Arizona Governor Takes Steps to Modernize Water Policy

Signaling a potential shift in Arizona’s water conservation policy, newly elected governor Katie Hobbs released a report analyzing the Lower Hassayampa sub-basin’s status as a water source for a rapidly growing region. Writing in Inside Climate News, Wyatt Myskow explains that water experts warn that the growth of communities like Buckeye, near Phoenix, and other massive subdivisions that promise to bring hundreds of thousands of new residents to the area, could put the entire region’s groundwater supplies at risk. Recently, the city of Scottsdale cut off water to an unincorporated community that had been relying on the city's water supplies.

“According to the report, the demand for groundwater will more than double over the current century, resulting in an unmet demand of 4.4 million acre-feet of water. Unless new sources of water can be found, the department won’t be issuing any new certificates along the Lower Hassayampa.” This is because Arizona law requires developers to guarantee water supplies for 100 years, but many have managed to evade this requirement via a loophole that waives water supply requirements for developments built on less than six parcels.

Along with releasing the report, the governor also established the Governor’s Water Policy Council via executive order, paving the way for an update and modernization of the 1980 Arizona Groundwater Management Act, the law containing the aforementioned loophole.