Arizona water Law Flashcards
There are two kinds of water: surface water and groundwater. Surface water includes any water that has percolated down from the surface to an underground area. Groundwater is defined as water with no obvious surface source.
In Arizona, not all surface water is treated the same way. In terms of the law, there are actually four categories of water:
Groundwater: water found under the ground, for example in aquifers or wells
Surface water: water found on the surface of the land (makes sense so far!)
Colorado River water: okay, yes, technically the Colorado River is surface water, but it is administered differently because it is shared by several states who all want a piece of that sweet, sweet agua
Effluent: as you’ll recall from our last chapter on septic systems, effluent is “recycled” water
A lake with water flowing underground and a well side-by-side to highlight surface water and groundwater respectively.
Where Does the Water Go?
What does Arizona need all this water for, anyway? Do we all just need to start turning the water off when we brush our teeth? While a lot of water goes toward municipal use — water for drinking, showering, and refilling our ornamental koi ponds — much of Arizona’s water is used for other purposes. Here are the main places water goes in Arizona:
Agriculture: As we talked about on the previous screen, despite the lack of water, Arizona has been cultivated for thousands of years. Currently, 68% of Arizona’s water goes to irrigating farms.
Industrial: mines, power companies, and other manufacturing
Municipal and domestic: drinking, showering, watering grass and gardens, swimming pools, etc.
Special purpose: golf courses, water parks, etc.
Definitions
You’ve probably already guessed this, since we’re devoting a whole chapter to it, but: we’re going to go deep on Arizona water law. There’s a lot to know, and it can be kind of picky and legalese-y. We’re spending so much time on water law both because it’s important to understand these issues and because there’s a good chance you’ll see it on the state exam.
Before we go any farther, though, let’s get a few things straight. Here are some terms you’re going to see in this chapter. If you start to feel confused, pop back here and hopefully these definitions will clear things up for you:
Water Law Definitions: acre-foot, potable water, water table, safe yield, overdraft, irrigate, surface water, groundwater.
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Water in Arizona
Our main three areas of focus in the chapter are going to be on groundwater laws, Colorado River surface water laws, and non-Colorado River surface water laws. We’ll start with the non-Colorado River surface water, which, to make life a little easier, we will henceforth just call “surface water.”
Surface Water Rights
Surface water is generally governed by riparian rights, littoral rights, or the doctrine of prior appropriation. States with abundant surface water usually go with riparian and littoral rights, while states (like ours) with scarce surface water tend to opt for the doctrine of prior appropriation. Are the words riparian and littoral ringing a bell for you? We learned about them all the way back in Level 1. Let’s review real quick.
Riparian and Littoral Rights: Review
Even though Arizona doesn’t use riparian and littoral rights to govern their surface water, we’re going to take a quick look at how they work for some of that compare-and-contrast learning goodness.
Navigable Water
If you cast your mind back to the distant past (Level 1), you’ll recall that riparian rights govern flowing waters, like rivers, while littoral rights govern still waters, like lakes. Often in the world of riparian and littoral rights, whether or not a body of water is considered navigable changes the rights associated with the water. The only navigable water in Arizona is the Colorado River, and it’s got its whole own thing we’ll talk about in a few.
What Riparian and Littoral Rights Are All About
Riparian and littoral rights give landowners located near a body of water the right to “reasonable use” of the water. Typically, they own a portion of the water: to the center of the river outward from their lot lines, for example. How much of the water they own will be spelled out in the deed.
The landowners can use “their” water for recreation or irrigation within what would be considered reasonable (can’t drain the river dry, for example), but they can’t divert the water. While some states using riparian and littoral rights have instituted more rules and permitting about water use in recent years, it’s a much more hands-off system than prior appropriation.
These rights can’t be sold separately from the property, and can’t be lost through non-use. It’s a pretty chill approach to water rights. Basically: you can use the lake you live next to as long as you’re cool about it. Like I said, these are rules for people with more water than they know what to do with.
Surface Water: Riparian and Littoral Rights
That was a lot of water law, but in Arizona, water is an important topic. A property’s water rights (or lack thereof) can drastically affect its value. Water law will be important in real life, and you’ll almost certainly see it on the state exam. Here’s a quick review!
Key Concepts & Principles
Here are the concepts and principles you’ll want to master from this chapter.
