Tension Escalates as Water Regulators Clash with Providers Over Controversial New Proposal

The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) is urging water providers to implement significant reductions in groundwater usage amid escalating water demand. This directive particularly impacts rapidly growing communities in the Valley, including Queen Creek, Buckeye, and Surprise.

One key initiative is the Alternative Path to Designation of a 100-Year Assured Water Supply, which mandates a 25% decrease in groundwater withdrawals when renewable water supplies are acquired. According to ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke, this approach aims to ensure sustainable water management. “We have robust water supplies, but you need to use them wisely,” he stated.

To qualify for an assured water supply designation, providers must demonstrate a long-term groundwater availability that meets projected demand over the next century. The new guidelines foster a voluntary pathway for meeting these prerequisites in situations where hydrological modeling cannot conclusively verify groundwater availability.

Recent modeling efforts have revealed that certain areas, specifically in Phoenix and Pinal County, face unmet water demands that cannot be addressed due to insufficient supply. Buschatzke explained that allowing new applications in these regions could jeopardize water availability for existing homeowners reliant on those resources.

As the regulations unfold, the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona has expressed strong opposition to the proposal. Their legislative affairs vice president, Spencer Kamps, warned that such measures could inflate housing prices to levels similar to those in California, exacerbating the ongoing housing crisis in the Phoenix metro area.

Kamps argued that homebuilders are already struggling to meet demand, and added constraints from water management policies threaten to further limit housing availability. He questioned the future living situations for new workers and families in a region facing growth.

The Goldwater Institute, affiliated with the homebuilders, criticized the unmet demand concept, denouncing it as fundamentally flawed. They assert that if any groundwater shortage is projected, it unjustly restricts resources across an entire management area. However, ADWR maintains that their models substantiate the connection between supply limitations and current demand.

Buschatzke defended the models, referencing their role in protecting homeowners’ interests by adhering to a strict standard developed as part of the state’s 1980 Groundwater Management Act.

Amid these developments, Republican lawmakers voiced their concerns at a December 18 committee meeting, where a resolution opposing the new water supply rule garnered support from several committee members. Senator Sine Kerr criticized the ADWR’s approach, framing it as an unnecessary crisis. “There’s no reason that home ownership should be a lost dream in our valley,” she asserted.