said they would do? Insane place to build a town
@Jimmy Dee the desert suburb crowd isn't known for their intelligence... I was raised in a desert suburb and it was like a cheesy TV show sometimes. Just morons who stumbled into money
I lived in Chino Valley, AZ for 15 years. I had 3 acres. My well used to have a really good gpm flow. The last 5 years I was there new houses were being built all around me. I noticed a huge drop in my well production. My gpm dropped to about 1/2 of what it was. I sold, left the state and never looked back. I’m sure it’s gotten worse.
Unchecked growth is bad for everyone except developers who make millions and then leave. I left Phoenix in 1990 and never looked back. I have very little family left there now so I don't even visit anymore.
I didn't realize the land cancer had spread as far north as Chino Valley. I once looked into that area about 33 years ago and glad I didn't buy in up there. The last thing I'd want is a subdivision and their HOA's in my back yard.
Way back as far as 1985 I remember it was said that at the rate of unchecked growth this would happen. Nobody listened and more than a million new homes were built and it is still out of control today. Developers came in and made their millions and skipped town as the water problem was not theirs. I left Arizona 32 years ago with good riddence.
I live in the Phoenix area and have lived here my whole life. The situation here has been bad and is getting worse. Too many people are moving here from other states and I don't understand why. This is only making the water situation worse and rent prices are out of control. I'm starting to find myself unable to afford rent and bills and it's getting scary. I don't even want to live in AZ anymore to be honest.
Because with Jordy of the u.s. is inhabitable and most other states have been run into the ground. Texas has now seen more than half a million people move in within months and it's insane people are way too desperate to try to get homes for cheap versus just building a nice home where they've been for 20-30 years.
Developers should be brought to court for bypassing city water regs on having adequate water supply. The weather out west is become more drought like and we'll have to deal with the new normal- like not continuing to build new homes in desert areas that lack water.
It's AZ they most likely do not have water regulations like you'd think. The city told them they weren't providing water after a certain point plus that city is pretty far away. They made the choice to build and keep building there. People bought the property and this is their doing and choices
All that would have been required on the developer’s end is to disclose that the city was not obligated to provide the residents with water from its reservoirs.
Was water 'recategorized' under 1) new ownership 2) new HOA or new CCRs 3) emergency powers? That seems pre-planned. Can the community only purchase water from the city?
All these suburbanites finally reaping what they've sown. They wanted to drop out of Scottsdale prices, taxes, and laws, and they have dropped out of Scottsdale services too. Too bad.
@@robbieogle8622 I definitely think it's the developers' fault. In that sense, they made off with the value and the homeowners are left holding the bag
No empathy at all for these homeowners. Don't build in flood plains(Missouri) don't build on the beach(Miami) Don't build on dryland(Arizona). Fighting Mama Nature is a losing battle. Work with her and she will sustain you.
Basically there’s nowhere to build you are always prone to disaster no matter where you live lol. I grew up in Houston and was sick of how often it would rain and flood. Whatever people were saving by not living in California, they were spending to repair flood damage. Bad deal growing up there but I had no say in the matter until I became an adult.
@@tybarker5038 it’s not about avoiding disaster 100%, it’s about thinking ahead and not building where it floods all of the time, hurricanes frequently hit, deserts lands, etc.
@@tybarker5038Not so. I live in Northern New England and theres not much to worry about up here. Flood...no, tornado..no, hurricane storm surge...no, volcano...no, forest fire...no. earthquake...no. But....we have cold winters. and we get snow. Pretty good trade if you ask me.
“Water, water, water…. There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, insuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.” -Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
"Who's stupid enough to live in the middle of the desert without a proper water supply?" Was a question that people once asked themselves, we finally found an answer.
Ya know a while back I saw an article that talked about homes in Vegas that had foundation and structural damage due to the dryness and heat. Years ago, I was a trucker and ran a lot in the SW. And every time I went thru areas like Arizona and New Mexico I always thought that it was dumb for society to live in the middle of nowhere and in a desert. To each their own, but I cannot imagine living in an area where water is scarce. Besides I’m a winter lover. It just seems idiotic to me that people live in areas of the country that are a yearly or constant threat. Smack dab in flood zones, the waters edge, the desert, or near the edge of a hillside. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think all that much of mega cities like Chicago or New York either. But at some point shouldn’t common sense tell you Hey this ain’t a good place to live? Especially the desert where water is scarce?
@@dwjunior - I moved to the Pacific Northwest for _clean_ water ... well, clean wholesome mountain-fresh spring water is a nuisance here ... the stuff is everyplace, can't get rid of it fast enough ... I take my SoCal relatives to the mouth of the Columbia River and watch them cry ... that's a lot of drinking water wasted ...
This is a small window into the future. Decades and decades of ignoring the need for renewables, and It's only going to get worse. SOMEONE should be questioning how these builders are getting permits to build on dry land!
Because republicans run much of Arizona. It's all about helping the rich get richer at the expense of the middle class and poor. It seems crazy this could happen, but the republicans keep pushing to remove all regulations, and without regulations, rich developers can do whatever they like to screw over their customers.Republicanism is great if your rich, terrible is your poor. Too many dumb people can't seem to link the dots and understand why we have regulations in the first place.
They have a 'wildcat' provision in the law that says you can develop six lots without having to prove water exists for them. It's a stupid law that greedy people pushes for. Corruption sucks
as much as I hate Scottsdale, I am with them on this! these clowns moved to an area far away from city services because they did not want to pay for said city services... . stop whining, you got the community you wanted.
They have known about this cut off for YEARS. I have seen several reports about it in the past 5 years. In all of them they talk to residents about thier plans to get water when this happened. One woman has even been collecting rain water in jugs. They knew.
And yet the majority of the people interviewed did nothing except state that Scottsdale would keep letting them get water. It's like they became deliberately dense when they wanted, and now cry about how surprising all this is because they had no clue their water supply was being terminated.
Similar story in a Denver suburb 20 years ago after their wells became unsustainable (they had to drill deeper and deeper). They wound up creating a municipal bond (paid for by the residence of the suburb over 30 years) to build a pipeline to their neighborhood. Suing the developer won't save them although it might feel good - they'll just file for bankruptcy and melt into the background.
Some people end up learning the hard way...suburban sprawl is economically unsustainable. The long-term costs to maintain infrastructure--water, power, roads, etc.--is high, yet many people have an irrational expectation and a sense of entitlement, believing that they shouldn't have to pay more for those limited resources and services, despite the fact that the costs of those things are spread across far fewer citizens and businesses due to low population density, and parking-lot dominated business district land use (read: low municipality revenue per acre). The real estate developers have a conflict of interest...telling the hard truths about economic sustainability gets in the way of selling "the American dream" to unsuspecting and/or willfully ignorant homebuyers, yet these homeowners aren't holding them accountable...instead they're blaming *a city that they chose not to live in* for their problems.
I agree mostly, but in this rare case suburban sprawl has helped save Arizona on water use. Most suburban developments are replacing water intensive agriculture like citrus, cotton, and cattle. Arizona uses less water now than it did when the population was 1/7th the size when the state was primarily agriculture. Which should be pretty telling considering agriculture still uses over 70% of the water in the state every year.
@@basedoz5745 Increases in efficiency are admirable, yet that narrative fails to see the proverbial forest for the trees. Efficiencies have to take place in the population centers to have a significant impact; doing so in places that only represents a fraction of a percent of a metro area's population is, at best, a "proof of concept", and more likely, just a political talking point that ends up appeasing those who are already inclined to place their short-term self-interests above the long-term generational needs of a region. Until a region can address its resource problem, it should not incentivize--directly or indirectly--new growth in undeveloped areas. That can be done by shifting their efforts inward to existing developments--such as infill programs, new zoning standards, retrofitting incentives, etc.--so that the area can improve livability standards while lowering resource consumption per capita and per acre.
@@sirrebral the people wouldn’t have a resource problem if the rest of the country didn’t use these states as agriculture hubs. The people of Arizona only use an amount of water equal to half of the water they get from just the Colorado River, which only accounts for 35% of their total water sources. Businesses use 10%, agriculture and its exports use 70% minimum every year. So tell me how if the residents use less water than is being delivered they take the blame? Agriculture alone would take up all the Colorado River allotment, all their in state rivers and reservoirs and a majority of the ground water.
@@basedoz5745 No state operates in a bubble; if Arizona stopped using water for product exports, it would be replacing one major problem with another one. Agricultural exports are not just a liability to local residents; every state relies on them as a major contributor to the economy. Rather than throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater (no pun intended), the question is how to address market failures where the negative externalities of an action threaten or outweigh the positive outcomes. Some combination of public policy approaches--incentives, penalties, regulations, etc.--could change market behavior in ways that result in less water consumption per dollar of state GDP. Still, mitigating the externalities of ag's water usage doesn't absolve citizens of their responsibility. Sprawling cities are, by nature, inefficient users of public infrastructure and resources; citizens must be held accountable for their contributions to problems rather than being allowed to engage in poor behavior while childishly pointing the blame in another direction.
