Buckeye and Queen Creek can now access groundwater from a farming area in western Phoenix.
The move comes after officials from the Department of Water Resources approved the first-ever legal transfer of water from rural Arizona to cities.
The agreement will allow the communities of Buckeye and Queen Creek to withdraw up to 5,926 acre-feet per year and 5,000 acre-feet per year, respectively from the Harquahala basin.
Still, the question remains as to whether this is a permanent solution.
Sarah Porter is the director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. She says this inter-basin transfer isn't a total answer to ensuring that Arizona has enough water to continue to grow.
"Increasingly, I think there's a recognition that we need to find some other water supplies."
The agreement is authorized for up to 110 years, enough to serve more than 30,000 homes.
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Gov. Katie Hobbs has vetoed a bill that sought to clip the legal wings of Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes, with one Republican legislator even calling her a "bully" for how she is pursuing companies over their groundwater pumping. -
Len Necefer’s piece starts with the following sentence: “The storm that killed Phoenix arrived on the evening of July 14, 2027, dragging a wall of dust 3,000 feet high.” -
Arizona State University's Dave White said Phoenix and other cities in the Colorado River Basin need a "reset" to live within the means of climate change. -
Arizona Congressmen Andy Biggs and Greg Stanton joined forces this week to request the release of drought mitigation funding. -
Cloud seeding is being used here in Arizona and in states across the West to literally make clouds rain or snow. The question is, how much water can it add to our increasingly dry climate?
