On January 9, 2023, Governor Katie Hobbs issued an Executive Order to establish the Governor’s Water Policy Council (“Council”), which is tasked with modernizing the Arizona Groundwater Management Act, the state’s playbook for protecting its groundwater. The Council will update groundwater management tools and protect groundwater, which serves as 41 percent of the state’s water supply. The Director of the Arizona Water Resource Department chairs the Council. Based on the Council’s focus areas and objectives, two committees were formed: Assured Water Supply (AWS) and Rural Groundwater Management.
Assured Water Supply
The Assured Water Supply Committee was established to review and make recommendations for changes to Assured Water Supply policies - legislatively, administratively, or by executive action - to address the challenges revealed by Assured Water Supply modeling projections, while continuing to:
- Strengthen the integrity of the Assured Water Supply program
- Protect consumers and aquifers
- Ensure future growth is not reliant on mined groundwater.
AWS Committee Concept Proposals
Members of the Assured Water Supply Committee:
- Rep. Gail Griffin, Arizona House of Representatives
- Brenda Burman, CAWCD
- Cynthia Campbell, City of Phoenix
- Doug Dunham, EPCOR
- Kathleen Ferris, Honorary Councilmember
- Spencer Kamps, Home Builders Association of Central Arizona
- John Kmiec, City of Tucson
- Leslie Meyers, SRP
- Joe Olsen, Southern Arizona Water Users Association
- Clark Princell, Valley Partnership
- Robyn Sahid, Arizona State Land Department
- Joe Singleton, Pinal County Water Augmentation Authority
- Sen. Priya Sundareshan, Arizona State Senate
- Warren Tenney, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association
- Sandra Watson, Arizona Commerce Authority
Rural Groundwater Management
The Rural Groundwater Management Committee was established to develop recommendations for a water management framework to assist rural Arizona communities to manage their groundwater resources.
Rural Groundwater Committee Concept Proposals
Members of the Rural Groundwater Management Committee:
- Paul Brierley, Arizona Department of Agriculture
- Ed Curry, Curry Seed and Chile Company
- Maria Dadgar, Inter-Tribal Council of Arizona
- Ron Doba, Northern Arizona Municipal Water Users Association
- Sandra Fabritz, Freeport-McMoRan
- Jamie Kelley, Mohave County Water Authority
- Chris Kuzdas, Environmental Defense Fund
- Sharon Megdal, UA Water Resources Research Center
- Haley Paul, Audubon Southwest
- Karen Peters, Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
- Sarah Porter, ASU Kyl Center for Water Policy
- Abe Springer, NAU College of Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences
- Craig Sullivan, County Supervisors Association
- Tom Torres, Arizona Department of Forestry and Fire Management
- Rep. Stacey Travers, Arizona House of Representatives
- Chris Udall, Agribusiness & Water Council