Expanding a city is not the problem, they’ve distanced themselves from the water supply solely relying on trucks and groundwater. They should’ve settled near a reservoir if they were gonna build a town. Groundwater can’t refill in a desert, while a reservoir can be filled, trucks should be last resort.
I am trying to remember from my 3rd grade geography class. Was the desert the one that got lots of rain, had lots of vegitation growing, and was perfect for human life or was it the one that was super dry and inhospitable?
People like the heat. That's why they move to places like this. The Phoenix area isn't even pretty, in the slightest. The mountains are dull. But I guess to many, 120-degree weather beats harsh winters.
It sounds to me that the folks having water issues, ignored law, thought the rules did not apply to them and then they passed the buck to the State to rectify. 😢😢😢
How ridiculous to blame the city. Keep building more homes in a place that doenst have enough water for the people already there. Should pull the permits for any new residential construction if it’s that big of a deal
I saw a much better, more thorough story about this, and their wells have been poisonous for decades. A man who was interviewed bought his home there 15 years ago, and the well was toxic when he signed the papers. Those selfish people knew exactly what they were doing. The governor should force an evacuation, or at the very least, cease all new building in the area. This is insane.
There is a forced evacuation going on. They have stopped the supply of water. They will figure out how to provide for themselves or they will leave...one of the two.
I see a lot of people blaming developers on here. It's not the developers fault. These people purchased land and built homes they knew from the beginning had no water. When Scottsdale warned them they will stop providing water to them that Scottsdale was never contractually or legally required to provide these people chose stay. It's not like they were mislead by someone saying there was water. They knew there was no water from the beginning and decided to build anyway.
Depends what part of the desert you are in. I lived near Patagonia Lake in cochise County. Never had a problem with water. I own properties in cochise County and Mohave County and water was never an issue. Both are near big lakes.
@@Editnamehere The difference is, in the case of Rio Verde their problems are entirely self-created. This could have been entirely avoided if, years ago, they agreed to fund their own water provider. But they said no because they didn't want a new government agency and new taxes, and this is what happens
They had more than 10 years to find an alternative but never bothered. It's pretty much on them because they told themselves that they would always be able to get water from Scottsdale, even when they were told it was going to be halted.
What alternative would you choose? I don't see any. They were already trucking in water. I guess they could truck it in from further away, but that will cost more. Until the lower cost trucking of water is gone, no one (including you or I) would choose to pay the higher cost of trucking it from far away. Saying they never bothered seems like unfair blame. Personally, I would never have moved there, because of the lack of abundant water.
@@PeterLawton Given that it's one of the most affluent communities in the state, they could easily afford the increased cost, but they choose to cry over their decision to not take steps before it got to this point. This wasn't a surprise that they didn't expect, it was made clear over a year ago that the city was going to stop supplying them water. Every property owner had to sign an affadavit that they understood there was no water source for the property as part of the purchase. My solution would have been to not build there. They chose to build there because it's outside the city limits and unincorporated, so they don't pay taxes for infrastructure. Now they are paying lawyers to fight something that is unwinnable, and in addition to their lawyer fees, they will have to pay for Scottsdale's when they lose and they still won't have water because they didn't bother looking for an alternative source.
I’ve lived in the Phoenix area for over 30 years. From day one I couldn’t figure out why there wasn’t any water restriction. Golf courses everywhere, people with grass lawns watering, crop irrigation, unrestricted water bottling from springs, huge cattle ranches and factory farms sucking the valley dry. Well…now what? No water for anyone pretty soon.
@@robbieogle8622 what’s crazy is these homes are INSANELY expensive. 380k for a 1/1 condo? WHAT?! A town without water can’t possibly be worth that… I’m expecting their real estate to plummet. I will be watching.
@@tybarker5038 those prices won't plummet. That's just one small area, in an area that's growing way too fast. Phoenix-Scottsdale area is insane. And money talks. Alot of those new buyers are from Cali where 350k is peanuts compared to where they're coming from. I left but I kept my properties.
The residents should be suing the developers not the City. The DEVELOPERS bypassed water regulations, the homeowners bought their property knowing they had a lack of access to water. It's time for these people to live with the consequences of their decisions or go after the ones truly at fault.
Go look at this community on Google Maps satellite view and see the numerous golf courses, swimming pools and mansions. People just don't use their heads anymore and think someone else is going to magically fix this issue. About to get a real reality lesson
The lawsuit shouldn't be against the city of Scottsdale, it should be against the developers that lobbied to deregulate building homes on land that doesn't have sufficient amounts of water.
This suburb is habitable with a radical change in residents' expectation for water usage and with some equipment investments . Think about the amount of water used by families during the recent droughts in Australia. That's what you can plan for living in a place like this.
This is partly about the foolishness of ordinary people. But moreso, it's a story about corporations taking advantage of their foolishness and then apparently getting away with it, leaving the residents to blame Scottsdale for what they ignored or pretended would be solved without their taking responsibility. The corporations should be sued and laws put in place to put such companies out of business if they do this again.
More than indoor municipal water use, but still not much in the grand scheme of water use. Hard to feel bad for them when they want other people to conserve while they don’t.
They have it wrong. It's actually the area west of Rio Verde. Hence Rio Verde foothills. Funny the national media wouldn't even know exactly before showing the wrong area on the map. I have a friend who lives in this area.
@@AK-xu5sj so why don’t they get water from Rio verde? Instead of expecting tax payers to subsidize their poor decisions or blame Scottsdale for their poor water management?
If you need your water to be trucked in from another city, then that should tell you NOT TO LIVE THERE. I would feel really uneasy to be so dependent on having my water TRUCKED IN!
I know a guy in old mesa whose water rights are so senior he will be flood irrigating his pasture when the people in Mesa won't be flushing their toilets
Building homes in a desert seems a bit risky to begin with but add the fact that they have been warned about the water issue and have done nothing to mitigate this and continue to add homes seems crazy.
Building homes in the desert around an adequate water supply wouldn't be bad, especially if there wasn't a tremendous amount of development. The problem arises when the first world pampered suburban folks think the water has an endless supply in an environment like this.
I build these type of homes here in Texas. Northwest of ATX. None had less than 4 bathrooms, and everyone had irrigation systems. Lake Travis and the lower Colorado is being sucked dry. Texas Republicans are ignoring this fact! Even though it’s obvious as the scars on my hands.
@@williebeamish5879 oh I know Horseshoe Bay on Lake LBJ has at least 5 fugging golf courses. Those rich ppl there are stingy with their Lake water. They keep that lake at constant level. Because they claim it’s the only source if water fir their steam driven power plant. Well that excuse was valid up until the 1960s when Wirtz Dam started providing electricity. Marble falls had same thing. But the textile mill there closed almost a hundred years ago. So the reservoir in Marble Falls need not stay at constant level. And anytime ppl in Lake Travis water supply dips lower then their water plant’s intake pipes. They siphon off lake marble falls.
Republicans don't seem to understand why regulations exist. Yes, they can be a burden to employers, but they prevent these kinds of situations from happening. When you let developers develop towns with no oversight, they will screw over their customers left and right. Regulations are a necessary evil, no one likes them, but society would be far worse off without them.
Texas is still a flagship state of the USA. A few chemtrail runs by USAF will seed enough rain to refill the lake quickly. However I do think they are gonna leave the American desert west out to dry. Literally.
Sorry to hear that. But those people in coastal Florida feet away from the ocean want a view, then the hurricanes took their houses down into the ocean, they should have known such circumstances just like people decide to live in the middle of the desert with no water.
Usually most true Floridians that are on the beach understand that and deal with crazy insurance or no coverage to stay where they want to stay. They accept the risk. It's the snow birds and out of state second home peeps that freak out and act surprised their home is gone.
Hurricane 🌀 are basically wet tonarnados you know is coming. If you want to play the move here are you stupid how about the Midwest tornado ally. Lucky to get a warning and no time compared to Hurricane.
Yes, but the states with the most access to fresh water around the Great Lakes are cold in the winter. Can't live there! You have to wear a coat and shovel snow.
Agricultural users are a much larger percentage of water wasted in the valley. You don’t here the “news makers” talking about the prime hay grown in the desert and shipped to Saudi Arabia for their horses.
