Addressing Arizona’s Water Supply Challenges Requires Common Sense, Fairness

In the middle of a critical housing crisis, Gov. Katie Hobbs halted the construction of homes in large swaths of Arizona. She did so without legal authority, and based on a deeply inaccurate and flawed claim that Arizona is running out of groundwater. In a state where home affordability ranks among the worst in the country, her action is already having devastating consequences for Arizonans that will only get worse.

Before a subdivision can be approved, the state must issue a certificate showing proof of a 100-year water supply. Since 1980, home builders have proudly adhered to this longstanding policy that for generations has allowed our state’s population to grow while preserving our precious natural resources at the same time. That’s how our state manages to use the same amount of water with 7.5 million residents today as it did 70 years ago when we had fewer than 1.5 million residents.

Citing what the state has called an “unmet demand,” the Hobbs administration now refuses to issue permits for home construction in areas that rely on groundwater for their main water supply. The administration took this drastic action outside of the normal regulatory process in violation of state law, placing an undue burden on both the home building industry and hard-working Arizonans desperate for more affordable housing. It’s one of the most significant bureaucratic overreaches in the history of our state, and it’s why the Goldwater Institute sued the Hobbs administration on behalf of the Home Builders Association of Central Arizona, to protect our state’s ability to conserve its precious natural resources and grow economically for the future.

Read the rest of the op-ed in Arizona Capitol Times.

Jon Riches is vice president for litigation at the Goldwater Institute.