The Arizona Republic
By Kathleen Ferris, executive director of the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association
(Editor’s note: Opinion pieces are published for discussions purposes only.)
In 1978, swindler Ned Warren was convicted of 20 counts of fraud for selling land in Arizona without access to water. Two years later, the drafters of the Arizona Groundwater Management Act put an end to that practice by requiring an “assured water supply” in advance of selling subdivision lots.
In 1980, an assured water supply meant a renewable surface water supply, such as Central Arizona Project water from the Colorado River or water from the Salt and Verde rivers. It did not mean groundwater. The Groundwater Management Act aims to halt the overuse of groundwater that plagued the state for decades.
The requirement to use renewable supplies encouraged cities to make investments in surface-water treatment plants and to store excess surface water underground for use in times of surface-water shortages. It drove them to clean their customers’ wastewater so that it could be used instead of drinking water to irrigate turf in parks and on golf courses, and to restore riparian habitats.
