By Tony Davis | Arizona Daily Star
A “disconnect” in water-management practices risks draining many of Arizona’s aquifers, an ASU study recently warned.
The study referred to the fact that when groundwater is pumped in suburban areas — often leading to significant drops in water tables there — developers, companies and others are allowed to compensate by putting other water back into the ground at locations far away.
Many suburban subdivisions in Pima, Pinal and Maricopa counties do so by belonging to a three-county groundwater replenishment district. They generally use Colorado River water brought by Central Arizona Project canals, or else treated effluent, to recharge water tables and compensate for their pumping elsewhere.
