WATER POLITICS

As the Phoenix area grows, so does the need for more secure water sources and that’s why Arizona is exploring options to import billions of gallons of water from out of state.

The Colorado River is a key resource for Arizona’s water, with nearly 35% of the state relying on the river.

Experts say over the last two decades, the basin has been in a megadrought.

“We’re living in sort of a different climate, a drying climate. That’s why there’s uncertainty about the Colorado River and what our allotment from the Colorado River is going to look like after 2026,” said Chelsea McGuire with the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority.

With water resources depleting, Arizona officials are now looking at other options, including bringing in billions of gallons of water from out of state.

“What’s going to need to happen is that we figure out how we allocate a scarce resource to make all of the growth and all of the prosperity that we want to happen. At the same time, that’s really hard to do until you bring more water into the conversation,” McGuire said.

McGuire said finding water resources has been a top priority since 2022 when the state Legislature put them in charge of finding new water sources.

“So 75% of our augmentation resources have to be used out of state. That’s just the law that governs us. But the logic behind that is that if we’re bringing water in from somewhere else, we’re actually making the pie bigger,” McGuire said.

Just last week, WIFA talked with major water providers, like cities and utilities, that would help import this water from out of state.

“We have a solicitation that’s out in the wild. We are asking companies from anywhere and everywhere to come in and give us fully formed teams that can bring an augmentation project from point A to point B,” McGuire said.

The state allocated approximately $430 million for this initiative.

The agency says the goal is to import over 100 billion gallons of water annually.

“There’s surface water from out of state. There’s ocean water. There is reclaimed or recycled water,” McGuire said.

As Arizona continues to search for more water, McGuire said finding outsourced resources will be crucial to keep up with our growing state.

“We need more water from anywhere but Arizona,” she said.