These folks were NOT in the dark about this. Many purchased homes there knowing there were continuing problems with the water and Scottsdale. They are still building there now. Welcome to Arizona! Come on down! Your 4000sq, ft. McMansion is beautiful right in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. As long as you haul all your own water every day from a public source five miles down the road... (Note: the folks living in the area without any issues must be pointing and laughing. They coughed up with the thousands it took to drill their own well.)
Developers own city governments and can get anything they want from the city, even if it means scamming people. BTW, Scottsdale is full of rich folk and we all know how much they like to share, don't we?
the developers keep building homes in this area with no water supply. This is not part of Scottsdale, they do not pay Scottsdale City taxes. The city of Scottsdale warned the developers 10 years ago, and every year since. I do believe the city should process the water at a steep cost for a maximum of 3 years, so these residents can find a new secure a new source. When I bought my house, it was one of the first questions I asked, Who provides water, sewer and garbage?
Well if they ask to be incorporated within the city of Scottsdale and pay taxes for the infrastructure they use, then they'll get their water. I doubt they want that to happen. But that is the easiest solution.
The guys up on the podium “crying”….as if they weren’t warned years in advanced….I’m sorry, I got family in AZ on two (of three) sides. But it IS a desert 🤷♂️
People can live on relatively small amounts of water. Why there is agriculture (short of growing cacti) in the desert, however, is completely baffling.
"Not sustainable" doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves by all sorts of people, not just these hapless residence. Water sustainability has reached its peak in this desert region. Over population is a bigger problem. Water, farm land yield, minerals etc in the US can sustain 285 million max. We're at 340 million. The globe can sustain 3.4 billion max. We're at 8.1 billion. The first problem here in time doesn't get solved until the second problem here does.
Where did you get these carrying capacity numbers? I've never seen these before, all projections I know of show that global pop will flatten out just shy of 11 billion, but that it's no problem if resources are distributed equitably. I am under the impression only infrastructure collapse is to blame, the 1% certainly have enough to go around for the rest of us.
I agree. Living out there is different because you're in a desert. Some places might have a lot of groundwater or rivers. But out there, not so much. The only way they could get water is either getting it from somewhere else. Or building a pipeline. But the pipeline would take some time to make.
@@garshtoshteles The first study of its kind came out in 1971. There too max US population was at 280 million. Global at 2.4 billion. Another study in 79 same thing except global inched up to 2.7 billion. About 4 dozen others from around the globe have similar numbers since 1981. The latest featured on 60 miinutes 3 weeks ago put the US the same, global up to 3.4 billion because of modern farming techniques
The carrying capacity of earth is 9-11 billion, not 3.4. Most people don’t consume at an American level. Also that US stat seems a bit low considering we’re the third biggest, and most naturally rich country on the planet. Completely agree on the other stuff.
I LIVED OUT IN PARADISE VALLEY in 1957 on & we never thought there would be suburbs built way out past Mummy mountain up north to the small towns miles out. many with swimming pools & growing water guzzling landscaping. At least in our area we had mostly desert terrain gardens. you can't say these people who bought property out there didn't realize when they had their decisions to make didn't know what time it was & how a desert cannot be made in a a Los Angels type population. I cannot comprehend what they are thinking???!!!! Just plain common sense.
How many more neighborhoods are being built that will face a similar issue? Look at the water line in Lake Powell and Lake Mead, they should be concerned with providing water for the existing residents of the region. Not trying to capitalize on the high demand for housing. It would be a shame if all those people left in twenty years because there was no water and it became the next Detroit. Water wars are the real concern over the next 100 years.
The people in the city of Scottsdale do not have an obligation to take care of their neighbor especially when you've been warned about this you need water it's your problem
Fun fact: Phoenix doesn't give a hoot about water waste. Just walk down the streets, you will find a leaking water main every 10 blocks or so, and water bills are cheap af. I regularly see plants and lawns being watered to the point of flooding streets and in the daylight when the sun evaporates the water before plants can get it.
*Looks this up on Google Maps* So, Rio Verde is roughly 30 miles from Scottsdale, up by a National Park and, oh, by the way, has a river that runs fairly close to it (ironically called the Verde River). Oh, and it's basically a country club. Yes, the developers cut corners, but the state let them. Are you saying the state didn't know (and wasn't likely on the payroll, i.e. got "campaign donations")? Of course they knew. They just didn't care because it was profitable. I don't think the home buyers are 100% responsible here, but they also shouldn't be able to force a nearby town to truck water up to them if that city is running out of water. Out here in western Kansas, water is also a problem. Still would we expect a larger town to truck or pipe water 30 miles away? No, and if there's no contract forcing Scottsdale to take on that responsibility, then other arrangements need to be made. If they've been warned about this for over a year, why has nothing been done? (I'm guessing money is the reason. Just because someone lives in a country club, it doesn't mean they can actually afford that lifestyle PLUS fixing the developer's mistake by not ensuring their community has water.)
It's actually worse than that. The people who live in Rio Verde do so because they don't want to pay the taxes that Scottsdale charges to provide municipal water (among other government services). So they went and moved out there to get away from taxes and government and now they're upset that not paying taxes and not having a proper government has deep consequences. Plus they now want the state government to compel Scottsdale's government to keep selling them water
@@chefmesser420 just because you're born in an area does not entitle you to become a permanent resident there. It also doesn't mean you don't have a choice to move if there are greener pastures. I have aging parents as well so I understand but if they lived in Rio Grande I'd be making arrangements for them to live elsewhere.
This is just a low brow idea, but maybe worth discussing. If these remote communities accounted for electrical utilities & communication services, along with setting up on site water tanks, why not add solar panels to feed some power hungry dehumidifiers to fill the tanks. Then use some atmospheric water generators. It’s an expensive solution, but the developers just left their customers high and dry. The homeowners should be suing the DEVELOPERS, not the government.
The problem is that these people bought their land, then hired a contractor to build their house, then expected Scottsdale to keep supplying them water without them paying a penny in taxes to the city. It's not the developers or the city at fault, it's the entitled homeowners who knew they had no water source before they even started the first house. It had always been shipped in by a company filling their trucks in Scottsdale and the city finally said enough, get water somewhere else.
Dehumidifiers? "Atmospheric water generators?" My guy, the point of the desert is that it is DRY. Which means there is NO HUMIDITY. You can't squeeze blood from a stone. Generally the relative humidity in the central Arizona area during the summer is about 7%. You can run all the dehumidifiers you want, but you can't actually dehumidify air that already lacks humidity.
What I love about this is we've ignored warnings for decades that AZ was going to run out of water and that it struck the upper middle class first rather than the poor.
So the issue is that when the community was built the water issue was either non existent or hidden by shady developers. When the authorities warned them it probably too late for anyone to back out of those contracts so they were stuck there hoping the authorities would change their minds. Now it's too late for anything. This goes into the bigger issue of housing not being very affordable in America. People aren't as mobile and when they finally commit to a house if any problems arise they can't just up and leave. Think about flint Michigan and why despite the bad water that town still exists. It's because the people can't go anywhere else. They're locked in
@@HoLeeFuk69 Name checked out, but that’s not everyone’s outlook. It may be one perspective of what reality tends to be but, it sounds more like a symptom of primitive survival instinct, thus a lack of compassion for others. just because you’re not “owed” anything doesn’t mean you deserve to go without basic needs.
It does rain in Arizona. I'm from there. If moved back, I'd definitely use water catchment tanks in a system for the occasional huge dumps of rain and then treat the water. It all runs off the packed dry land anyway in violent flood flows. No one would miss what I'd catch.
But they don't pay taxes to Scottsdale, they are unincorporated. Their government is Maricopa County, not Scottsdale. Everyone wants something for nothing. Get bent!
And TSMC is building in Arizona. Chip manufacturing requires a boat load of water to clean wafer between layers. They will reuse about 65% of water, but still need new water too.
I live in Scottsdale. I feel sorry for the residents of Rio Verde but Scottsdale owes them nothing. It's been known throughout history that water is a precious source and fights have happened always. You folks bought your homes and it was your responsibility to make sure you had water not depend on another city to take care of you. I owned a home that had a well. I felt so stupid when I discovered that the well did not produce enough water. I was so angry with the real estate agent! But truth is, it was on me to follow through with an expert to discover the problem before I signed on the dotted lines. Same is true for the Rio Verde residents. Trying to shame Scottsdale is pathetic!
You are selfish and disgusting Karen! Eventually I’ll catch up to you,me and all of us! Pretty much all of the southwest will run out of water pretty soon with climate change!
cutting off their ability to purchase water is not just immoral but un american. what if marry and joseph wound up there with little baby jesus poping out her crotch and they had no water for their camels?! won't some one think of the camels?!
