Residents of a community just outside Scottsdale, Arizona are feuding with the city they long depended on for water now that the Phoenix suburb has cut off their supply, saying it needs to guarantee there is enough for its own residents amid a deep, long-lasting drought.
Homeowners in Rio Verde Foothills, located in unincorporated Maricopa County, sued Scottsdale last week, demanding that access to the city’s water supply be restored to some 500 homes in the community. A bill newly introduced in the state Legislature would make Scottsdale liable for some costs created by the shutoff.
“The city of Scottsdale has placed plaintiffs and their families under an unconscionable amount of stress and anxiety by discontinuing their domestic water supply,” says the lawsuit, noting “the lack of fresh potable water for families to be able to bathe themselves or running water to flush their toilets is a well-known basic necessity.”
Scottsdale turned off its longstanding supply of water to the community on Jan. 1, calling the cutoff permanent. Several hundred residents are now using up the last of the Scottsdale water that haulers delivered in late December to the 5,000-gallon (18,950-liter) tanks buried in their yards, but said at a public gathering last week they expect it will dry up soon.
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