Overview
Due to Arizona’s rapidly increasing population, existing water supplies
may become insufficient to meet the demands of people, farms, and our
environment. According to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, Arizona faces
a potential water supply crisis by 2025, and in over 80 percent of
Arizona, developers can build subdivisions with hundreds of thousands
of houses, even if the state declares the region’s water supply to be
inadequate.
Arizona’s
population is on track to double by 2030. Exploding development in
areas where there are few protections and little water—such as the
200,000 homes planned for bedroom communities of Las Vegas—threatens to
overwhelm Arizona’s water resources.
Even
municipalities in Arizona that have conserved water, such as Phoenix
and Tucson, could lose financial and water resources to bail out
developments with inadequate water supplies.
Developers
must stop building beyond the limits of a sustain¬able water supply.
Our water should be conserved, used efficiently, and restored wherever
it is taken out of our water supply.
To do nothing is sure to invite future shortages and put unneeded
strain on our water systems and our environment. We can ensure that
unsustainable, poorly planned growth doesn’t overwhelm Arizona’s clean
water resources.
However, our decision makers must act now to ensure our water needs can stand up to Arizona’s current and future growth. More.