I know that area very well!!! The people that live there are filthy rich with Million dollar + homes! They got the money and power to either fight it. They definitely have the money to pay for the extra money to have it trucked in from further distance!! I don’t feel bad for them!!
Really? I've also seen the news that Rio Verde Hills are outside the boundaries of Scottsdale, and those rich people are also doing it because they are trying to avoid paying taxes which Scottsdale can't tax these people. The mayor of Scottsdale clearly said they have no obligation helping out these wealthy people building an incorporated areas where mansions, and multiple gulf courses are built outside the city's boundaries. The audacity of these entitled crooks.
These homeowners failed to research into the homes that they were going to settle their lives into. That irresponsible and now they are dealing with the consequences of their actions.
All comes down to who approved the building permit. Did the residents know about the water problem when they bought the house? It’s now a blame game and who has to pay whom.
Who builds a town in the desert with no water...pure insanity.
And then expects water from a drying Reservoir to be transported over there instead of used where it's located
People have to live somewhere. The drought is very long and they may not have had notice that it could happen.
They have to attract people to use their golf courses.
@@michaelrapson they had notice since at least 2016. How much more notice did they need?
Who buys a house with no sustainable water well or water connections? Not using wisdom on that purchase.
First off this "small town" borders the Phoenix metro area, so its not that far. Second don't complain when you live in a gated golf course community in the desert and they tell you for almost a year they are going to stop shipping water to you. It's the community's fault for not securing a contract with someone to supply water not the city you don't belong to fault.
As far as I'm concerned, until all these golf courses close and pools are dry, there is no water crisis there.
Fake grass is great.
@@williebeamish5879golf is such a small use of water that it’s far down the list of cuts. You’ll know it’s serious when agriculture starts faces significantly harsher cuts to water use. For decades residents were encouraged to spend their money to replace the little bit of water their lawns use, and people wonder why nothing changed.
@@basedoz5745 Saudis own unlimited access to water for alfalfa crops that Barry Goldwater sold Arizona out to. It's a problem that goes back decades.
@@someusername4129 don’t forget conservatives just voted in Thomas Galvin recently to the maricopa county board of supervisors, a lifelong Republican and former lobbyist for the Saudi company you are talking about. It really should be surprising that libertarians would sell out our natural resources, that is their ideology.
How did they not mention that this town of ~2,000 people has at least two 18-hole golf courses, both of which require an expensive membership to play? This is not the Flint, Michigan, water crisis. This is a bunch of millionaires who built their own unincorporated community so they wouldn't have to pay Scottsdale property taxes.
Yeah screw them
And guess what it takes to keep golf courses from turning into desert? Millions of gallons of water wasted.
@Nothing Ruler wasted water? The reason we're in drought is because we're not using water. Its like 99% of the planet doesn't understand that we are causing the drought by not letting water move.
Multiple People of The Flint, Michigan, Water Crisis Died due to Government Cover-up of Heavy Metal Toxic Lead Poisoning and and Legionnaires' Disease.
Woah man,this type of critical thinking might make you disapear without a trace
Imagine living in a desert that is devoid of water and expecting it to always flow to you in endless supply.😳
Because these people have grown up with it like that. They don't know what it's like without running water. To them, it just appears put of nothing.
Not "flow"...these goobers were having it all delivered!
Imagine
Then getting upset when your water gets cut off because you didn't bother to order it from someone else.... You can't tell me that the city of Scottsdale is the only place they can order water from.... They can order water from ANYWHERE.. they can order it from Italy if they felt like it... would just cost a bit more :) I have a feeling this is about price, the city is probably the cheapest.. but Cost goes UP as supply goes down and demand goes up.. and supply is going down..
Vegas shouldn’t even exist! This will happen to them eventually 😂
I hope the city wins. Those residents knew of the problem long before this and didn’t take action to stand on their own. Instead, they just look at the city and expect to have water.
You cannot leave your survival up to someone else. It’s a screwed up world we live in and if you’re going to survive you better have your stuff in order and be prepared.
@@TheDogGoesWoof69
Why would I as an American want to give my water to Mexico?
They can get their own.
@@TheDogGoesWoof69 people can pay to do that, or the simpler solution is move back east and stay out of the west.
Oh, the suburb residents who built homes in that area purposely so they won't have to pay taxes over certain utilities, now realize that they shouldn't have been selfish? Now they're begging for help from the same city and their utilities they didn't want their money going to? You get what you pay for lol
It reminds me of the people who move to the unincorporated areas of the foothills and mountains to avoid municipal taxes and services. But when the wildfires erupt, they want every nearby fire department, the hotshots and smoke jumpers, the national guard, the air force, army, and navy to show up and save them.
Entitled folk crying over decisions they made for themselves.
@@GoGreen1977 lmao
@@GoGreen1977 🤣🤣🤣
The entitlement is unreal. You didn’t want to pay for any services. Go get one of those devices the Navajo use to condense drinking water from the air with solar panels. No more lawns, no more washing clothes at home. Just enough water to drink and cook with.
I feel for them, but from a legal standpoint I hope they lose the lawsuit. The city has been warning them for years about the water supply, and they did nothing about it, but now that they're days away from running out completely, they're crying and moaning about it.
Are they just supposed to be ok with having no water?
@@gagejernigan5277 well! You don't move to an area without it. Pretty simple. If you wanna live remotely at least pick an area near a creek or lake or have access to something that provides water. Vs Moving out of the middle of nowhere.
I agree- the lawsuit they *should* be filing is with the developers who started building there without contractually ensuring water for the next 100 years. As an ecologist *and* an anthropologist, I see this as *the* epitome of the crisis we're currently facing. People cannot continue to pretend things are fine and skirting not only current laws, but also ignoring the need for common sense legislation that incorporates our knowledge of climate change's ongoing effects on human settlements.
@@gagejernigan5277 No, of course not. However, if you move to a place that has *no* regular water supply or move to an area with a *spotty* water supply, you need to do due diligence. It is *not* the city's fault that the developers did not abide by the law, and they have given fair legal warning. The developers should be held accountable, not the city. They are barking up the wrong tree. The developers should be mandated to pay for the importation of water in perpetuity since they skirted the law, essentially committed fraud, and then profited off of it.
The truth is that humans have overused water nearly everywhere, and this is a stark reminder that:
a) our current lifestyles are not sustainable
b) that we need to get back to basics and live within our means
c) we need to stop thinking we are invincible and can do whatever we want (i.e., living in the path of the world's most active volcano (Hawaii), living in biomes that are designed to burn themselves to the ground annually (California/Oregon), biomes that are arid and receive little rainfall or precipitation (most of the southwest).
Essentially, as humans we are *not* entitled to live anywhere at any time without consequence. We used to have rules that were instilled in us via our community about safe places to make our homes. This information is gone and what's left, particularly in the US, is a profound sense of entitlement. Mother nature doesn't give a rat's patooty about humanity's entitlement, so everyone better get in line or hold onto your butts because this is just the beginning.
Word.
It’s not Scottsdale fault. They been warned for a long time. Want their services, join Scottsdale pay their taxes and infrastructure.
Yeah if they don’t take action now then more and more people will move into the area and demanding them to provide water.
Well they also want a private solution.
But really they get what they deserve.
A proposal to create a water taxing district was defeated in August when the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted it down. Supervisor Tom Galvin, who represents the district encompassing Rio Verde Foothills, voted against the proposal after overseeing months of discussion and bickering between neighbors, citing concerns about the long-term viability of the district and its potential costs.
Instead, he favored a long-term agreement with private water utility EPCOR. That solution is currently in the works, but since the company is regulated by the state, the plan first must go through the Arizona Corporation Commission.
And interim plans hinge on Scottsdale Mayor David Ortega, who has repeatedly called himself a “hard no” on helping Rio Verde residents, saying that water isn’t “a compassion game.”
To back that up, he’s expressed concern over ongoing drought conditions on the Colorado River. He’s also opposed allowing any water serving Rio Verde Foothills residents to flow through the city’s water treatment plant and pipes, citing the impacts of water hauling trucks on Scottsdale roads and saying the city gave the county and Rio Verde Foothills residents ample notice that it wouldn’t provide water or infrastructure forever.
It's not a suburb, it's a gated 55+ golf club community, which is specifically unincorporated to avoid paying taxes
It almost sounds like a 'game' of chicken. If a gated community, could they form a water coop and negotiate with the state? Not sure how much water they would have to truck anyway.
So the town was told for a year this was coming, and now they’re surprised they did the exact thing they said they would do? Insane place to build a town
Trying to understand, here. The developer bypassed a law but the citizens of that town are suing Scottsdale? Shouldn’t they sue the developer?
