Arizona continues to allow a company to pump enough water to support a city of 50,000 to grow crops for Saudi Arabia's cows while some state residents have had their water supply cut off
Lloyd Lee
Mon, July 17, 2023 at 5:57 AM GMT+2
- Arizona has taken steps to lower residents' water consumption as it combats a long-term drought.
Meanwhile, the spigot flows freely for the Saudi-owned company, Fondomonte, WaPo reported.
Fondomonte leases thousands of acres of land to grow alfalfa that will feed Saudi's dairy cows.
A drought-stricken Arizona allows a company to pump enough water that could support a city of 50,000 people to grow a crop that feeds Saudi Arabia's dairy cows. At the same time, the state's residents are being told to cut back on consumption, The Washington Post reported.
Fondomonte Arizona LLC, a Saudi-owned firm, is one of several companies that takes advantage of the state's agricultural lease program, allowing entities to lease state-owned land for ten years to grow crops. In 2015, Fondomonte leased 3,500 acres of land in Butler Valley — a rural area just west of Phoenix — for a below-market-rate price and has since had unregulated access to the state's groundwater, according to a 2022 report from Arizona PBS.
The company grows alfalfa hay, a water-intensive plant, to feed Saudi Arabia's dairy cows. Once called the "thirstiest crop in the US southwest," alfalfa hay requires so much water that the kingdom banned the cultivation of green fodder plants like alfalfa for the sake of water conservation.
According to communications between the state and Fondomonte — which the Post obtained through a public records request — experts calculated that the company consumes enough water annually to support a city of more than 50,000 people. In 2022, the Fondomonte used 16,415 acre-feet of water last year — the equivalent of covering about 12,500 football fields under a foot of water, the Post reported.
For years, that information was unavailable to Arizona due to little state oversight and regulations, the Post reported. The company also has been resistant to sharing data on water usage, arguing that it was "being unfairly singled out," according to a memo obtained by the Post.
https://www.yahoo.com/news/arizona-cont ... 14121.html
(original: INSIDER)