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Miller: Arizona assured water supply program up for amendment this Tuesday

Photo of assured water supply
Steve Miller, Pinal County supervisor
By Craig McFarland and Steve Miller | Point of View

On Tuesday, Nov. 5, the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council (GRRC) will decide whether to approve an amendment to the State’s Assured Water Supply Program.

If you are not familiar with an Assured Water Supply in Arizona, no new subdivisions can be approved without first proving that water can be provided to those homes for 100 years.

This program, established by the landmark Arizona Groundwater Management Act in 1980, was further clarified in rules in 1995. Since then, more than 1,200 new subdivisions dependent on groundwater have been approved and 20 water providers have been designated as having an assured water supply in both the Phoenix and Pinal Active Management Areas (AMAs). These AMAs are vast groundwater basins located in the Phoenix metropolitan area and in central Pinal County respectively.

Fast forward to 2019 when the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) published a groundwater model that projects groundwater demands in the Pinal AMA would result in 10% of those demands being unmet during the 100-year period. Similarly, in 2023, ADWR published another groundwater model that projects demands in the Phoenix AMA could also not be met.

This resulted in ADWR declaring that no new assured water supply determinations could be issued in those groundwater basins until a solution is developed.

Subsequently, the Governor’s Water Policy Council and stakeholders from all water sectors, worked with ADWR to prepare a third method for securing an Assured Water Supply called the Alternative Designation of Assured Water Supply or ADAWS.

This method, a hybrid of the two existing methods, will allow water providers to secure a Designation of Assured Water Supply through the ADAWS. This means developers and builders will bring a sustainable water supply to meet the demands of the subdivisions, and water providers will bring an additional amount of sustainable water supplies to meet the groundwater demands of existing customers who have been using unreplenished groundwater for decades.

Without this solution, existing customers who have been using unreplenished groundwater will continue to deplete local aquifers. While this solution might not be right for every water provider, if this mechanism allows the two largest private water companies in Arizona to secure a designation of assured water supply, it’s a major accomplishment. It may even be the single most significant advancement to the Assured Water Supply rules since their inception.

Once new Designations of Assured Water Supply are issued, new subdivisions will have an opportunity to develop, and this will create the additional housing supply we need in the Phoenix metropolitan area and in Pinal County to provide attainable housing for jobs being created through the industrial boom we are currently enjoying.

These rules will ensure that homeowners never have to worry about having water. If these rules are not adopted, the price of housing will continue to climb until employers can no longer afford to pay employees enough money to live in Arizona.

These companies will begin to divest themselves of operations in Arizona and relocate to states where water security is less of a concern. This will lead to negative economic impacts to Arizona that the Assured Water Supply rules were designed to prevent.

A lot is at stake on Nov. 5 and not just in the presidential election. Help us strengthen the State’s Assured Water Supply Program by sending a letter of support to the Governor’s Regulatory Review Council before the Nov. 5 meeting. Just email a letter of support to grrccomments@azdoa.gov and let them know an Assured Water Supply is important to you.

Editor’s Note: Craig McFarland is mayor of the Casa Grande. Steven Miller is a member of the Pinal County Supervisors

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