Arizona is exploring importing billions of gallons of water to boost supplies

On December 17, 2024By Littum

PHOENIX (AZ Family) — As the Phoenix area grows, so does the need for safer water sources, which is why Arizona is exploring the possibility of importing billions of water from abroad.

The Colorado River is a key resource for Arizona’s water, with nearly 35% of the state dependent on the river.

Experts say that over the past two decades, the basin has been in a mega-drought.

“We live in kind of a different climate, a dry climate. That’s why there’s uncertainty about the Colorado River and what our allocation from the Colorado River is going to look like after 2026,” said Chelsea McGuire with Water Infrastructure Funding Authority.

With water resources depleted, Arizona officials are now looking at other options, including bringing in billions of gallons of water from the state.

“What needs to happen is we figure out how to allocate a scarce resource to get all the growth and all the prosperity that we want to happen. At the same time, that’s really hard to do until you bring more water into the conversation,” McGuire said.

McGuire said finding water resources has been a top priority since 2022, when the state legislature set them to find new water sources.

“So 75% of our augmentation resources have to be used out of state. That’s just the law that governs us. But the logic behind that is if we bring water in from somewhere else, we’re actually making the pie bigger,” McGuire said.

Last week, WIFA spoke with major water providers, such as cities and utilities, who would help import this water from overseas.

“We have a call that’s out in the wild. We’re asking companies from anywhere and everywhere to come in and provide us with fully formed teams that can take a reinforcement project from point A to point B,” McGuire said.

The state allocated approximately $430 million for this initiative.

The agency says the goal is to import over 100 billion gallons of water annually.

“There’s surface water from overseas. There’s seawater. There’s reclaimed or recycled water,” McGuire said.

As Arizona continues to search for more water, McGuire said finding outsourced resources will be critical to keeping up with our growing state.

“We need more water from places other than Arizona,” she said.

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