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Casa Grande had big plans for growth, but changed them to meet groundwater supply

Pinal County farmers have had to cut back on Central Arizona Project water due to the ongoing drought.

But one of the county’s growing communities remains confident that it has enough water for development.

Casa Grande planners once made bold predictions for the future and envisioned a city of half a million people.

But during a recent revision of their planning documents, city officials looked at the groundwater supply and decided to revise their thinking.

Paul Tice of the Casa Grande planning department said that by scaling back, they were able to bring growth in alignment with the water supply.

“Yeah, we’ve pulled out development projections, down to what we really think can be supported with the known water resource that we have available,” Tice said. 

He says the city has enough water for about 20,000 new single family homes, which could be enough for the next 20 years.

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Ron Dungan was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2020 to 2024.