Joanna Allhands: Here’s the story you don’t know about one of the most important laws Arizona ever passed – and what today’s leaders can learn from it.
By Joanna Allhands, opinion columnist | The Republic
In 2016, when the rains dried and reservoirs shrank, California was forced to impose drastic water conservation measures to keep taps flowing.
Arizona avoided this fate, despite being a far drier place, largely because we had something California didn’t: the Groundwater Management Act of 1980.
The state legislation, the first of its kind in the nation, outlawed irrigation on any new acres of farmland and required subdivisions in more populated areas to show a 100-year water supply before building, among other requirements.
