The Route 66 town of Williams, Arizona, has faced plenty of adversity in its history — not the least the coming of Interstate 40 that re-routed east-west traffic and decimated its downtown, at least for a while.
But a new report by Cronkite News Service, based at Arizona State University, delves into an issue that locals fear deeply but don’t want to talk about much — persistent drought and a chronic shortage of water.
Cronkite News Service posted a story. But the accompanying video explains it just as well:
As the story shows, the lack of water depresses economic development.
It’s not just Williams where this is happening. Albuquerque has dealt with water shortages for years, and Flagstaff officials constantly worry about whether droughts will turn their forest-surrounded town into a tinderbox. This is a problem that’s all over the Southwest, and it’s not going away anytime soon.
Williams and other cities eventually may have to recycle sewer water, which Wichita Falls, Texas, has done. Or perhaps some sort of new technology in the coming years will ease — if not solve — the problem.
I’ll never understand those who plant thirsty vegetation such as Kentucky bluegrass in their Arizona lawns. Even though I grew up in relatively drought-free Midwest, perhaps it’s my farming background — that natural resources such as rainfall shouldn’t be squandered on non-native plants — that cause me to find such things inexplicable.
At the least, xeriscaping in that part of the country should be mandatory, with irrigation only from rain barrels or graywater.
(Nighttime image of Williams, Arizona, by David via Flickr)
and what about golf courses? about 20 years ago, getting on the 5 freeway in manteca heading for so. california, smack dab in the middle of nowhere is a golf course with about five or ten large homes. then farmland as far as the eyes can see.
I would think the biggest threat to Williams would be their excessive rate of taxation for outsiders on things like restaurants and hotel stays. At least a few years ago their tax rates were obscene and punitive to travellers. We won’t stay there again on our route 66 excursions. They need to wake up and try to pay for some things themselves instead of punishing outsiders for nothing to visit. We just pass on through now and won’t stop.
Taxes the “biggest” threat? I guarantee that the many foreign travelers who go through Williams pay those taxes without blinking an eye, compared to what they pay in their homeland. And “nothing to visit”? Really?
I still maintain the prospect of turning on your water tap and nothing coming out is a far worse thing to worry about.
I’m glad you mentioned xeriscaping as a sensible water conservation tactic. When I moved from the rain-a-day Gulf Coast to California, I couldn’t fathom that “normal” meant no rain from April through October … and that a “drought” was when little rain fell during the winter, not no rain for a week or two. And yet, there were many, many lovely plants that lived in the parks and wildlands without any irrigation. I changed my hard-to-maintain lawn to largely native and other drought-tolerant plants.
Most states have organizations (with local chapters) devoted to the preservation and promotion of their native plants, including their use in home and commercial landscaping Interested readers might consider checking out the one from their states. For example:
California: https://cnps.org/
Arizona: https://www.aznps.com/
New Mexico: https://www.npsnm.org/
Texas: https://npsot.org/wp/
(For other states, see this list: https://www.ahs.org/gardening-resources/societies-clubs-organizations/native-plant-societies)
I wish more people understood the multiple values of native plants—not only because they’re meant to grow where one lives (so to speak), but ultimately, they’re often easier to maintain and help preserve biological diversity, meaning wildlife as well as the plants themselves. For some reason, though, it is really difficult to get people on board with this, despite the recent proliferation of nurseries, seed catalogs, and organizations dedicated to what is really a very old idea!
It is tough. There is a persistent draught in northern Arizona, and there are ever-growing demands for resources. For Williams, it is especially inasmuch as tourism is a very high-water use industry- and that is the focus of the Williams economy. The choice for them is an especially hard one.
Water has always been a problem in that area. When I was a kid we had no water wells in Ash Fork. All water came in by rail and then delivered by truck. We had a water tank on top of a small building and used rain barrels to catch what we could. My dad tried having a well drilled because an old timer told him there used to be a well on the property and in the 20’s cars would stop and fill their radiators. Never did find any water. The city finally drilled a successful well in about 1975. You can learn to live with much less water than we use now. We have been spoiled by abundance but may have to adapt to a new “normal”.