Arizona is Cutting Housing Construction Near Phoenix Because There’s No Longer Enough Water
Due to the multi decade drought Arizona has been facing they will not approve new housing construction on the edges of Metro Phoenix. This would affect the fastest -growing suburbs of the nation’s fifth-largest city.
These companies can still build in these areas, but they would need to find alternative water sources for their homes and construction. This is not to say that Arizona is running out of water; but this is a way to preserve it after decades of severe drought and lack of rain.
According to Fortune, Years of drought in the West worsened by climate change have ratcheted up pressure among Western states to use less water. Much of the focus has stayed on the dwindling Colorado River, a main water source for Arizona and six other Western states. Over the past two years, Arizona’s supply from the 1,450-mile powerhouse of the West has been cut twice. Phoenix relies on imported Colorado River water and also uses water from the in-state Salt and Verde rivers. A small amount of the city’s water supply comes from groundwater and recycled wastewater. The drought has made groundwater — held in underground aquifers that can take many years to be replenished — even more vital.Under a 1980 state law aimed at protecting the state’s aquifers, Phoenix, Tucson and other Arizona cities have restrictions on how much groundwater they can pump. But in rural areas, there are few limitations on its use.
