FLOOD00213 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

. . ARIZONA VATER TRANSFERS SUKHARY ARIZoNA TRANSFER POLICY Arizona's 1980 Groundwater Management Act is the driving force behind water farm purchases in Arizona. The act established four Active Management Areas (AMAs) within which the groundwater is being managed intensively to reduce groundwater withdrawals.' The management goal for the Phoenix, Tucson, and Prescott AKAs is to achieve safe yield by the year 2025. Safe yield for purposes of the statute means that groundwater withdrawals may not exceed total recharge - - in other words, the basin must become hydrologi- cally "balanced." In the Pinal AKA, where a primarily agricultural economy exists, the goal is to extend the life of the economy as long as possible consistent with the need to preserve future water supplies for nonagricul- tural uses. Within AKAs, the Act prohibits new development where a 100 year assured water supply does not exist. Before most lands within an AKA may be-offered for sale or lease, a certificate of assured water supply must be obtained from the Director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR). Additionally, the proposed water use must be consistent with the management plan and achievement of the management goal for the AKA. Within those AKAs which have safe yield as their goal, an assured water supply eventually may not be based on mining groundwater within AKAs. Consequently, the quantity of groundwater located within AKAs that can "count" toward an assured water supply is finite. Cities and towns which have subcontracted to receive Central Arizona Project (CAP) water are presumed to have assured water supplies until the year 2001. At this time the determination is subj ect to review by the Director. The uncertainty created by this provision drives many municipalities with seemingly adequate CAP supplies to obtain additional water rights outside of their AKAs. The transferability of various water rights is summarized in Table A. GROUNDWATER TRANSFERS The withdrawal, use, and transportation of groundwater is regulated by the provisions of the 1980 Groundwater Management Act. The Act was moti- vated, in part, by a need to resolve uncertainties created by court-made rules limiting the transportability of groundwater. Provisions of the Act removed some limitations on the transportation of groundwater to promote development. For example, the Act eliminated injunctive relief as a remedy for a neighboring landowner damaged by water transport and specified a set of circumstances and conditions under which a rightholder who has suffered injury may sue to recover damages. This means that a damaged party cannot stop the transport, but can, under certain circumstances, be compensated for any losses suffered. An action to recover damages is usually allowed when groundwater is moved across a basin or sub-basin boundary, but injury is not presumed merely from the fact of transportation. The legal nature of groundwater varies depending on whether the water is withdrawn from within or outside of an AKA. ,~