Report: Arizona Faces Long-Term Water Shortfall

By Will Stone
Published: Tuesday, July 28, 2015 - 4:42pm
Updated: Wednesday, July 29, 2015 - 11:24am
KJZZ
Lake Powell.

The drought has everyone closely watching the variations in reservoirs or snowpack. But even if the drought lets up in the next couple years, Arizona is still facing a long-term water shortage. 

Unless it acts, the state will face a deficit of anywhere from 1.8 to 2.6 million acre feet by 2060. To put that in perspective, municipal use in the Valley totals about 1 million acre feet every year. All of this is based on our best estimates, outlined in a new report from the University of Arizona. The solutions to cover this shortfall are numerous. Two obvious ones are conservation and reused water. Susanna Eden, one of the authors of the reports, calls them “low-hanging fruit.”

Eden said it is critical to look realistically at how much water we can get from those sources and to start planning now. For example, if the solution is to shift water from agriculture, "and yet maintain a vibrant agricultural economy, that will take changes in attitude, in law and changes in institutions,” said Eden.

That same kind of foresight would also apply to a major engineering project, like a desalination plant. 

Science