Arizona's Ground-Water Resources and Their Conservation

As Arizona enters the 1980's, we see that population growth, economic expansion, and resource depletion go hand-in-hand. Non-renewable groundwater-reserves in Arizona are being extracted at rates that cannot long continue without incurring serious consequences, economic as well as environmental. Growth of irrigated agriculture in the alluvial basins of the state, growth of urban and suburban populations, and,growth of industrial pumping, especially for copper mining -milling and for cooling of electric power generation facilities, have incurred a heavy draft on the state's aquifers. The net result of such ground-water withdrawals has been the "mining" of underground water reserves, a continuing overdraft in excess of natural replenishment, and steadily dropping water tables. This rate of depletion of ground water is generally considered to be the most serious water problem in Arizona. It is by no means the only problem. We must be concerned also with maintenance of water quality in view of existing and potential pollution; administrative systems for equitable and efficient water allocation and use; and the legal and environmental aspects of water acquisition and utilization.In order to assess present and possible future water conditions in the state relative to growth, water resources will be viewed from the standpoint of (1) water usage, both quantitative and qualitative; (2) conservation of water; (3) availability of water; and (4) projected water needs.This item is part of the Water Resources Research Center collection. It was digitized from a physical copy provided by the Water Resources Research Center at The University of Arizona. For more information about items in this collection, please contact the Center, (520) 621-9591 or see http://wrrc.arizona.edu