Draining Arizona: Residents say corporate mega-farms are drying up their wells
Those who can afford to drill the deepest wells are the ones who get the water, while those who can’t are forced to abandon their property.
Sept. 17, 2019, 12:27 PM EDT
By Andrew Stern
WILLCOX, Ariz. — Lynda Reynolds dreamed of retiring in the Arizona countryside.
After living in the state for 32 years, she finally bought a house in the small town of Elfrida that had “million-dollar views” and farmland to grow crops.
A few years after moving in, in 1997, though, her well went dry. Like all homes in Cochise County, hers depended on underground water, so she took out a $15,000 loan to deepen her well. Seven years later, it went dry again, and she couldn’t afford to borrow the $35,000 to drill a new, deeper one.
“I saved all my life, I saved in the military, I saved as a teacher, I saved, and saved, and saved — that's the way I was brought up,” Reynolds, 73, said. “And I lost everything.”
She was forced to abandon her home, move back to Bisbee, a city 30 miles southwest where she had lived previously, and put her house on the market. Eleven years later, it’s still for sale, and she’s still paying off the loan on that dry well.
more:
http://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/draining-arizona-residents-say-corporate-mega-farms-are-drying-their-n1052551?cid=eml_nbn_20190922
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