WATER

State’s biggest water reform: Where it’s been, where it’s headed

Leaders ponder changes or updates to the Arizona Groundwater Management Act of 1980

Gov. Stephen Roe Lewis walks the Gila River Interpretive Trail in the Gila River Indian Community in Sacaton in May. Lewis has leveraged the Gila River tribe’s water abundance to help Arizona and others, though what types of new restrictions or accountability lawmakers will apply in the years ahead is uncertain.

Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press

The moment the Arizona Legislature and governor passed arguably the most sweeping set of water use and distribution reforms in state history, Arizona’s population was about 2.72 million, though it had grown 55% over the previous decade.

Maricopa County had grown by more than 4% in each year of that decade.

Gov. Bruce Babbitt signed the Arizona Groundwater Management Act into law June 12, 1980.

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