> The Department of Water Resources said developers would need to find other sources to build.
> Those sources could include officially designated entities that have excess water to sell, or farmers or Native American tribes with water rights, but all are facing short supplies given overuse and a historic drought this century.
Don't get me wrong - I lived in Southern AZ during my undergrad years (Go Cats!) and loved it. It's a nice place....in the winter. But the summers there are BRUTAL beyond belief, and in times of climate change and things getting hotter, there's no reason to continue to build and bring in new residents - it's just not a good idea.
Also it obviously wasn't one person who decided to build a massive city. Lots of people are moving there because they like whatever trade offs the area offers.
We have a canal that goes to the Colorado river, and Phoenix is in an active management area (AMA) water district. The state is actively working to be at a point where the canal isn't necessary to supply our water needs, and any excess capacity gets "banked" into aquifers or water reservoirs. People love to shit all over Phoenix for being in the middle of a desert with no rivers, but there are some extremely well managed and healthy aquifers out here (and ones where it's the Wild West, which is what you hear about on the news, like in Rio Verde).
In fact, the water management here is probably one of the most forward thinking and strategic in the entire country.
Our aquifers in Phoenix have been RISING since we enacted more stringent measures in the 1980s. Read that again, because it surprises people, but we have more water in most of the Phoenix metro water wells than we did 40 years ago.
Last I heard, we were planning on being entirely water neutral for our water aquifers in Phoenix, Prescott and Tucson by 2025. That means like 80-90% of the states population will be located near water sources that are sustainable and well managed.
