According to a recently published study, there is no more groundwater in the West Valley to claim new development. This shows what this means for future growth in the region.
Buck Cay, Arizona — Central Arizona is turning gray.
The brown desert landscape has spanned the sprawling metropolis for decades, stretching in all directions from central Phoenix. The Valley welcomes a new inhabitant every six minutes of his life and makes new progress with them.
Its spread may slow or stop significantly in the western valley. Arizona Water Resources Authority (ADWR) released a new report on Monday.
A report was found that spoke of all groundwater in the nearby Hassayampa sub-basin. New home builders in areas not yet approved must bring their own water sources.
In one of the world’s driest places, developers are now scrambling to bring water to life.
How much gray growth can groundwater reserves sustain as more people buy a portion of the groundwater around the Valley?
‘Groundwater is hitting bedrock,’ says new report
The release of the report came after Governor Katie Hobbs’ state speech. The “draft announcement” was not made public by former Gov. Doug Ducey.
“I do not understand and will never agree with my predecessor’s choice to keep this report away from the public and members of Congress,” Hobbs told the state legislature. My decision to go public shows how I plan to address our water problems openly and directly.”
The report uncovered a number of surprising discoveries about the state of groundwater sub-basins over the next 100 years, including:
- 4.4 million acre feet of “unmet water demand” or insufficient groundwater supply to meet projected pumping demand
- Some areas where groundwater hits bedrock
- Water level drop from 0 to 983 feet
ADWR announced in response to Hobbes’ speech:
“ADWR has previously worked with stakeholders in the West Valley covered by the Secure Water Program to explore solutions to the water scarcity predicted by the Hassayampa model,” Governor Hobbs said today. As signaled by the speech of the It’s time to include the
That kind of town, Buckeye.”almost completely dependent on groundwaterThe report’s findings were not made known until it was released to the public on Monday.
“The ADWR report has just been released and consists of approximately 300 pages of reports and various files, so we are unable to provide feedback at this time,” said a Buckeye representative. “Once Buckeye has had the opportunity to fully review his ADWR report, we will be able to respond and provide input.
Records indicate that ADWR had at least partial knowledge of the report’s findings from 2021 onwards. At this time, ADWR informed the West Valley retirement community that there was not enough groundwater for the planned expansion.
Buckeye’s retirement community was the first to learn of the groundwater cutoff scheduled for 2021 by chance.
sun city festival, The ‘Premier 55+ Active Adult Community’ had two expansions planned in early 2021 in North Buckeye. Before it could break ground, the community had to prove that its new extension had enough groundwater to last 100 years.
State law requires homebuilders to provide evidence spanning this century. Securing water (AWS) certificate. This requirement applies only to residential plots built where groundwater is protected. Active management area.
Residential developers can’t start building until they can prove they’ve been supplying these areas with water for 100 years.
The retiree community has sent two requests to ADWR, hoping to get proof of that. Five months later, the agency dashed dreams of community expansion when all of Hassayampa’s groundwater was already owned by other groups.
“The department is finalizing a numerical model and model report of groundwater flows in the Hassayan Pasab basin. Although the model and model report are not yet completed, the department expects that the estimated 100-year groundwater demand for the proposed plot will be so. We have information indicating that it is highly unlikely that we met,” said ADRW’s response to Sun City Festival.
12News has reached out to Sun City Festival and its parent company PulteGroup multiple times for comment. At the time this article was published, they did not respond to our requests for comment.
“This should come as no surprise to people in the West Valley.”
The AWS program was created to drive home growth towards renewable water sources, such as rivers and reclaimed water, rather than unsustainably depleting the state’s groundwater resources.
It was also created to stop scammers from selling land without water sources to a very real problem in Arizona’s history.
“There was a time in Arizona in the 1970s when there were scammers selling land to Midwesterners…they came here and found that their land had no water,” he said. . Sarah Porter, Director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy said:
This exploitation was so prevalent in Arizona that legislators feared it would become a national narrative for the Phoenix and Tucson areas. Groundwater Management Act 1980was the legislator’s attempt to stop the story from being written.
“Part of the reason for all these rules is to make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Porter said. “Growing on a limited water supply is not a wise strategy.”
This ill-advised strategy has gained popularity over the past few decades as builders moved further west from the Valley. The mega-drought fuel depletion of other water sources, including the Colorado River and local rivers, has only made groundwater more attractive to potential builders.
Construction in the West Valley won’t stop anytime soon. ADWR has approved a number of his AWS certs for development that may not be built for years.
However, groundwater in the area is currently closed to new construction, so builders without certification must find new water sources for development.
In Arizona’s current climate, that’s more difficult than ever, and Porter believes it’s a fact that builders in the area know.
It’s been a year and a half since Sun City Festival heard the groundwater shortage news. Since then, the community has not brought another water source to his ADWR. A database of pending AWS certificate departments is displayed.
“People who have been paying attention to this have been waiting for an announcement, and for people in the West Valley, this should come as no surprise,” said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy.
“We need all the groundwater. What we really need is that those who want development need to bring in new water sources.”
New homes are cut off from groundwater supplies, but rental housing communities can thrive
The AWS program was specifically designed to discourage home builders from using groundwater.
However, certificates are not required for other types of development, such as build-to-rent communities.
“This standard applies only to homes for sale,” said Spencer Kumps, vice president of legislation for the Central Arizona Association of Home Builders.
“[Other] Developments can still mine groundwater, and there is no guarantee that the wells they use will pump for 100 years, nor that the wells they use will affect neighboring wells. “
Loopholes that allow construction rental homes to continue pumping groundwater are a problem that cities like Buckeye, Palo Verde and Tonopah will have to grapple with in the near future, and the same kind of problem Casagrande faces today. .
ADWR has announced a similar cutoff for Pinal County in 2021. Since then, he has approved over 700 rental homes in Casagrande alone.
read more: Casa Grande’s water supply problem takes a new turn
The surge in construction into rental properties shows that ADWR cutoffs will not change builders’ habits any time soon, and groundwater pumping will continue, at least in the short term.
Doug Maceachern, communications manager for ADWR, said: “The days of relying solely on groundwater extraction are coming to an end.”
water wars
Water levels are falling across the Southwest as a massive drought continues. Here’s how Arizona and local communities are affected.
