Conservation groups say Arizona’s Verde River is being overused and the area’s water needs are expected to double in the next 30 years. As Arizona Public Radio’s Justin Regan reports, a new program is designed to decrease the demands on the river.
Under the Verde River Exchange Offset Program, businesses will pay residents to reduce their water usage. Representatives with the program say it’ll offset some of the water used by those businesses. In its pilot year, two Verde Valley vineyards will compensate a family farm to cut down its consumption by more than two and a half million gallons.
The group Friends of Verde River Greenway is heading up the program and using funds from environmental groups and other nonprofits.
Representatives with the Offset Program hope to involve more residents and businesses in the coming years, and to inspire other water reduction efforts in the state.
The Verde is the last river in Arizona to still flow its entire length year round. The conservation group American Rivers said it could be endangered by continued drought and development.
