by Daniel Stefanski | Mar 4, 2025 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
How much water does Arizona currently have? That’s the question on the mind of Arizona lawmakers this legislative session.
Last week, Arizona House Republicans revealed that a small group of legislators had previously sent a letter to the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), asking the agency “to provide basic information on the following details related to Arizona’s rural groundwater basins:
- The average depth-to-water level in each basin
- The maximum depth of each basin
- The average depth of each basin
- The total volume of groundwater in each basin
- The number of index wells in each basin.”
The letter, which was authored by State Representative Gail Griffin, Senator Tim Dunn, and former Senator Sine Kerr, was transmitted to ADWR on December 23, 2024.
Speaking about the reasoning behind the letter to ADWR, Representative Griffin said, “The intent was to give Arizonans a better understanding of the groundwater supply beneath their feet. For the last two years however, none of the Department’s assessments have included this basic information – such as ‘how much water do we have’ and ‘how long will that water last.’ This information is a fundamental component of the ‘supply’ side of the ‘supply and demand’ equation and needs to be included in each of the Department’s five-year ‘Supply and Demand’ Assessments.”
According to the press release issued by House Republicans, ADWR “provided a preliminary response to the December 23 letter, stating the number of active index wells in each basin and the maximum depth of each basin at its deepest point.” The response shared that the “Wilcox and Gila Bend groundwater basins are 4,800 feet deep at their deepest point.” However, as the release highlights, “The Department has yet to provide the total amount of groundwater that is available to each of these depths.”
Representative Griffin is not at all satisfied with ADWR’s incomplete answers. She said, “Just because you drill a well does not guarantee that there will be one hundred years’ worth of water. Republicans and Democrats both agree we need to know how much water is available in order to make informed decisions on critical groundwater policy. It’s also essential to our ability to plan for the future. How are we supposed to plan if we don’t know how much water we have?”
With these questions in mind, Griffin introduced a bill (HB 2271) this legislative session “to update the 5-year Supply and Demand Assessment statute and require the Department to include this information in its reports, moving forward.” If the proposal was signed into law, it would “provide critical answers to these basic questions, such as, ‘How much water do we have?’ and ‘How many years will that water last at the current rate of decline?’” Answering these questions would allow legislators to “plan to add new tools that work for rural Arizona, such as groundwater recharge, replenishment, and reuse.”
Focusing on her bill, Griffin said, “we understand that additional steps may be necessary to gather this information, but we also believe that taking these steps is a necessity to do our jobs effectively. I think the Department wants to make decisions based on science and that, if we give it the time and opportunity to gather this information, it will result in a better and more constructive dialogue for everyone.”
HB 2271 was approved by the Arizona House of Representatives last week.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
by Matthew Holloway | Jan 25, 2025 | News
By Matthew Holloway |
Governor Katie Hobbs is now facing a serious legal challenge from the Goldwater Institute, acting on behalf of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, to put a stop to what Goldwater described as “one of the most significant bureaucratic overreaches in Arizona’s history.”
On Wednesday, Goldwater announced the lawsuit against Arizona’s Democrat Governor stating that Hobbs is “taking illegal actions” that would worsen the state’s ongoing housing crisis by imposing a certification requirement in parts of Maricopa County that, in addition to showing a 100-year groundwater supply, must also meet the dubious standard of “unmet demand.”
Writing for Goldwater, Stacy Skankey explained, “Although the phrase ‘unmet demand’ does not exist in Arizona law, this new rule now requires homebuilders to show a 100-year groundwater supply across the entire water management area (a specially designated area with a reliance on groundwater) rather than at the site of the proposed development. In other words, if a groundwater shortage is projected anywhere within a management area, the Department of Water Resources now claims that there is insufficient groundwater elsewhere in the Valley.”
As reported by AZ Free News in December, Goldwater penned a letter to the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) urging the agency under Hobbs to reconsider its “AMA Wide Unmet Demand Rule,” noting that the new rule was in violation of the law having been imposed without legislative approval or via the required rulemaking process.
According to ADWR, “Unmet demand occurs when the model cannot simulate pumping of all demands included, thereby creating a pumping shortfall or deficit. This pumping shortfall or deficit occurs when there is insufficient saturated aquifer to satisfy the pumping demand (i.e., the depth-to-water level reaches bedrock) or when the depth to water exceeds 1,100 feet after 100 years of simulated pumping.”
