While Western states fight tooth-and-nail over the shrinking the Colorado River, Arizona has let water flow freely — in part to feed cows in Saudi Arabia

• Western states that rely on the shrinking Colorado River have struggled for years to agree to cuts.
• Arizona was among the states that came to an agreement in May and has asked residents to cut back.
• The Washington Post found Arizona has let a Saudi firm pump water unchecked for years.

For years Western states have struggled to come to an agreement on how to preserve water from the shrinking Colorado River. But since 2015, Arizona has let a Saudi Arabian firm use water largely unchecked.

The Washington Post reported the state has let the company Fondomonte Arizona pull groundwater from leased land west of Phoenix for almost a decade in order to irrigate their alfalfa hay. The alfalfa was then exported to Saudi Arabia and used to feed dairy cows. The land was leased under a state program that allows companies to rent state-owned lands to grow crops. And while it's not the only company to lease state land in this way, the foreign ownership has caused outrage in the state.

But according to the Post, the state had no idea exactly how much water Fondomonte was actually using after a proposal to track its usage failed. John Schneeman, one of the state planners involved, told the outlet state officials were "cautious of tangling with a powerful company."

The Post investigation found the water amounted to enough to support a city of 50,000 people. At the same time, Arizona residents have been asked to cut back their water consumption.

Fondomonte has said it's been unfairly singled out and that they should be measured by the same standards as all farming leaseholders in the state.

The news was especially striking given the fraught negotiations over water in the West that have been going on for years. Arizona is among the states that rely on the Colorado River and have been in talks for years on how to save it from drying up due to over-usage and drought.

While the extent of water usage by a Saudi company for alfalfa exports has sparked controversy in Arizona, others have pointed out that the state's water problems go well beyond that.

Over the past year, Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming, and California missed several deadlines imposed by the federal government to come to an agreement on how to cut usage. Absent a state-level agreement, the feds said they would step in to impose cuts as they saw fit.

Finally in May, Arizona, California, and Nevada agreed to voluntary cuts. Experts said the agreement would not be enough to stave off drought long-term, and that ultimately more cuts will be needed.