Arizona's Water Strategy: Bring More In and Restrict Its Use

Decades of pumping groundwater faster than the natural rate of replenishment have lowered Arizona’s water table to record depths and caused land subsidence and fissures. The state’s current consumption of water is nearly twice as great as its renewable supply of 2.8 million acre-feet. To correct this dangerous situation the state has taken a two-pronged approach: (1) It will pipe in more Colorado River water via a new aqueduct system known as the Central Arizona Project (CAP); and (2) it has become the first state in the union to restrict the pumping of groundwater. The article gives details of both the CAP and the state’s Groundwater Management Act of 1980.