Essentially, unmet demand occurs when the state’s modeling is insufficient to predict demand. In other words, the basis for shutting down Arizona housing development is that the Hobbs administration’s simulation doesn’t work.
As noted in an op-ed for the AZ Capitol Times by CEO of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona Jackson Moll and Goldwater Institute Vice President for Litigation Jon Riches, the Phoenix Active Management Area (AMA) Groundwater Model being used by the Hobbs administration, coupled with the ‘unmet demand’ standard, moves the goalposts on developers who have mitigated impact on the state’s water needs for nearly 30 years by replenishing pumped groundwater back into the water table.
Riches said in a statement, “Decisions on vital statewide concerns like the availability of affordable housing and the responsible stewardship of our natural resources should be made through a transparent, democratic process—not imposed by executive fiat.”
Moll added, “Gov. Hobbs’ deeply inaccurate and flawed claim that Arizona is running out of groundwater is having devastating effects on housing affordability in the state, which already ranks among the worst in the country.”
Matthew Holloway is a senior reporter for AZ Free News. Follow him on X for his latest stories, or email tips to Matthew@azfreenews.com.
by Daniel Stefanski | Mar 22, 2024 | News
By Daniel Stefanski |
Arizona’s Democrat Governor and Republican legislators are engaged in an escalating political battle over the future of the state’s groundwater.
Last week, Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs took aim at a Republican-led solution to the state’s groundwater supply. Speaking at a conference in Tucson, Hobbs said, “I’m willing to work with any sponsors to pass legislation that’s real, effective and protects water supplies in rural areas. But should the bill remain unchanged it will not get my signature. The bill will silence rural communities and create a convoluted process that will make it nearly impossible for our communities to manage groundwater. It leaves us with the status quo where out of state corporate farmers come from around the world to take advantage of our aquifers, and small communities have their water pumped from beneath them. This is beyond unacceptable.”
The bill Hobbs attacked was SB 1221, which is sponsored by Senator Sine Kerr. The proposal would “establish a process for the designation of a basin management area (BMA) and an active BMA in any location not included in an active management area (AMA), to be initiated by petition to the Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, [and] outlines the goals of an active BMA, active BMA council makeup, rights to water, reporting requirements, and requirements for the continuation or termination of an active BMA” – according to the purpose provided by the Senate.
Senator Kerr responded to the Governor’s remarks, writing, “From the start, I’ve been proactive in spearheading meetings for collaboration from the Governor and her office on SB 1221, which would safeguard Arizona’s groundwater resources for generations to come. My goal has and will continue to be to reach a compromise on a solution that won’t hurt rural Arizonans’ livelihoods, their local economies, or their groundwater supply. Yet this week, Hobbs said she would veto the bill and recklessly called it a convoluted process that won’t protect our groundwater. That comment is merely a red herring meant to justify her proposal of big government overreach to regulate groundwater.”
At the conference, Governor Hobbs expressed an interest in working across the aisle to reach a compromise on the vital issue for her state. She said, “We in the state have many shared values: the desire to protect rural Arizona, protect rural water users and slow unmitigated depletion of our rural aquifers. We can and must find common ground to find a solution that works and puts politics aside.”
Kerr, who is the Senate’s Majority Whip and the Chair of the Committee on Natural Resources, clearly did not think that a Hobbs-endorsed proposal would meet the expectations or needs of her constituents and other stakeholders around the state. She added, “Energy and Water Rural Arizonans know what will and won’t benefit their local economies. I wholeheartedly support this proposal because I’ve listened and met with farmers, ranchers, and every other person, industry and organization across AZ who felt they were being alienated from the conversation. I believe in true collaboration, and will continue to work to reach a solution.”
This week, the Arizona House Committee on Natural Resources, Energy & Water considered the legislation and gave the bill its stamp of approval with a 6-4 party-line vote. Republican State Representative Austin Smith said, “The government picking winners and losers is bad policy. Rural Arizona in my district and across the state are facing the brunt of Hobbs draconian water restrictions. SB 1221 provides the tools necessary for everyone to be treated fairly. Thank you Senator Sine Kerr.”
House Democrats on the committee echoed the governor’s thinking on the featured bill before their panel, calling for another bipartisan piece of legislation to address their collective concerns.
Daniel Stefanski is a reporter for AZ Free News. You can send him news tips using this link.
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