@Jimmy Dee the desert suburb crowd isn't known for their intelligence... I was raised in a desert suburb and it was like a cheesy TV show sometimes. Just morons who stumbled into money
The developer doesn’t have enough money to satisfy their greed.
Someone was paid off to sign off the papers.
They are complicit. The buyers wanted it. They were warned.
Now it's time for them all to pay.
Millions of people pouring into the desert while farmers are intensively using water for farming in the desert. What could possibly go wrong?
I lived in Chino Valley, AZ for 15 years. I had 3 acres. My well used to have a really good gpm flow. The last 5 years I was there new houses were being built all around me. I noticed a huge drop in my well production. My gpm dropped to about 1/2 of what it was. I sold, left the state and never looked back. I’m sure it’s gotten worse.
Unchecked growth is bad for everyone except developers who make millions and then leave. I left Phoenix in 1990 and never looked back. I have very little family left there now so I don't even visit anymore.
That’s gonna have be their only choice, people wanna act like water magically comes from nowhere.
I would have done the same thing
You did the INTELLIGENT THING,,YOU MADE AN ADULT,,WISE CHOICE......not like those dummies there...." MY HOME I AINT LEAVIN!!"
I didn't realize the land cancer had spread as far north as Chino Valley. I once looked into that area about 33 years ago and glad I didn't buy in up there. The last thing I'd want is a subdivision and their HOA's in my back yard.
Way back as far as 1985 I remember it was said that at the rate of unchecked growth this would happen. Nobody listened and more than a million new homes were built and it is still out of control today. Developers came in and made their millions and skipped town as the water problem was not theirs. I left Arizona 32 years ago with good riddence.
I live in the Phoenix area and have lived here my whole life. The situation here has been bad and is getting worse. Too many people are moving here from other states and I don't understand why. This is only making the water situation worse and rent prices are out of control. I'm starting to find myself unable to afford rent and bills and it's getting scary. I don't even want to live in AZ anymore to be honest.
AZ was awesome before all the idiots from California and the Rust Belt started moving here
I'd honestly get out. The politics down there doesn't want to address the water crisis: people don't want to buckle down for less usage.
Left years ago, phoenix has become a cesspool.
Because with Jordy of the u.s. is inhabitable and most other states have been run into the ground. Texas has now seen more than half a million people move in within months and it's insane people are way too desperate to try to get homes for cheap versus just building a nice home where they've been for 20-30 years.
It's like that everywhere in AZ, because developers are allowed to keep doing it.
Developers should be brought to court for bypassing city water regs on having adequate water supply. The weather out west is become more drought like and we'll have to deal with the new normal- like not continuing to build new homes in desert areas that lack water.
It's AZ they most likely do not have water regulations like you'd think. The city told them they weren't providing water after a certain point plus that city is pretty far away. They made the choice to build and keep building there. People bought the property and this is their doing and choices
All that would have been required on the developer’s end is to disclose that the city was not obligated to provide the residents with water from its reservoirs.
Developers got their money. They don't care.
Was water 'recategorized' under 1) new ownership 2) new HOA or new CCRs 3) emergency powers? That seems pre-planned. Can the community only purchase water from the city?
Time to rain dance.
All these suburbanites finally reaping what they've sown. They wanted to drop out of Scottsdale prices, taxes, and laws, and they have dropped out of Scottsdale services too. Too bad.
I drove through their two years ago and they were wsrning them back then. Now they will never sell those homes.
@@robbieogle8622 I definitely think it's the developers' fault. In that sense, they made off with the value and the homeowners are left holding the bag
No empathy at all for these homeowners. Don't build in flood plains(Missouri) don't build on the beach(Miami) Don't build on dryland(Arizona). Fighting Mama Nature is a losing battle. Work with her and she will sustain you.
AMEN!! Personal RESPOSIBILITY.. do not depend on someone else to cover your own screw ups!
👍💯 I agree. I see videos on RUclips all the time about these "disasters". Take responsibility and build correctly.
Basically there’s nowhere to build you are always prone to disaster no matter where you live lol. I grew up in Houston and was sick of how often it would rain and flood. Whatever people were saving by not living in California, they were spending to repair flood damage. Bad deal growing up there but I had no say in the matter until I became an adult.
@@tybarker5038 it’s not about avoiding disaster 100%, it’s about thinking ahead and not building where it floods all of the time, hurricanes frequently hit, deserts lands, etc.
@@tybarker5038Not so. I live in Northern New England and theres not much to worry about up here. Flood...no, tornado..no, hurricane storm surge...no, volcano...no, forest fire...no. earthquake...no. But....we have cold winters. and we get snow. Pretty good trade if you ask me.
“Water, water, water…. There is no shortage of water in the desert but exactly the right amount, a perfect ratio of water to rock, water to sand, insuring that wide free open, generous spacing among plants and animals, homes and towns and cities, which makes the arid West so different from any other part of the nation. There is no lack of water here unless you try to establish a city where no city should be.” -Edward Abbey, Desert Solitaire
I love Edward Abbey.
One of my favorite books!
I would feel bad for them if they weren't literally standing on the greenest grass i have ever seen.
"Who's stupid enough to live in the middle of the desert without a proper water supply?" Was a question that people once asked themselves, we finally found an answer.
😂👏👏👏
Let's build hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses and add agriculture in the middle of a desert. *What could possibly go wrong?*
Ya know a while back I saw an article that talked about homes in Vegas that had foundation and structural damage due to the dryness and heat.
Years ago, I was a trucker and ran a lot in the SW. And every time I went thru areas like Arizona and New Mexico I always thought that it was dumb for society to live in the middle of nowhere and in a desert. To each their own, but I cannot imagine living in an area where water is scarce. Besides I’m a winter lover. It just seems idiotic to me that people live in areas of the country that are a yearly or constant threat. Smack dab in flood zones, the waters edge, the desert, or near the edge of a hillside. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think all that much of mega cities like Chicago or New York either.
But at some point shouldn’t common sense tell you Hey this ain’t a good place to live? Especially the desert where water is scarce?
These people should have asked what’s the point of living here?
@@dwjunior - I moved to the Pacific Northwest for _clean_ water ... well, clean wholesome mountain-fresh spring water is a nuisance here ... the stuff is everyplace, can't get rid of it fast enough ... I take my SoCal relatives to the mouth of the Columbia River and watch them cry ... that's a lot of drinking water wasted ...
This is a small window into the future. Decades and decades of ignoring the need for renewables, and It's only going to get worse. SOMEONE should be questioning how these builders are getting permits to build on dry land!
Because republicans run much of Arizona. It's all about helping the rich get richer at the expense of the middle class and poor. It seems crazy this could happen, but the republicans keep pushing to remove all regulations, and without regulations, rich developers can do whatever they like to screw over their customers.Republicanism is great if your rich, terrible is your poor. Too many dumb people can't seem to link the dots and understand why we have regulations in the first place.
I wonder if Arizona is one of those states that has loose zoning regulations.
It's a development, population and water problem, not an energy problem.
Why would you move to a dry area
They have a 'wildcat' provision in the law that says you can develop six lots without having to prove water exists for them. It's a stupid law that greedy people pushes for. Corruption sucks
as much as I hate Scottsdale, I am with them on this! these clowns moved to an area far away from city services because they did not want to pay for said city services... . stop whining, you got the community you wanted.
"We want water!" Okay, then pay for it. "Are you crazy?! We'd never do that!" Okay, then no water for you. "YOU CAN'T DO THAT!"
@@heychrisfox 😂😂😂💯
@@heychrisfox 😂😂
Think they moved out of city to not be in a city not to avoid city taxes 🤔
I'd way rather live in country
They have known about this cut off for YEARS. I have seen several reports about it in the past 5 years. In all of them they talk to residents about thier plans to get water when this happened. One woman has even been collecting rain water in jugs. They knew.
And yet the majority of the people interviewed did nothing except state that Scottsdale would keep letting them get water. It's like they became deliberately dense when they wanted, and now cry about how surprising all this is because they had no clue their water supply was being terminated.
Similar story in a Denver suburb 20 years ago after their wells became unsustainable (they had to drill deeper and deeper). They wound up creating a municipal bond (paid for by the residence of the suburb over 30 years) to build a pipeline to their neighborhood. Suing the developer won't save them although it might feel good - they'll just file for bankruptcy and melt into the background.
Some people end up learning the hard way...suburban sprawl is economically unsustainable. The long-term costs to maintain infrastructure--water, power, roads, etc.--is high, yet many people have an irrational expectation and a sense of entitlement, believing that they shouldn't have to pay more for those limited resources and services, despite the fact that the costs of those things are spread across far fewer citizens and businesses due to low population density, and parking-lot dominated business district land use (read: low municipality revenue per acre). The real estate developers have a conflict of interest...telling the hard truths about economic sustainability gets in the way of selling "the American dream" to unsuspecting and/or willfully ignorant homebuyers, yet these homeowners aren't holding them accountable...instead they're blaming *a city that they chose not to live in* for their problems.
