Water resource problems within pre-platted communities in the United States: the case of Lake Havasu City, Arizona

This paper analyzes water resource-management issues at Lake\ud Havasu City, Arizona, a large, pre-platted community. This\ud amenity-based community is located in western Arizona, where\ud water supply is a major concern. Water resource problems are\ud intensified by poor planning and development decisions made\ud by the original developer. The site chosen for development is an\ud alluvial fan located in an extremely arid and drought-plagued\ud region. To make matters worse, the entire site was platted and\ud sold as rapidly as possible, creating problems associated with\ud a sprawling subdivision and scattered developed. Fortunately,\ud community officials have managed to devise ways to overcome\ud many of these problems by implementing some rather innovative\ud water resource-management techniques. Despite these\ud innovative approaches, more is needed to meet the fresh water\ud demands of a growing population. There is a special need to\ud view water resource issues in a regional context because the\ud demand for water supply is not limited to a single community.\ud Competing demands for limited, potable water supplies require\ud a cooperative effort if communities are to succeed in meeting\ud future water resource needs. This is particularly significant at\ud Lake Havasu City, because their water supply is determined by\ud decisions made by those in charge of establishing Colorado River\ud water use allocations