With its cactus-filled garden and breathtaking views of the rocky peaks of the Arizona desert, Wendy and Vance Walker's home in the Rio Verde Foothills seemed to be a little slice of paradise.
The neighboring city of Scottsdale decided it could no longer afford to sell its dwindling supply from the Colorado River, as a decades-long drought bites the American West.
Lake Mead, a huge reservoir fed by the Colorado River has seen its levels drop as a lengthy drought bites the US WestMost of that city's supply comes from the Colorado River, a mighty watercourse that rises in the Rocky Mountains and winds 1,450 miles through seven US states and Mexico, providing a lifeline for 40 million people.Human-caused climate change means the once-bountiful snowpack that feeds the river has dwindled.
That agreement, made when it rained more and there were fewer inhabitants, was always a fiddle -- a political fix that allowed users to take more water than was added every year. On January 1, they closed the city's supply station to delivery drivers like John Hornewer, who says he now has to drive for hours to find enough water to fill his 6,000-gallon tanker.
"As water becomes more and more scarce, and it becomes more and more valuable, cities and communities are going to want to protect their own."Arizona state officials stepped in last month to urge Scottsdale -- run by the Democratic Party -- to offer an accommodation to Rio Verde Foothills, an unincorporated settlement in Republican Party-run Maricopa County.
Scottsdale wants Rio Verde Foothills to establish a public body that will be able to plan for the long term, and will be subject to the same government rules as other water suppliers.
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