PHOENIX — State water officials said Thursday they won’t issue any permits for new subdivisions for some areas on the fringes of Phoenix, the first real acknowledgment that the state’s water supply cannot support all of the anticipated growth.
Tom Buschatzke, the director of the Department of Water Resources, said a newly completed analysis of groundwater in the basin in and around Phoenix shows there simply won’t be enough to provide the legally required 100-year supply of water. State law requires such assurances in the major metropolitan areas before construction can take place.
He put the shortage at 4.9 million acre-feet over the next century, about 4% of the anticipated need. An acre-foot represents about 325,000 gallons and is generally considered enough to serve three families for a year.
