Op-Ed: Scottsdale Can’t Afford to Wait and See on Water. Vote for Zubia

By Former SRP Executive Tony Moya

I spent decades at SRP working alongside colleagues to deliver water and power to the people of Arizona. The lesson from that work is simple: you plan for shortages before they arrive.

Scottsdale is now bracing for a 17% cut to its Colorado River supply as soon as January. City officials say residents won’t feel it right away because the city isn’t using its full allocation. 

I hope that holds. But the same reporting says new supply could cost anywhere from a few million to hundreds of millions of dollars, and one councilmember admits rates may rise.

Scottsdale gets about 70% of its water from the Colorado River, more than any other city its size or larger in Arizona or California. Yet the council, thanks to Barry Graham, passed a budget that left out $233 million for water projects, including recycling. 

Nothing is budgeted for advanced water purification; a program Scottsdale ran for more than 20 years. Councilman Graham, do you have any idea what doing nothing will cost?

Now Graham and Michelle Ugenti-Rita are citing remarks from Councilwoman Jan Dubauskas and the city manager as proof they’ve been right all along. That’s hardly confirmation. A city manager reporting to a council on an agenda the council set is staff reporting back to its bosses, not an independent verdict.

Graham and Ugenti-Rita owe voters honesty about the choices they made.

That’s why I’m supporting Raoul Zubia. He has made water his focus, and he listens to the people who study it. Experts have warned Arizona for years about what’s coming.

Scottsdale needs leaders who will put real money behind new supply, conservation, and recycling now, while there is still time and choice.

Voters must choose Raoul Zubia.