Presenting: The Drip Line

Catching up with the Attorney General … A super-ultra-mega weather report … And Summer is Coming.

An interview with Arizona’s Attorney General?

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The annual weather report prepared for Arizona’s Governor?

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The most important water news stories in the state?

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You must be reading the Water Agenda — Arizona’s weekly water newsletter, brought to you by a dedicated independent journalist who must really care about this stuff.

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If you read the very first edition of the Water Agenda, you might remember we promised to produce an audio-video program on water stories and interviews with Arizona water workers.

Today, we make good on that promise. Welcome to “The Drip Line.”

For our inaugural episode, we bring you an interview with Attorney General Kris Mayes.

Last December, Mayes filed what may become a landmark lawsuit against Fondomonte LLC, accusing the Saudi-owned farm of violating Arizona’s public nuisance law through excessive groundwater pumping in La Paz County. The action followed national coverage of dropping water levels, and it represents the first time an Arizona AG has used nuisance law to target a farm’s water use.

After our interview was recorded, a coalition of agriculture interests attempted to join Fondomonte’s defense in the case, worried about the precedent that the lawsuit could set for agricultural water users in the state. Mayes’ office responded with a motion to dismiss their motion, arguing that the would-be interveners have no stake in the lawsuit.

In the interview, Mayes told me that the lawsuit is probably one of the most important things she’ll do as attorney general.

And I ended our chat with some questions about the timeline of her political career and the origins of her interest in a public servant vocation.

Pro tip: The secret to being an on-camera program host is probably not to stare unblinking and expressionless at your audience — unless ‘awkward android’ is your thing.

Some additional fun facts I’ve discovered about the AG:

• In her childhood years, Mayes’ family owned a tree farm and every spring the Mayes family held an annual event in Prescott where they would give away potted trees to the local community. Mayes, along with her siblings, also grew pumpkins, sunflowers, and squash, which won some blue and red ribbons at the Yavapai County Fair.

“It taught us a work ethic,” Mayes told 5enses magazine about her childhood gardening projects. “To start something and stick it out to the end.”

• As an ASU undergrad with a Flinn Scholarship, Mayes spent a summer at The Johannesburg Star newspaper during the turbulent fall of apartheid in South Africa. She covered the “crime and violence” beat, writing front-page stories as a young reporter.

• While Mayes was covering the 2000 presidential race for the Arizona Republic, John McCain initially barred Mayes from his tour bus because of his beef with the Republic’s opinion writers. Mayes followed his tour by car to keep covering him. Later, when Mayes ran for reelection (as a Republican at the time) to the Arizona Corporation Commission, she had an hour-long talk with McCain, asking him not to endorse her Republican opponent. In the end, McCain granted her wish and Mayes credits this for her victory that year.

Big spring storms are soaking much of the South, Midwest, and East. But the latest U.S. Drought Monitor shows the Colorado River Basin, including Arizona, has mostly missed out.

What are the big-picture consequences of the ongoing drought? That’s what a state governor needs to know, and it’s why, twice a year, Arizona’s Drought Interagency Coordinating Group presents findings and expectations on drought conditions to the Arizona governor.

Their May 20 meeting ran for an hour and a half, and we’ve written up a summary of the presentations so you can know what the governor knows.

Dr. Erinanne Saffell is the Arizona State Climatologist, director of the Arizona State Climate Office, and Senior Global Futures Scientist at ASU. She reports:

• Arizona just had the fourth driest October–April on record, receiving only 2.5 inches of precipitation statewide (about 38% of the long-term average for those months).

• October and December 2024 were the hottest on record, and February through April remained warmer than normal.

• Even with a few storms in March and April, the cumulative water year remains critically low.

• Snowpack (which melts and feeds rivers in the southwest) was largely below median all winter. March storms helped, but runoff was minimal due to parched soils.

• Current drought classification:

  • Extreme drought: 55% of the state.

  • Exceptional drought: 6% (Mojave, Yuma, southeastern AZ).

  • Long-term drought persists across the state and is intensifying.

• May 2024–April 2025 was the second hottest and second driest May–April period on record.

Mark O’Malley is the chief meteorologist at the National Weather Service. He reports:

• The latest La Niña — a weather pattern with sees more rain in the Pacific Northwest and less in the Southwest — is over and we’re moving into a “neutral” weather phase, which bodes better for the upcoming monsoon season.

• The Gulf of California is warming, potentially enhancing monsoon storms.

• Forecasts show a 40% chance of above-normal monsoon precipitation (75% chance for above or near-normal).

• Summer temperatures will likely be above average, continuing a 50-year warming trend.

• There’s low confidence for next winter’s forecast, but signs point to a possible return of dry, La Niña-like conditions.

• There’s “a glimmer of hope” for the summer, but multiple strong rainy seasons are needed to exit drought.

James Heffner is a hydrogeologist at the Arizona Department of Water Resources. He reports:

• Lake Powell and Lake Mead are at 33% and 32% capacity, respectively.

• Total Colorado River water storage is at 40%, down from 42% a year ago.

• Inflows to Lake Powell are down 800,000 acrefeet from earlier projections, with a forecast putting 2025 among the 10 driest years on record.

• Lake Mead projections show end-of-year elevations near 1,047–1,056 feet, depending on conditions — remaining just above critical shortage levels.

• Conservation and water-saving agreements have kept Mead about 100 feet higher than it would otherwise be. Without these measures, Arizona would be facing Tier 2 or worse shortages.

Stephen Flora is a senior hydrologist at Salt River Project. He reports:

• Runoff from the Salt and Verde Rivers is at record lows — forecasted at 97,000 acrefeet (21% of median), the lowest ever for Jan–May.

