Can democracy protect Arizona’s dwindling water?
ON A SUNNY MORNING in southern Arizona this spring, members of the Arizona Water Defenders gathered at a park in the small town of Douglas to answer residents’ questions about water — and to collect signatures for a citizen-led ballot initiative that would, for the first time, regulate the region’s aquifer.
The crowd was small but diverse. An hour into the community meeting, an artist arrived with a large, colorful map of the region’s geology that he was excited to show the Water Defenders. A retired educator and her grown son came on foot and offered to go door-todoor in their neighborhood in support of the cause. Two students from the local community college rolled up on their longboards, and
