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I'll be fully honest that this is a bit biased as someone who lives and grew up in AZ. I do have to say though out of all the states in the southwest, Arizona

I'll be fully honest that this is a bit biased as someone who lives and grew up in AZ. I do have to say though out of all the states in the southwest, Arizona has had better resource management and conservation of the limited water resources we have. As early as the 50's and 60's Arizona took a pretty aggressive stance on securing water rights and even in the 80s took steps to ensure that as large metro areas grew that water sustainability was something that at least had passing thoughts about when new developments are built. AZ might have been one of the earliest adopters of water policies focused on drought conditions[1]. While California was draining basins, aquifers and depleting their surface water, areas under active management in AZ were focused on ensuring that our aquifers were (somewhat) sustainable. Is that enough? Almost certainly not. Is there more we should do? Unequivocally yes. What you are seeing is rural areas who fell outside these management schemes having their chickens come home to roost. This is in stark contrast to parts of Phoenix where there have been areas where the water tables have been rising [2] (which I assume) are due to the reduction in water heavy crops, landscape management, etc. TL;DR: AZ has water problems, but we have known about this since the 80's and at least tried to take action. [1] - https://new.azwater.gov/aaws https://new.azwater.gov/aaws [2] - https://www.azwater.gov/gwsi/Hydrograph.aspx?SiteID=334750112082001 https://www.azwater.gov/gwsi/Hydrograph.aspx?SiteID=33475011...

mech422 4y ago
yeah - PHX water usage has apparently fallen, so I'm not surprised water tables have risen. Un-incorporated areas north of Scottsdale are already seeing their aquifers run dry(1,2). I'm not sure who would buy a house in the desert without knowing where their water was coming from. According to the New Yorker article, people were STILL buying the houses KNOWING they had no water and no well... 1 https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the-water-wars-come-to-the-suburbs https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the... 2 https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2021/12/14/hundreds-rio-verde-homes-near-scottsdale-were-built-without-water/6441407001/ https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands...
- genmud 4y ago
  I knew it was Rio Verde before I even clicked on it, lol... This goes to show how important it is having a sustainable, intentional water management program. From 1980 -> 2020 census [1] in PHX metro the population went from 1,600,093 -> 4,845,832. This is all while certain water tables have grown in size. Rio Verde supports a bunch of farmland which isn't under a sustainable water district on that water table.
  - mech422 4y ago
    I didn't know there's farmland up there...the new yorker article made it sound pretty 'yuppy desert retreat'. What I find really weird is their assumption that Scottsdale will just bail them out. >>This goes to show how important it is having a sustainable, intentional water management program. Yeah - it's also really fascinating all the work that goes into it. That GRUSP water storage facility seems really neat..Also, using waste water to cool Palo Verde was pretty ingenious. Largest nuke plant in the country, powered by grey water :-)

mech422 4y ago

yeah - PHX water usage has apparently fallen, so I'm not surprised water tables have risen. Un-incorporated areas north of Scottsdale are already seeing their aquifers run dry(1,2). I'm not sure who would buy a house in the desert without knowing where their water was coming from. According to the New Yorker article, people were STILL buying the houses KNOWING they had no water and no well... 1 https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the-water-wars-come-to-the-suburbs https://www.newyorker.com/news/letter-from-the-southwest/the... 2 https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands/2021/12/14/hundreds-rio-verde-homes-near-scottsdale-were-built-without-water/6441407001/ https://www.azcentral.com/story/opinion/op-ed/joannaallhands...

genmud 4y ago
I knew it was Rio Verde before I even clicked on it, lol... This goes to show how important it is having a sustainable, intentional water management program. From 1980 -> 2020 census [1] in PHX metro the population went from 1,600,093 -> 4,845,832. This is all while certain water tables have grown in size. Rio Verde supports a bunch of farmland which isn't under a sustainable water district on that water table.
- mech422 4y ago
  I didn't know there's farmland up there...the new yorker article made it sound pretty 'yuppy desert retreat'. What I find really weird is their assumption that Scottsdale will just bail them out. >>This goes to show how important it is having a sustainable, intentional water management program. Yeah - it's also really fascinating all the work that goes into it. That GRUSP water storage facility seems really neat..Also, using waste water to cool Palo Verde was pretty ingenious. Largest nuke plant in the country, powered by grey water :-)