Farmers, Coca-Cola and conservationists: Unlikely partners fight drought along Verde River
Even in this dry winter, portions of the river still run strong.
CAMP VERDE — Irene Rezzonico has lived in Camp Verde her whole life, somewhere north of 60 years.
She and her family run a feed store on Main Street, and a plot of land to the southeast. They farm, they raise livestock, they use water.
They get that water from one of the three ditches that divert West Clear Creek just before it pours into the Verde River. Their ditch provides water for seven users across roughly 50 acres, she said.
They've taken water from the ditch for decades, and for decades, it has leaked.
Downstream, what remains in the Verde River pours into the Salt River Project canals that supply metro Phoenix. One water user is Coca-Cola, whose only bottling plant in Arizona is in Tempe.
It's a long way from the Rezzonico farm, but the two have a common interest.
"Water is very important to our company; it's kind of the heart of our business, the No. 1 ingredient in everything we make," said Jon Radtke, a Coke hydrogeologist. "If we want to continue to stay in business, we have to figure out ways to help make water supplies more sustainable."
Irene Rezzonico simply says, "We need water, all of Arizona needs water. Every little itty bit counts."
That's why a parnership among Coca-Cola and environmental groups has worked since 2012 to conserve and restore watersheds along the Verde River.
Today, much of the ditch that leads to Rezzonico's land has been replaced with pipe that cuts down on leaks.
The conservation effort has replaced large portions of gravel irrigation ditches with pipes to cut down on leaks, restoring the flow of water in areas where the water was so low people could walk through it.
And far downstream at the Coke plant, as a result of the company's conservation, it restores every gallon of water it uses, according to a company spokeswoman.
How Coke saves water
Kim Schonek walks alongside the Verde River, offering near-encylopedic knowledge of the people the river serves, where help is needed most and — if that help is ever going to come — where funding is needed most.
There hasn't been much rain and snowpack levels have been low, but portions of the Verde River still roar — high and loud. Others seem to trickle — low and quiet.
Arizona's winter has been exceptionally dry and the majority of the state is quickly entering a state of severe drought, according to the National Drought Mitigation Center.
No matter how much water is available, managing it is equally, if not more, important.
"We don't have a water quantity issue," Schonek said. "We have a water management issue."
"What we wanted to do was focus on areas we could actually change," she said. "We're trying our very best. Lofty goals help us."
They've cut down on leaking irrigation ditches by installing pipes, restored the flow of water in areas where people could once walk through the river and brought landowners together with the federal government when work needs to be done on federal land.
They credit those lofty goals.
The new "smart irrigation" systems let farmers more precisely control what water they divert. Before the technology was introduced, it was easier for farmers to inadvertently take more water than necessary and for water to simply leak along the way.
The partnership between Coke, the Nature Conservancy and Bonneville is a result of "Change The Course," a Bonneville program that helps corporations and NGOs pair on conservation efforts.
Bonneville acts as a liaison between corporations and NGOs in projects like the one along the Verde.
"(We) are really trying to beat the drum that this is important, this is needed, corporate has an amazing role to play in this space," Bonneville CEO Todd Reeve said. "But they don't speak the same language as NGOs at all."
They may not speak the same language, but corporations often have the funding NGOs don't and NGOs know where work needs to be done.
Coke has spent about $350,000 on the project through grants from its global business and its non-profit wing, the Coca-Cola Foundation, a company spokeswoman said.
Coke supports several such water-conservation projects and focuses on replenishing by providing access to clean water, conserving and restoring watersheds, harvesting rainwater and providing water for irrigation.
Among the projects installed along the Verde River are:
- Irrigation systems that increase flow and let the Verde flow continuously year-round.
- Drip irrigation on West Clear Creek.
- Replenishing 2.2 billion liters of water on the Verde and its tributaries each year by preventing leaks and accurately diverting water.
- By installing these systems, Coke replenishes all the water it draws from the Verde and its tributaries.
'I couldn't have planned any of this'
Frank Geminden and Oliver Spiecker stand on opposite sides of the Verde River, reaching for the large tree limb wedged in the ditch between them.
When Geminden started farming in Camp Verde about 25 years ago, before the current long-term drought started and years before Coca-Cola showed interest in replenishing the river, braving the rushing water like this could have killed them both.
It also could have wasted precious water.
Geminden, in his Lennon-esque sunglasses and blue overalls, stands over the river on a makeshift bridge, using an automated head gate to divert the water. Spiecker, his hired hand, grabs a hook and balances on the bank's incline, one misstep away from tumbling in.
The water's noise drowns out their voices. Spiecker likely can't hear Geminden's instructions — but he knows what to do.
Geminden is the "ditch boss" in this stretch of the Verde, where he has farmed for about 25 years, he said.
On his farm, he grows pecans, picks blackberries, herds cows and cares for his jaunty mutts, Cali and Roxy.
Out on the river banks, he diverts water to irrigate his farm. Irrigating his six acres can take up to 10 hours, he said, a task that was exponentially more difficult before the new "smart irrigation" system was put in place.
But right now, he's focused on getting the limb out of the ditch.
There was a time when Geminden would've had to hang by his arms off an overhead bar, jumping up and down until a blade fell deeper into the ground to divert the water. It could have killed or maimed him, he said.
But now, with the help of technology installed by seemingly unlikely business partners, the job is safer.
Safe enough for them to watch the Verde take the remains of the limb downstream.
Here, the water flows strong.
"Time, gravity and the river always win," Geminden says through a smile.
Geminden needs the Verde's water. It's the constant in his profession. His pecan trees need water, his livestock needs water and his blackberries need water.
The tech from Coke, the Nature Conservancy and Bonneville are all relatively new compared to the 25 years Geminden has spent in Camp Verde.
"I couldn't have planned any of this if I tried," he said. "All of a sudden, Kim and the Nature Conservancy showed up on my door and it just happened."
'The water's so clear'
Last year, the partnership between Coke, the Nature Conservancy and Bonneville replaced part of a gravel irrigation ditch with nearly 1,800 feet of pipe to cut down on losses and decrease the amount of water diverted from the creek.
Before the pipeline was installed, water leaked out of the ditches and could take up to four hours to make its way to Rezzonico's family. It still leaks, but about one-third less, and it takes about two and a half hours to get the water, she said.
They hope to install pipeline further through the area and come close to eliminating leaks.
Radtke, the Coke hydrogeologist, stoops down and dips his hand in the water.
"The water's so clear," he said.
"Hence the name Clear Creek," Rezzonico replies.
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