This small Arizona town could run out of water as soon as this summer

The small town of Kearny could run out of water as soon as this summer. Its mayor has issued dire warnings about taps running dry, and town officials are scrambling to find a solution before then.

In a letter to residents, Curtis Stacy, Kearny’s mayor, wrote “we WILL run out of water on or about July 15, 2026.”

“We've been through shortages before,” Stacy told KJZZ, “but never anything quite like this. What happens there is uncharted territory. I don't really know. There's been no precedent for it. So we'll get to that day, and we'll manage it as best we can.”

The town, which has a population of about 2,000 people, is about a 90-minute drive southeast of Phoenix. It was established amid a mining boom in the 1950s.

The water crisis is the result of two factors: intensely dry conditions around the town’s main water source, and a legal agreement from nearly 100 years ago.

Kearny sits on the banks of the Gila River, which carries snowmelt from the mountains of New Mexico into Arizona. This year, mountains and rivers across the Western U.S. experienced historically dry conditions, and the Gila was no exception. Snow totals in the Gila River basin peaked around 25% of normal, leaving the river parched — and unable to supply enough water to all of its users — come the warmer months.

When the river is short on water, a 1935 legal agreement called the Globe Equity Decree spells out who has to cut back on water use. It is guided by the longstanding policy of “prior appropriation,” which basically says that the first to use water will be the last to lose it in times of shortage.

Kearny is far from the first to use the Gila, and under conditions like the ones expected this summer, it will be forced to take those cutbacks.

As a result, the town has issued severe water restrictions. Kearny has banned washing vehicles and sidewalks, watering landscapes, filling pools, and “any other use of water not related to sanitation or use to support life.”

Writing to residents on April 8, Stacy encouraged residents to go even further. He suggested that residents wear clothes two or three times before washing. Regarding showers, he wrote that there is “no better time to connect with your significant other,” and suggested that people shower at work if possible.

Because the crisis is partially a result of that 1935 legal deal, Stacy said this summer will bring a frustrating reality for people living in Kearny: There will be water in the river, but the town will not be allowed to take it.

“It'll probably be flowing close to bank to bank,” he said. “There will be water in the wells. We just won't have a legal right to use it. That’s what we're facing when Day Zero comes.”

However, this complicated legal problem may also have a complicated legal solution.

Town officials have been working since last August with other water users on the Gila to forge a deal that could bring Kearny more water. That group includes the Gila River Indian Community, the San Carlos Irrigation Project and the mining companies ASARCO and Resolution Copper.

Stacy said there appears to be a willingness to help Kearny, but it will take cooperation, money and the approval of a judge to bring any permanent solution to life.