I agree mostly, but in this rare case suburban sprawl has helped save Arizona on water use. Most suburban developments are replacing water intensive agriculture like citrus, cotton, and cattle. Arizona uses less water now than it did when the population was 1/7th the size when the state was primarily agriculture. Which should be pretty telling considering agriculture still uses over 70% of the water in the state every year.
@@basedoz5745 Increases in efficiency are admirable, yet that narrative fails to see the proverbial forest for the trees.
Efficiencies have to take place in the population centers to have a significant impact; doing so in places that only represents a fraction of a percent of a metro area's population is, at best, a "proof of concept", and more likely, just a political talking point that ends up appeasing those who are already inclined to place their short-term self-interests above the long-term generational needs of a region.
Until a region can address its resource problem, it should not incentivize--directly or indirectly--new growth in undeveloped areas. That can be done by shifting their efforts inward to existing developments--such as infill programs, new zoning standards, retrofitting incentives, etc.--so that the area can improve livability standards while lowering resource consumption per capita and per acre.
@@sirrebral the people wouldn’t have a resource problem if the rest of the country didn’t use these states as agriculture hubs. The people of Arizona only use an amount of water equal to half of the water they get from just the Colorado River, which only accounts for 35% of their total water sources. Businesses use 10%, agriculture and its exports use 70% minimum every year. So tell me how if the residents use less water than is being delivered they take the blame? Agriculture alone would take up all the Colorado River allotment, all their in state rivers and reservoirs and a majority of the ground water.
@@basedoz5745 No state operates in a bubble; if Arizona stopped using water for product exports, it would be replacing one major problem with another one.
Agricultural exports are not just a liability to local residents; every state relies on them as a major contributor to the economy. Rather than throwing out the proverbial baby with the bathwater (no pun intended), the question is how to address market failures where the negative externalities of an action threaten or outweigh the positive outcomes. Some combination of public policy approaches--incentives, penalties, regulations, etc.--could change market behavior in ways that result in less water consumption per dollar of state GDP.
Still, mitigating the externalities of ag's water usage doesn't absolve citizens of their responsibility. Sprawling cities are, by nature, inefficient users of public infrastructure and resources; citizens must be held accountable for their contributions to problems rather than being allowed to engage in poor behavior while childishly pointing the blame in another direction.
It's like they don't want to admit that they made poor choices by moving into the no where and now expect other cities to assist in those bad choices.
I can't believe there's not enough water to expand constantly in the DESERT.
@Duke of Labia I'm from Seattle, gladly will ship. So much rain we have moss everywhere. Literally grows on the street, my pavers, roof. Everywhere.
Sarcasm
White people mentality.
Las Vegas expands constantly, in the desert. Phoenix is expanding, LA, gets most of its water from somewhere else.
Expanding a city is not the problem, they’ve distanced themselves from the water supply solely relying on trucks and groundwater. They should’ve settled near a reservoir if they were gonna build a town. Groundwater can’t refill in a desert, while a reservoir can be filled, trucks should be last resort.
I'm on team Scottsdale with this.
I am trying to remember from my 3rd grade geography class. Was the desert the one that got lots of rain, had lots of vegitation growing, and was perfect for human life or was it the one that was super dry and inhospitable?
People like the heat. That's why they move to places like this. The Phoenix area isn't even pretty, in the slightest. The mountains are dull. But I guess to many, 120-degree weather beats harsh winters.
@@cb.1212 enjoy the heat and lack of water then.
It sounds to me that the folks having water issues, ignored law, thought the rules did not apply to them and then they passed the buck to the State to rectify. 😢😢😢
How ridiculous to blame the city. Keep building more homes in a place that doenst have enough water for the people already there.
Should pull the permits for any new residential construction if it’s that big of a deal
entitled ignorance at its finest.
Amen! Someone laughed all the way to the bank after giving out those building permits...
@@marih3286 someone? You mean Republicans!
I saw a much better, more thorough story about this, and their wells have been poisonous for decades. A man who was interviewed bought his home there 15 years ago, and the well was toxic when he signed the papers. Those selfish people knew exactly what they were doing. The governor should force an evacuation, or at the very least, cease all new building in the area. This is insane.
There is a forced evacuation going on. They have stopped the supply of water. They will figure out how to provide for themselves or they will leave...one of the two.
I see a lot of people blaming developers on here. It's not the developers fault. These people purchased land and built homes they knew from the beginning had no water. When Scottsdale warned them they will stop providing water to them that Scottsdale was never contractually or legally required to provide these people chose stay. It's not like they were mislead by someone saying there was water. They knew there was no water from the beginning and decided to build anyway.
Sounds like they should be suing the developer that failed to follow the rules.
Imagine moving to a desert that sources all of its water from hundreds of miles away and being surprised there are water limits
The Colorado River is roughly 35% of the states water supply. But I agree on these residents decisions being stupid.
LMAO!!!
You just described Los Angeles and Southern California
Depends what part of the desert you are in. I lived near Patagonia Lake in cochise County. Never had a problem with water. I own properties in cochise County and Mohave County and water was never an issue. Both are near big lakes.
@@greg9823 They literally are not.
What were you thinking buying a home in the desert 🤦
I guess we should tell families in Florida what were you thinking buying a home in a hurricane zone next time they got slaughtered.
@@Editnamehere Actually yes, we should tell them that.
@@Editnamehere Florida is cursed.
@@Editnamehere The difference is, in the case of Rio Verde their problems are entirely self-created. This could have been entirely avoided if, years ago, they agreed to fund their own water provider. But they said no because they didn't want a new government agency and new taxes, and this is what happens
@@berturgler wtf is sorroundings?
They had more than 10 years to find an alternative but never bothered. It's pretty much on them because they told themselves that they would always be able to get water from Scottsdale, even when they were told it was going to be halted.
What alternative would you choose? I don't see any. They were already trucking in water. I guess they could truck it in from further away, but that will cost more. Until the lower cost trucking of water is gone, no one (including you or I) would choose to pay the higher cost of trucking it from far away. Saying they never bothered seems like unfair blame. Personally, I would never have moved there, because of the lack of abundant water.
@@PeterLawton Given that it's one of the most affluent communities in the state, they could easily afford the increased cost, but they choose to cry over their decision to not take steps before it got to this point. This wasn't a surprise that they didn't expect, it was made clear over a year ago that the city was going to stop supplying them water. Every property owner had to sign an affadavit that they understood there was no water source for the property as part of the purchase. My solution would have been to not build there. They chose to build there because it's outside the city limits and unincorporated, so they don't pay taxes for infrastructure. Now they are paying lawyers to fight something that is unwinnable, and in addition to their lawyer fees, they will have to pay for Scottsdale's when they lose and they still won't have water because they didn't bother looking for an alternative source.
I’ve lived in the Phoenix area for over 30 years. From day one I couldn’t figure out why there wasn’t any water restriction. Golf courses everywhere, people with grass lawns watering, crop irrigation, unrestricted water bottling from springs, huge cattle ranches and factory farms sucking the valley dry. Well…now what? No water for anyone pretty soon.
I felt bad for them until I remember they chose to buy homes in a place with bo water and in a place where they had to have it shipped in weekly.
They will never sell those homes.
@robbieogle8622 who would buy them?
@@robbieogle8622 what’s crazy is these homes are INSANELY expensive. 380k for a 1/1 condo? WHAT?! A town without water can’t possibly be worth that… I’m expecting their real estate to plummet. I will be watching.
@@tybarker5038 those prices won't plummet. That's just one small area, in an area that's growing way too fast. Phoenix-Scottsdale area is insane. And money talks. Alot of those new buyers are from Cali where 350k is peanuts compared to where they're coming from. I left but I kept my properties.
@@tybarker5038 380k is insanely expensive???
Gee, a desert without water. It's like a miracle.
Imagine that sending major amounts of fresh water out of state isn't a good thing in dry/arid places for decades. Js
They have an easy choice of either having no water or allowing a significant increase in taxes to rectify the situation
The residents should be suing the developers not the City. The DEVELOPERS bypassed water regulations, the homeowners bought their property knowing they had a lack of access to water. It's time for these people to live with the consequences of their decisions or go after the ones truly at fault.
I do not feel bad for those people. Moving to a wild place with no potable water is just selfish and stupid.
yup, and all they can do is cry "me, me, meeee" as if they don't have enough money to be just fine
All from California.
