Lessons from the 2025 Legislative Session

Arizona lawmakers introduced a record 130 water-related bills during the recently adjourned 2025 legislative session, surpassing last year’s 95 bills. It’s clear that legislators recognize water as a priority, but very few of those bills actually strengthened our overall water security. 

To successfully address Arizona’s water challenges in the future, greater collaboration and less partisanship will be needed at the Legislature. This is even more crucial if state leaders are to address the public’s concerns about our long-term water security, as highlighted by a new survey . Therefore, reflecting on lessons learned from this concluding session will be valuable for the future.

Like the last session, most of this year’s bills were driven by lawmakers, developers, and homebuilders who want to restart building subdivisions in the far reaches of this Valley, where groundwater is the only water source. The state halted such developments in June 2023, when the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) released a groundwater model  for the metropolitan Phoenix area, projecting that demands over the next 100 years would exceed aquifer supplies. State lawmakers will still need to balance the conflicting pressures from developers and homebuilders while safeguarding the long-term health of our aquifer for existing residents, especially as there will be less Colorado River water.

Creating an Ag-to-Urban Program was seen as an acceptable compromise to address the unmet demands identified by ADWR in its groundwater model. This new program is designed to incentivize the retirement of agricultural land, allowing subdivisions to be built in areas where groundwater limitations have previously prevented such developments. Following the unsuccessful effort in the last session and months of negotiations, the Governor, legislators, and stakeholders hammered out the final language, which involved trade-offs over the complicated details of such a program. 

An essential lesson from the Ag-to-Urban deliberations is that developing a comprehensive water policy will always be a complex and challenging endeavor. Still, solutions can be found when there’s a willingness to understand each other’s position and collaborate with a give-and-take approach. While time will tell how much farmland will be retired and replaced with subdivisions under this new program, it was structured as best as possible to reduce overall groundwater pumping. 

However, it also highlights another lesson about pressure on both groundwater and Colorado River water: policy changes affecting one supply will influence the use of the other. For example, in the case of the Ag-to-Urban legislation and other proposed water bills, the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD) can no longer magically solve growth and water issues. The CAGRD raised awareness about the reality of its limited water portfolio, which would be insufficient to fulfill its current responsibilities and replenish the groundwater pumped by new subdivisions that legislation introduced this session would have permitted. CAGRD insisted on and received some support from the state, but further discussion is necessary to bolster CAGRD’s supplies and its structural mechanisms.   

CAGRD’s supply constraints are interconnected with the limitations we face due to the declining Colorado River. We know that we will have less Colorado River water after 2026, when the federal government implements new operational guidelines for the river; however, we do not yet know the size of the reductions. Having less Colorado River water available, CAGRD will need to acquire additional, more costly supplies to remain solvent.  

The AMWUA cities face the same dilemma and are pursuing near-term solutions, such as the expansion of Bartlett Dam on the Verde River and the utilization of Advanced Water Purification (AWP). State support is needed for both near-term and larger long-term water investments to offset reductions in Colorado River water. In 2022, the Legislature committed $1 billion to develop a new water supply; however, the fund now has less than half of that amount remaining due to legislative sweeps. Unfortunately, lawmakers once again redirected more than $73 million from the state’s downpayment meant for a long-term water augmentation project. This fall, the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) will identify potential water augmentation projects, which could make augmentation more tangible for legislators and revive the need for the state to invest in new water supplies. 

If State Leaders want to continue seeing more homes built and Arizona’s economy prosper, it won’t be done by altering water regulations. It will require making informed decisions about complex water management issues, protecting groundwater in both urban and rural regions, and investing in the development of additional new supplies.  

In looking ahead to next year, lawmakers and the water community need to work better together to address the water challenges we are facing, including:

• Reductions to Arizona’s Colorado River water and how users mitigate those cuts will be the primary focus in 2026.
• The aquifer’s limitations will remain an issue due to additional pumping required to offset cuts in CAP deliveries after 2026, as well as developers' efforts to push for increased pumping to recoup their investments.
• Securing and investing in new supplies needs greater attention to offset impending Colorado River reductions for the AMWUA cities and ensure growth occurs on renewable supplies, not solely groundwater.  

As the recent poll shows, the public expects state leaders and water stakeholders to collaborate on solutions to these challenges. As we learned from the Ag-to-Urban negotiations, starting to work together now, instead of waiting until the start of the 2026 session, will improve the chances of success. Those involved should also recognize that we can no longer depend solely on the CAGRD or any single water institution to manage growth and groundwater issues — it requires teamwork. The public recognizes that water security, both now and in the future, is the foundation that enables our communities to be resilient and thrive.   

For 56 years, the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association has helped protect our member cities' ability to provide their communities with assured, safe, and sustainable water supplies. For more information, visit www.amwua.org .