Rio Verde Foothills residents are taking matters into their own hands as they sign petitions and are reaching out to lawmakers hoping to secure a temporary water source ahead of triple-digit temperatures.
In the meantime, many are still having to rely on water being hauled in from other cities.
"We've done a $500 water bill, in a month, in the summer - that was last year. This year will be three-and-a-half times that - $1,700 a month - and you know, I'm trying to put kids through college. You know, we're trying to take care of animals," said George Rodriguez, a Rio Verde Foothills resident.
SEE MORE COVERAGE ON RIO VERDE WATER HERE
A community meeting was held at Miller Ranch on Tuesday where residents raised concerns as it's now been more than 80 days since Scottsdale cut off their familiar water source.
"Because we've had such a wet, cool winter... we have so much undergrowth that has grown. When the summer comes and it gets hot, it's going to be fuel for the fire. The fire marshal has asked for Scottsdale to cooperate because of the fire danger," said Gay Nichols.
State Representative Alex Kolodin was one of the speakers in attendance, who talked about his push to get legislation passed as a short-term solution for Rio Verde Foothills.
The House voted against his bill earlier this month, which involved an intergovernmental agreement being made between Scottsdale and Maricopa County.
Now, he's asking for the legislature to revise the bill to where Scottsdale would instead enter into an agreement with a standpipe district.
"The county would be fine with it because they don't want to be in the water business so, they don't want to sign an IGA. The City of Scottsdale is convinced that they need some governmental entity to sign an IGA with it. And, neither of them cares if it's the standpipe district so, everybody's happy," said Rep. Kolodin.
With still no solution in sight, residents also have a petition going which asks the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to work with Scottsdale.
"There are a lot of political undertones that we don't understand; we don't wanna understand that. We just want a solution," says Rodriguez.
