Growing interest in water supply is particularly relevant to the Terravalis project. Hughes paid his JDM Partners and El Dorado Holds $600 million to purchase real estate. The previous owner proposed building Trillium West, his 3,000-acre planned community that supplies water to the Hassayampa Basin, the aquifer beneath the project. In 2006, the Arizona Department of Water Resources issued him two certificates for 4,228 acre feet (1.35 billion gallons) of water to build 7,000 homes. As long as Hughes complies with the terms, the certificate remains valid.
But Hughes does not have access or certification to supply water to the remaining 34,000 acres (90% of the company’s land holdings). The Water Resources Authority has kept the Hassayampa Basin off-limits to new developments while investigating how much underground reserves actually hold water. Hughes canceled a scheduled interview about the project and its water supply because it’s such a sensitive topic.
The Arizona development community believes Hughes Corporation has the ability to build Teravalis. Elsewhere he has developed six large-scale planned communities in four states, the company has his 32 years of experience in water management for large-scale desert communities. The first planned project is Summerlin, a 22,500-acre development with 100,000 residents outside Las Vegas.
Some of Hughes’ water supply options for Terravaris are currently available, while others require changes in state laws and regulations, including drilling separate aquifers and supplying water through pipelines. A native of Arizona with extensive water rights, he can rent water from one of her American tribes.
Hughes can also purchase rights to the waters of the Colorado River. Queen of Phoenix He prepares to spend $27 million to obtain state permits and extract 2,000 acre-feet (about 750 million gallons) from the river annually for its 66,000 residents. doing. Whatever the company decides, the cost of water for his Teravalis, which typically costs hundreds of dollars per acre (about 326,000 gallons) in Arizona, will be much higher than it is today.
The Western adage “water makes money” applies. Earlier this year, lawmakers in Arizona approved his three-year budget of $1 billion, a down payment to ensure a stable water supply. Greg Vogel, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of the Land Advisors Organization, a Scottsdale-based national brokerage and development consultancy, said: “Teravalis will be built for 50 years, maybe he will be built for 70 years. They will have enough water.”
However, it is by no means a consensus view.
The City of Buckeye, where Teravalis is located, uses 11,000 acre feet (about 3.5 billion gallons) of water annually for its 115,000 residents. At Arizona’s current usage rates, Teravalis water consumption could triple.
In 1980, Arizona enacted the Groundwater Conservation Act. The law requires the developer to ensure that the purchaser’s home or business has her 100-year water supply. The law also requires developers to replenish aquifers with the same amount of water as they withdraw.
Bruce Babbitt, who signed the Groundwater Act of 1980 in the first of two terms as Arizona governor, is no slouch. He claimed that Teravalis did not meet his 100-year water requirement. He also fails to replenish the aquifer with billions of gallons of water per year. “My conclusion, based on a lot of analysis, is that this project is not viable at the scale they are talking about,” Babbitt said.
Featured Image: water shortage is it meThe challenges of building mixed-use housing projects in Arizona and four other rapidly growing desert southwests, like this one south of Phoenix, are intensifying.Photo © Keith Schneider/Circle of Blue
version of tHis article was published in the New York Times December 27, 2022.
