Supervisors seeking steering committee members for Drought Preparedness Board

Would you like to have a voice in planning for the drought? Is it important to have a say at the local and state level on what impact the drought has on Pinal County? If so, the Board of Supervisors may have a group for you.

Even with the recent rains from the seasonal monsoon storms, you may find it hard to believe that much of Pinal County is categorized as being in an extreme drought condition. But to the people who study climatology and those who live off the land, the lack of moisture is “scary.”

The Supervisors have partnered with the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension and the Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) to start a local group to assess the impact of the drought. “It is imperative that we start this now,” Supervisor David Snider stressed. “We need to be ahead of the curve to get a handle on this rather than waiting for the drought to impact us and having to play catch-up. It will be too late by then.”

The “Local Area Impact Assessment Group” (LIGAS) is in response to Governor Janet Napolitano‘s 2003 executive order to start a Drought Task Force. Currently there are openings for those who would like to be on the steering committee. There are also openings on three workgroups that will focus on drought preparedness and monitoring. The workgroups are: monitoring, outreach and education, as well as mitigation and response. The Arizona Department of Water Resources will provide technical assistance to the LIGAS.

Pinal County Emergency Services Director Pete Weaver said that having a local voice in drought preparedness is particularly important in a county the size of Pinal. “There may be areas of Pinal County that might not be hit as hard as another area,” Weaver pointed out. “If the drought forces us to enforce water restrictions, it doesn’t make sense to blanket the county since other areas may not be as affected by the drought. This is where the people of Pinal County will play a huge role in helping us and the state understand the effects of this dry period.”

For more information about the Local Area Impact Assessment Group, contact Susan Craig, State Drought Coordinator, at (602) 771-8533 or Evelyn Erlandsen, State Drought Planner, at (602) 771-8441.