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The
action by the Arizona Department of Water Resources stands to
slow population growth for the Phoenix Active Management Area,
home to 4.6 million people and one of the most rapidly expanding
areas of the United States.
The state's recently concluded analysis projected a water
shortfall of 4.86 million acre feet (6 billion cubic meters) in
the Phoenix area over the next 100 years.
In response, the state said it will deny new certificates of
Assured Water Supply, which enable home construction.
Arizona has imposed such restrictions on other areas, and not
all of greater Phoenix requires a certificate, but experts said
the measure was certain to slow home-building in an area
representing over half the state's population.
"It's a reality check. We need to have the water supplies in
order to grow," said Sharon Megdal, director of the University
of Arizona's Water Resources Research Center.
The Department of Water Resources said developers would need to
find other sources to build.
Those sources could include officially designated entities that
have excess water to sell, or farmers or Native American tribes
with water rights, but all are facing short supplies given
overuse and a historic drought this century.
Recycled water or desalinated brackish groundwater could also
increase future supplies, Megdal said.
A home builders trade association said theirs is the only
industry required to meet 100 years of demand for groundwater
use, even though new homes have doubled their water efficiency
in recent years and already restock the groundwater they consume
through the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District.
"We have struggled with the fact that we're the only one that
ultimately is stopped when groundwater issues arise," said
Spencer Kamps, vice president of the Home Builders Association
of Central Arizona.
Arizona's other main water source, the Colorado River, is also
under strain.
Arizona along with partner states in the Colorado River Compact
last week agreed to reduce their intake from the river by 13%
over the next three years as part of a seven-state plan to save
a river that provides drinking water for 40 million people,
including Phoenix.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Richard Chang and Kim
Coghill)
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