A combination of water management practices has contributed to notable groundwater gains in Central Arizona despite the region dealing with long-term water stress, according to a study led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and collaborators in Arizona and Colorado.
A combination of water management practices has contributed to notable groundwater gains in Central Arizona despite the region dealing with long-term water stress, according to a study led by researchers at The University of Texas at Austin and collaborators in Arizona and Colorado.
Since 1980, Central Arizona has been working to recharge its depleted aquifers. Much of that recharge depends on water from the Colorado River of the southwestern United States. That water, which accounts for 36% of Arizona’s water supply, is brought to the state from over 300 miles away via the Central Arizona Project’s system of aqueducts.
Some of the state’s policies incentivize farmers to use surface water from the river rather than tap into groundwater. Other policies channel the river water directly to aquifer recharge zones, where it can seep down to the groundwater.
According to the study, which was published in Communications Earth & Environment, these policies have helped bank a total of 10.5 cubic kilometers of groundwater water from 1989–2019 in the Phoenix, Tucson and Pinal active management areas, where these policies are in place. What’s more, the researchers found that an additional 14.2 cubic kilometers in the aquifers can be attributed to water seeping in from surface-water irrigation that’s not part of an active management program.
Read more at University of Texas at Austin
Image: The Superstition Mountains Recharge Project is part of the Phoenix active management area. Water from the Colorado River is brought to the basins so they can recharge groundwater levels. (Credit: Central Arizona Project and Philip A. Fortnam)
