ABOUT THE PROJECT
LOGLINE
As a decades-long drought pushes the American West to alarming water shortages, the threat of water scarcity in the state of Arizona is motivating citizens to create water certainty through cooperation and conservation.
SYNOPSIS
Climate change is fueling a decades-long drought in the western United States. It has now been recorded as the worst in 500 years. In May of 2023, the lower basin states of California, Nevada, and Arizona agreed to cut their draw from the Colorado River by 3 million acre-feet over a three-year period.
What that means to a city like Phoenix, AZ is formidable. This shortage cannot be made up with groundwater, the deep stores of water that have collected underground over the millennia. In many ways, Arizona is a “perfect storm” of the modern water crisis.
Arizona is now facing shortages on every level but with innovation and collaboration the state can become a model for water resilience. A recent poll conducted in January 2023, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, found that 86% of Arizonan’s thought that inadequate water supplies were seen as an “extremely serious” problem.
However, 40% of those polled thought the biggest water users in the state were industry and business, followed by 31% attributing the highest use to farmers and ranchers. The reality is 80% of the water used in Arizona is used in agriculture. During the winter months, 90% of North America’s leafy greens and vegetable crops are grown in Yuma, Arizona. Currently, one billion pounds of lettuce are being shipped across the country every month. Growing food within our borders is important because it gives us the ability to keep our food sources secure and guarantee their reliability and safety.
Amid this formidable crisis, rising to the occasion by fully grasping the scale of the challenge and harnessing the power of widespread awareness is a must. Enabling a new era of public cooperation toward water conservation to protect our nation’s food supplies is imperative.
PROJECT TYPE Episodic - Documentary
DIRECTOR William Davis
SCREENWRITER Christine Lesiak
PRODUCER Janet Nearhood
EXECUTIVE PRODUCER Quantum Leap Productions, Inc.
co-producers Kristin Atwell, Teri Morrison
WEBSITE qlpdigital.com
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