Go look at this community on Google Maps satellite view and see the numerous golf courses, swimming pools and mansions. People just don't use their heads anymore and think someone else is going to magically fix this issue. About to get a real reality lesson
The lawsuit shouldn't be against the city of Scottsdale, it should be against the developers that lobbied to deregulate building homes on land that doesn't have sufficient amounts of water.
This suburb is habitable with a radical change in residents' expectation for water usage and with some equipment investments . Think about the amount of water used by families during the recent droughts in Australia. That's what you can plan for living in a place like this.
This is partly about the foolishness of ordinary people. But moreso, it's a story about corporations taking advantage of their foolishness and then apparently getting away with it, leaving the residents to blame Scottsdale for what they ignored or pretended would be solved without their taking responsibility. The corporations should be sued and laws put in place to put such companies out of business if they do this again.
Pepsi has just been approved to build a bottling plant in one of the big AZ cities.
Of course, they won't need much water.
@@veramae4098 That's just crazy. Build the dang plant where there is a high supply of water, what are they even thinking?
There is a gigantic golf course in the middle of Rio Verde. Does that golf course use a lot of water?
More than indoor municipal water use, but still not much in the grand scheme of water use. Hard to feel bad for them when they want other people to conserve while they don’t.
They have it wrong. It's actually the area west of Rio Verde. Hence Rio Verde foothills. Funny the national media wouldn't even know exactly before showing the wrong area on the map. I have a friend who lives in this area.
@@AK-xu5sj so why don’t they get water from Rio verde? Instead of expecting tax payers to subsidize their poor decisions or blame Scottsdale for their poor water management?
Meanwhile Flint Michigan is saying "Yeah it happens".
If you need your water to be trucked in from another city, then that should tell you NOT TO LIVE THERE. I would feel really uneasy to be so dependent on having my water TRUCKED IN!
@@cb.1212 That is everywhere. Everywhere has their food trucked in...
But piping it in from hundreds of miles away is okay? . Or sucking down the groundwater faster than its being replenished is okay?
I know a guy in old mesa whose water rights are so senior he will be flood irrigating his pasture when the people in Mesa won't be flushing their toilets
I don’t think anyone really feels bad for these people here
Now they know how the Diné on the Navajo reservation feel. Maricopa county has been taking more than their fair share for generations!
Building homes in a desert seems a bit risky to begin with but add the fact that they have been warned about the water issue and have done nothing to mitigate this and continue to add homes seems crazy.
Building homes in the desert around an adequate water supply wouldn't be bad, especially if there wasn't a tremendous amount of development. The problem arises when the first world pampered suburban folks think the water has an endless supply in an environment like this.
This is avoidable. Stop living in your isolated society thinking you're separate from us
Boomers gonna boom
@@crashjz And disneys gonna disney.
That’s hilarious I’m gonna use that
I build these type of homes here in Texas. Northwest of ATX. None had less than 4 bathrooms, and everyone had irrigation systems. Lake Travis and the lower Colorado is being sucked dry. Texas Republicans are ignoring this fact! Even though it’s obvious as the scars on my hands.
Don't forget the pools and golf courses.
@@williebeamish5879 oh I know Horseshoe Bay on Lake LBJ has at least 5 fugging golf courses. Those rich ppl there are stingy with their Lake water. They keep that lake at constant level. Because they claim it’s the only source if water fir their steam driven power plant. Well that excuse was valid up until the 1960s when Wirtz Dam started providing electricity. Marble falls had same thing. But the textile mill there closed almost a hundred years ago. So the reservoir in Marble Falls need not stay at constant level. And anytime ppl in Lake Travis water supply dips lower then their water plant’s intake pipes. They siphon off lake marble falls.
Republicans don't seem to understand why regulations exist. Yes, they can be a burden to employers, but they prevent these kinds of situations from happening. When you let developers develop towns with no oversight, they will screw over their customers left and right. Regulations are a necessary evil, no one likes them, but society would be far worse off without them.
Roads are dirt.
Texas is still a flagship state of the USA. A few chemtrail runs by USAF will seed enough rain to refill the lake quickly. However I do think they are gonna leave the American desert west out to dry. Literally.
Maybe stop building new houses in areas that can't support it.
I lived in phoenix for 7 years, the entire city shouldn’t exist “there’s no water here but at least it’s a dry heat”
Sorry to hear that. But those people in coastal Florida feet away from the ocean want a view, then the hurricanes took their houses down into the ocean, they should have known such circumstances just like people decide to live in the middle of the desert with no water.
Have some compassion, baby monkey!
Usually most true Floridians that are on the beach understand that and deal with crazy insurance or no coverage to stay where they want to stay. They accept the risk. It's the snow birds and out of state second home peeps that freak out and act surprised their home is gone.
Hurricane 🌀 are basically wet tonarnados you know is coming. If you want to play the move here are you stupid how about the Midwest tornado ally. Lucky to get a warning and no time compared to Hurricane.
Lesson: Don't live in a desert
Yes, but the states with the most access to fresh water around the Great Lakes are cold in the winter. Can't live there! You have to wear a coat and shovel snow.
@@GoGreen1977 exactly why i took in all the facts and moved from los angeles to the shore of lake erie. Survival is for the smart 🥂
Know what would've prevented this? REGULATION. One of those things that "sucks" until you need it.
Agricultural users are a much larger percentage of water wasted in the valley. You don’t here the “news makers” talking about the prime hay grown in the desert and shipped to Saudi Arabia for their horses.
They seriously ship hay from here to there? Mind blowing!
Gee, MAYBE they shouldn't just continue to build in the MIDDLE OF A DESERT!!
These folks were NOT in the dark about this. Many purchased homes there knowing there were continuing problems with the water and Scottsdale. They are still building there now.
Welcome to Arizona! Come on down!
Your 4000sq, ft. McMansion is beautiful right in the middle of the Sonoran Desert. As long as you haul all your own water every day from a public source five miles down the road...
(Note: the folks living in the area without any issues must be pointing and laughing. They coughed up with the thousands it took to drill their own well.)
Developers own city governments and can get anything they want from the city, even if it means scamming people. BTW, Scottsdale is full of rich folk and we all know how much they like to share, don't we?
the developers keep building homes in this area with no water supply. This is not part of Scottsdale, they do not pay Scottsdale City taxes. The city of Scottsdale warned the developers 10 years ago, and every year since. I do believe the city should process the water at a steep cost for a maximum of 3 years, so these residents can find a new secure a new source. When I bought my house, it was one of the first questions I asked, Who provides water, sewer and garbage?
Well if they ask to be incorporated within the city of Scottsdale and pay taxes for the infrastructure they use, then they'll get their water. I doubt they want that to happen. But that is the easiest solution.
The guys up on the podium “crying”….as if they weren’t warned years in advanced….I’m sorry, I got family in AZ on two (of three) sides. But it IS a desert 🤷♂️
I live in Scottsdale,they have been told forever about the water deal,they need to get there own water they just dont want to
People can live on relatively small amounts of water. Why there is agriculture (short of growing cacti) in the desert, however, is completely baffling.
"Not sustainable" doesn't seem to get the attention it deserves by all sorts of people, not just these hapless residence. Water sustainability has reached its peak in this desert region. Over population is a bigger problem.
Water, farm land yield, minerals etc in the US can sustain 285 million max. We're at 340 million. The globe can sustain 3.4 billion max. We're at 8.1 billion.
The first problem here in time doesn't get solved until the second problem here does.
Where did you get these carrying capacity numbers? I've never seen these before, all projections I know of show that global pop will flatten out just shy of 11 billion, but that it's no problem if resources are distributed equitably. I am under the impression only infrastructure collapse is to blame, the 1% certainly have enough to go around for the rest of us.
I agree. Living out there is different because you're in a desert.
Some places might have a lot of groundwater or rivers. But out there, not so much.
The only way they could get water is either getting it from somewhere else. Or building a pipeline.
But the pipeline would take some time to make.
@@garshtoshteles The first study of its kind came out in 1971. There too max US population was at 280 million. Global at 2.4 billion. Another study in 79 same thing except global inched up to 2.7 billion. About 4 dozen others from around the globe have similar numbers since 1981. The latest featured on 60 miinutes 3 weeks ago put the US the same, global up to 3.4 billion because of modern farming techniques
@@eksbocks9438ground water is literally Arizonas largest source of water.
The carrying capacity of earth is 9-11 billion, not 3.4. Most people don’t consume at an American level. Also that US stat seems a bit low considering we’re the third biggest, and most naturally rich country on the planet.
Completely agree on the other stuff.
It's ironic to me when people living in the desert are shocked there's a water shortage or drought.
