Sonoran governor: State and federal leaders have no plans to send AZ desalinated water

By Kendal Blust
Published: Thursday, June 29, 2023 - 3:36pm
Audio icon Download mp3 (966.07 KB)

The idea of bringing water to Arizona from a desalination plant in neighboring Sonora has been around for years — as have critiques of such a scheme. But Sonora’s governor says neither state nor federal leaders are on-board with current proposals.

This week, a group of scientists and concerned citizens penned a letter opposing any plans for large-scale desalination in Mexico’s Gulf of California — particularly a proposed project that would ship desalinated water to Arizona.

The plan, they say, would not only be costly and inefficient, but would pose major environmental impacts that would negatively affect coastal communities and Sonora’s robust fishing and tourism industries.

Sonoran Gov. Alfonso Durazo responded to those concerns saying that neither state nor federal leaders have signed on to any proposals that would permit desalinated water to be sent to Arizona.

Earlier this year he strongly rejected claims that an Israeli company had his buy-in for such a plan.

Previous Govs. Doug Ducey and Claudia Pavlovich, of Arizona and Sonora, respectively, had agreed to consider the idea. But so far Govs. Katie Hobbs and Durazo do not appear to be endorsing a similar agreement.