Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen (R-Gilbert) wants to throw away the portion of state water law that requires urban residential developers to demonstrate they have access to a 100-year water supply.
Petersen says the requirement is arbitrary and detrimental to reasonable housing development. He blames the requirement for the Arizona Department of Water Resources’ announcement earlier this year that it will not issue permits for new housing development in some of Phoenix’s outlying communities because the Department’s modeling shows some areas will not have enough water to meet the 100-year supply mandate.
He called the announcement and its subsequent coverage irresponsible and said they created the false impression the state was running out of water.
The requirement was codified in the state’s 1980 Groundwater Management Act, which was enacted after a developer—Ned Warren—sold land to out-of-state developers without providing water access. Warren was eventually convicted of several counts of fraud.
Petersen says Arizona’s requirement is not comparable with states that have similar climates and water issues and says the next most stringent requirement is California’s, which mandates a 25-year supply. Petersen said Arizona could easily put in place a requirement of five-to-10 years more than any other state as its standard and free up potential development for needed homes.
In the 1970s, after the Warren scandal but before the Groundwater Management Act, Arizona put a strict disclosure law in place that required developers to tell buyers if homes had an “adequate” supply of water in place. Adequate was defined as 100 years. That disclosure requirement eventually evolved into the 1980 law covering Arizona’s active management areas, most notably Phoenix and Tucson.
Except for cities and towns with their own requirements, the 1970s law that only requires disclosure and does not bar construction or sales between informed parties is still in place.
Petersen and housing industry groups have decried ADWR’s decision to eliminate permitting in some areas based on modeling and the 100-year supply requirement in the face of the state’s ongoing affordability and housing supply crises. They point to the extensive improvements in conservation and efficiencies that have been implemented in home construction as reasons why the requirement is unnecessary in the modern market.
Gov. Katie Hobbs has expressed her opposition to any effort to eliminate the 100-year supply requirement. “Attacking critical protections for our finite water resources is irresponsible and it’s not going to happen on my watch,’’ Hobbs said. (Source)