I LIVED OUT IN PARADISE VALLEY in 1957 on & we never thought there would be suburbs built way out past Mummy mountain up north to the small towns miles out. many with swimming pools & growing water guzzling landscaping. At least in our area we had mostly desert terrain gardens. you can't say these people who bought property out there didn't realize when they had their decisions to make didn't know what time it was & how a desert cannot be made in a a Los Angels type population. I cannot comprehend what they are thinking???!!!! Just plain common sense.
I got a grade 5 education what pops in my head is don’t set up shop in the middle of the desert probably real real stupid thing to do💀
How many more neighborhoods are being built that will face a similar issue? Look at the water line in Lake Powell and Lake Mead, they should be concerned with providing water for the existing residents of the region. Not trying to capitalize on the high demand for housing. It would be a shame if all those people left in twenty years because there was no water and it became the next Detroit.
Water wars are the real concern over the next 100 years.
Saw this coming over 4 decades ago and was poo poo'd. Glad I'm old with zero grandkids.
The people in the city of Scottsdale do not have an obligation to take care of their neighbor especially when you've been warned about this you need water it's your problem
Fun fact: Phoenix doesn't give a hoot about water waste. Just walk down the streets, you will find a leaking water main every 10 blocks or so, and water bills are cheap af. I regularly see plants and lawns being watered to the point of flooding streets and in the daylight when the sun evaporates the water before plants can get it.
Warned for a year and just filed a lawsuit last week? I hope they lose.
What is wrong with people. In spite of Arizona's known water shortage people keep moving there in droves. It's only going to get worst in the future.
*Looks this up on Google Maps* So, Rio Verde is roughly 30 miles from Scottsdale, up by a National Park and, oh, by the way, has a river that runs fairly close to it (ironically called the Verde River). Oh, and it's basically a country club. Yes, the developers cut corners, but the state let them. Are you saying the state didn't know (and wasn't likely on the payroll, i.e. got "campaign donations")? Of course they knew. They just didn't care because it was profitable. I don't think the home buyers are 100% responsible here, but they also shouldn't be able to force a nearby town to truck water up to them if that city is running out of water. Out here in western Kansas, water is also a problem. Still would we expect a larger town to truck or pipe water 30 miles away? No, and if there's no contract forcing Scottsdale to take on that responsibility, then other arrangements need to be made. If they've been warned about this for over a year, why has nothing been done? (I'm guessing money is the reason. Just because someone lives in a country club, it doesn't mean they can actually afford that lifestyle PLUS fixing the developer's mistake by not ensuring their community has water.)
Developers made their money. They should bear the brunt. The residents were sold a bill of goods and now they are stuck. Show some humanity to them.
My grandpa, God keeps him resting in peace, used to tell me that the next and last big war will be for water.
I don't get it. Arizonians chose to live in a DESERT. They're surprised there's no water? Also, how much of it goes to swimming pools?
It's actually worse than that. The people who live in Rio Verde do so because they don't want to pay the taxes that Scottsdale charges to provide municipal water (among other government services). So they went and moved out there to get away from taxes and government and now they're upset that not paying taxes and not having a proper government has deep consequences. Plus they now want the state government to compel Scottsdale's government to keep selling them water
Lmao i was born here i didnt choose to live here not everyone can move either. I take care of of my disabled father.
@@chefmesser420 just because you're born in an area does not entitle you to become a permanent resident there. It also doesn't mean you don't have a choice to move if there are greener pastures.
I have aging parents as well so I understand but if they lived in Rio Grande I'd be making arrangements for them to live elsewhere.
@@chefmesser420 Since you were born there, that means you can’t move?
And golf courses.
This is just a low brow idea, but maybe worth discussing. If these remote communities accounted for electrical utilities & communication services, along with setting up on site water tanks, why not add solar panels to feed some power hungry dehumidifiers to fill the tanks. Then use some atmospheric water generators. It’s an expensive solution, but the developers just left their customers high and dry. The homeowners should be suing the DEVELOPERS, not the government.
The problem is that these people bought their land, then hired a contractor to build their house, then expected Scottsdale to keep supplying them water without them paying a penny in taxes to the city. It's not the developers or the city at fault, it's the entitled homeowners who knew they had no water source before they even started the first house. It had always been shipped in by a company filling their trucks in Scottsdale and the city finally said enough, get water somewhere else.
Dehumidifiers? "Atmospheric water generators?"
My guy, the point of the desert is that it is DRY. Which means there is NO HUMIDITY. You can't squeeze blood from a stone. Generally the relative humidity in the central Arizona area during the summer is about 7%.
You can run all the dehumidifiers you want, but you can't actually dehumidify air that already lacks humidity.
Don’t move out into the dessert then 🤷🏻♀️
*desert not dessert 🍮
I always skip the dessert and go straight for coffee.
I dunno, it might be fun to live in a bowl of ice cream in the desert.
What I love about this is we've ignored warnings for decades that AZ was going to run out of water and that it struck the upper middle class first rather than the poor.
I love that too :)
So the issue is that when the community was built the water issue was either non existent or hidden by shady developers. When the authorities warned them it probably too late for anyone to back out of those contracts so they were stuck there hoping the authorities would change their minds. Now it's too late for anything.
This goes into the bigger issue of housing not being very affordable in America. People aren't as mobile and when they finally commit to a house if any problems arise they can't just up and leave. Think about flint Michigan and why despite the bad water that town still exists. It's because the people can't go anywhere else. They're locked in
They may not have know their developer was illegally building, but that doesn't make anyone owe them water.
ah yes, America. Where people almost justify criminal activity over basic human needs in the same sentence.
@@TheAngelAries :D
@@TheAngelAries however noone is owed anything in life so there is that too.
@@HoLeeFuk69 Name checked out, but that’s not everyone’s outlook. It may be one perspective of what reality tends to be but, it sounds more like a symptom of primitive survival instinct, thus a lack of compassion for others.
just because you’re not “owed” anything doesn’t mean you deserve to go without basic needs.
@† did I say that? no. Leave me alone 💖
People who can't live in a place that'd sustainable do not deserve to be looked after. drop buying fancy homes in remote areas with no water.
When you want to live off the grid to avoid government, you don't get to complain when the government doesn't provide you services.
☝️The correct answer.
It does rain in Arizona. I'm from there. If moved back, I'd definitely use water catchment tanks in a system for the occasional huge dumps of rain and then treat the water. It all runs off the packed dry land anyway in violent flood flows. No one would miss what I'd catch.
But they don't pay taxes to Scottsdale, they are unincorporated. Their government is Maricopa County, not Scottsdale. Everyone wants something for nothing. Get bent!
And TSMC is building in Arizona. Chip manufacturing requires a boat load of water to clean wafer between layers. They will reuse about 65% of water, but still need new water too.
This is the future of the WORLD .. 🤫
This is what you get when you want to live in an area with zero taxes. Why should a city outside provide water for you when you pay no taxes?
I live in Scottsdale. I feel sorry for the residents of Rio Verde but Scottsdale owes them nothing.
It's been known throughout history that water is a precious source and fights have happened always. You folks bought your homes and it was your responsibility to make sure you had water not depend on another city to take care of you.
I owned a home that had a well. I felt so stupid when I discovered that the well did not produce enough water. I was so angry with the real estate agent! But truth is, it was on me to follow through with an expert to discover the problem before I signed on the dotted lines. Same is true for the Rio Verde residents. Trying to shame Scottsdale is pathetic!
Even then, it would make more sense to blame their real estate agents and the developers than the city.
You are selfish and disgusting Karen! Eventually I’ll catch up to you,me and all of us! Pretty much all of the southwest will run out of water pretty soon with climate change!
@@ciara7172Exactly
cutting off their ability to purchase water is not just immoral but un american.
what if marry and joseph wound up there with little baby jesus poping out her crotch and they had no water for their camels?!
won't some one think of the camels?!
@@eveblot4195 😂
I know that area very well!!! The people that live there are filthy rich with Million dollar + homes! They got the money and power to either fight it. They definitely have the money to pay for the extra money to have it trucked in from further distance!! I don’t feel bad for them!!
Really? I've also seen the news that Rio Verde Hills are outside the boundaries of Scottsdale, and those rich people are also doing it because they are trying to avoid paying taxes which Scottsdale can't tax these people. The mayor of Scottsdale clearly said they have no obligation helping out these wealthy people building an incorporated areas where mansions, and multiple gulf courses are built outside the city's boundaries. The audacity of these entitled crooks.
These homeowners failed to research into the homes that they were going to settle their lives into. That irresponsible and now they are dealing with the consequences of their actions.
Next, they can sue the Developers. Then, they can sue the Colorado River itself.
All comes down to who approved the building permit. Did the residents know about the water problem when they bought the house? It’s now a blame game and who has to pay whom.