• Precipitation was just 49% of normal. Most snowmelt infiltrated dry soils instead of reaching streams.

• SRP reservoirs dropped from 71% to 67% full since January.

• SRP increased groundwater pumping to 150,000 acrefeet this year and may pump 200,000 acrefeet in 2026.

Ed Gerak is the executive director of the Irrigation and Electrical Districts Association of Arizona, Inc. He reports:

• Hydropower capacity is down 40–48% at major dams due to reduced flows and lower reservoir elevations.

• The Hoover Dam is vulnerable: If the elevation drops below 1,035 feet, 12 of 17 turbines may fail from low water pressure, reducing output by 70%.

• The Hoover Dam is projected to remain above that level for now, but there’s a 20% chance of hitting it by 2028.

• Replacement turbines and maintenance could cost up to $160 million.

John Paulsen represents the Desert Southwest Region for the federal Western Area Power Administration (WAPA), which manages energy transmission projects like the hydroelectric Hoover Dam. He reports:

• Customers of hydropower from the Parker and Davis Dams (downstream from the Hoover) will receive only 83% of contracted energy, and WAPA must purchase the rest at higher prices.

• Purchased replacement power costs 2–5 times more than hydropower.

• Drought-related power purchases in 2024 exceeded the dam’s entire operating costs.

• WAPA plans to shift energy delivery volumes in the future to align more closely with actual hydropower availability.

Tiffany Davila is the spokeswoman for the Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management. She reports:

• Arizona now has year-round fire seasons. Fires burned well into October and even December in 2024.

• 2025 so far has seen 462 fires burning 38,000+ acres. That’s 10,000 acres more than burned all of last year.

• Areas at highest risk: southeastern Arizona and the Mogollon Rim.

• Heavy fuel loads + drought stress = more intense and longer fires.

• Hope: a wet monsoon could slow fire season by July.

Viridiana Quiñonez Nevarez is a forest health technician at the Arizona Department of Forestry & Fire Management. She reports:

• Drought has directly worsened forest pest outbreaks.

• In 2024, bark beetle-caused tree mortality doubled, damaging 33,000 acres.

• Mediterranean pine engraver beetles are killing trees in urban areas (Phoenix, Tucson, Sedona, Cottonwood).

• 9,000 acres of trees showed drought damage, mostly in Ponderosa pine forests.

The Coordinating Group unanimously voted to recommend continuation of Arizona’s drought emergency declaration, first enacted in 1999, which provides continued access to USDA aid.

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It’s time to fix Arizona laws to improve government accountability, so that major public infrastructure projects are done safely, with highly-skilled workers and public oversight. We need these projects done once, and done right by creating:

1. Properly-skilled construction workers, paid fairly to do the difficult and dangerous jobs they are trained to do

2. Heat safety and other safe working conditions

3. Oversight and accountability for government-funded projects

Join RiseAZ today in championing our infrastructure, our working families, our industries and economy, and our future. Build it Once, Do it Right.

If you’d like to sponsor an edition of the Water Agenda, get in touch!

Take an acrefoot, give an acrefoot: Last Friday, Gov. Katie Hobbs signed HB2753 into law, which will require water providers in the Pinal Active Management Area to replenish the groundwater they draw from aquifers — a requirement that already exists for water providers in the Phoenix AMA. This week, Hobbs and her water advisor, Patrick Adams, visited La Paz County to talk groundwater issues with elected officials and local residents whose wells have gone dry. In a press release, Hobbs said she’s willing to explore “alternative options” to the still-stalemated legislative negotiations on rural groundwater reform.

“We appreciate Governor Hobbs’ advocacy,” said Coconino County Supervisor Patrice Horstman. “We strongly support passing the legislation, but if that can’t happen, we urge Governor Hobbs to take administrative action. We need to have control over our future, and that means we need to have control over our groundwater.”

Water drive: St. Vincent de Paul, Bashas’, Food City, Arizona 61, and ABC15 are trying to make sure people have water this summer. The groups are soliciting cash or water donations from Sunday, June 1 – Monday, June 30. Here’s how to donate:

• All Bashas’ and Food City locations throughout the state of Arizona will be accepting monetary donations at the register during June. They’ll also accept water donations on Wednesday, June 18, and Thursday, June 26.

• All four Metro Phoenix St. Vincent de Paul thrift stores will accept water donations. Store hours and addresses are listed here.

• Give online at abc15.com/water.

Water warrior: Last weekend, UofA Professor Michael Brescia joined the Green Valley Democrats for an hour-long discussion on Arizona water issues, where he shared this personal story from his professional work:

“An older gentleman (farmer), I'd say early 70s, he saw us coming, he was expecting us. He immediately called out to his grandson in Spanish. Rough translation: ‘Son, please help me fill a bag with apples and vegetables because the lawyer and the historian have arrived.’

The grandson immediately began to fill two big bags with cucumbers, green chilies and apples. He handed them to his grandfather who in turn handed each of us a bag filled with the fruits of his labor. And he told me, ‘I know that you are fighting for me and my family and our rights, so I want to express my profound thanks to you for your efforts.’

I wish that I could adequately describe to you all what I felt at that moment. The best I can do is to tell you that a wave of emotions overcame me. In all my years as a historian up to that time, I had never really considered the impact of my research on people's lives — it always seemed theoretical and mundane.”

If you’ve got a bag of apples to spare each month for our weekly water reports, you can click the button below.

Summer is coming and it’s time to plan a trip to your favorite Arizona waterfall.

You’ve already been to this one, right?

What’s that? You don’t already have a favorite Arizona waterfall?

Lucky for you, I’ve made a Google Map with 17 of the most scenic waterfalls in the state. You can open it up and see which one you’re closest to — or share the map with a friend who’s new in town.