Ground‐Water Management in Arizona

Arizona, which has had a long history of ground water overdraft, has recently adopted a Ground Water Code that is designed to not only restrict and control withdrawals and uses of ground water, but also to reduce rates of overdraft over time to attain safe yield conditions in three major management areas by the year 2025. The Code provides for ground water management by: (1) Creating a system of rights for existing users, allowing the conveyance and transfer of rights to new users to meet the changing nature of the state's economy and permitting new rights to be issued only if the withdrawals will not excerbate the overdraft problem; (2) mandating all users to implement evermore stringent conservation measures that will be specified in a series of management plans; (3) providing for purchase and retirement of irrigated agricultural lands and rights; and (4) providing for augmentation and recharge projects. Implementation of the Code is proceeding; although statutorily mandated programs have been completed on time, as the Code's restrictions become more binding on the users, resistance among them is increasing.