What the ADWR Does
The ADWR manages all of the water in the state. They do this by:
Administering all state water laws (except environmental or water quality laws)
Creating policy for water conservation
Developing policy to increase state water supply and distribution capabilities
Issuing permits for drilling wells
Keeping a database of water rights and well ownership
Kinds of Water
There are four main kinds of water in Arizona, and they’re treated differently by the law. They are:
Groundwater: water found under the ground, for example in aquifers or from wells
Surface water: water found on the surface of the land (they really named these terms right, huh?)
Colorado River water: okay, yes, technically the Colorado River is surface water, but it is administered differently because it is shared by several states who all want a piece of that sweet, sweet agua
Effluent: as you’ll recall from our last chapter on septic systems, effluent is “recycled” water
Definitions
Acre-foot: a volume of water equal to an area of 1 acre with a depth of 1 foot (43,560 cubic feet) and equal to 325,850 gallons (memorize these numbers, Anthony!)
Potable water: water that can be safely and agreeably used to drink
Water table: the natural level at which water will be located, be it above or below the surface of the ground
Safe yield: as much or more water is replaced in a water system than taken out
Overdraft: more water is taken out of a water system than is replaced
Irrigate: to supply water to two or more acres to produce plants for sale, human consumption, or feed for livestock
Surface water: water that sits or flows above the earth, including underground water that is the result of the surface water percolating down.
Groundwater: underground water that is not clearly derived from a surface source
Doctrine of Prior Appropriation
We use the doctrine of prior appropriation to regulate non-Colorado River water in Arizona. Main tenets:
Water is a collectively-owned public good and should be used beneficially (in other words, used for something, like diverting it for irrigation)
Whoever got there first has dibs on the water (also known as “first in time, first in right”)
Permits are required for water use
Once a permit is issued, a person’s water rights are said to be perfected. The first in time, first in right rule means that the person with the oldest perfect rights gets priority access to water.
The oldest claimant is known as the “senior diverter,” and those with later claims are called “junior diverters.”
Central Arizona Project
The Central Arizona Project (CAP) is a Bureau of Reclamation project to build a grand canal that delivers Colorado River water to central Arizona. It’s a MASSIVE project — 336 miles of canals with tunnels, pumping plants, and aqueducts that moves 1.5 million acre-feet of water a year. It delivers water to Native water users as well as municipal water to people in Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties. CAP is funded by taxpayers and municipal water and electricity users in those counties.
Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD)
The Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) acts as a liaison between the federal government that manages CAP and the end users of the water delivered by CAP.
Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD)
CAWCD also manages the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD). CAGRD is tasked with making sure that the areas that are part of CAWCD (again, Maricopa, Pima, and Pinal counties) will have an adequate supply of water for the future.
1980 Groundwater Code
The Code did many things, including:
Created the ADWR
Put in place strict rules around water conservation
Mandated drought-preparedness plans
Created an underground storage and recovery program
Created Arizona Water Banking Authority
Created the Assured and Adequate Water Supply Programs
Created Active Management Areas (or AMAs) and Irrigation Non-Expansion Areas
AMAs
Water can only be drawn from the ground in an AMA in a few specific scenarios:
Exempt wells
Service area rights
Special withdrawal permits
Grandfathered rights
Grandfathered Rights
Irrigation rights: farms using water for irrigation, irrigated crops between 1975-1980. Runs with the land.
Type 1 non-irrigation rights: retired farmland, rights run with the land, for commercial use, no more than three acre-feet per acre
Type 2 non-irrigation rights: can be sold separately or leased, can only take from wells on the certificate issued by ADWR, for commercial use
A chart of the AMA grandfathered water rights: irrigation rights, Type 1 non-irrigation rights, Type 2 non-irrigation rights.
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The Assured Water Supply Program
Assured supply means that there will be enough water for an area to use for the next 100 years. Before a developer can sell plots to a new subdivision within an AMA, they must get an Assured Water Supply Certificate from the ADWR. They apply for the certificate when the subdivision is being created.
The ADWR looks for seven things before they’ll issue an Assured Water Supply Certificate:
The subdivision has access to enough water for the next 100 years
The developer has a legal claim to that water
The water supply is constant, or the developer is able to name a backup supply
The water meets quality standards for drinking water
The developer or their contracted water provider can afford to build the required water delivery, storage, and treatment systems
The water supply meets the water management goals of the AMA
The projected demand fits within the AMA’s conservation requirements
The Adequate Water Supply Program
The Adequate Water Supply Program functions in both open areas and INAs, and it’s much less strict than the Assured Water Supply Program. It’s more like a consumer advisory program than a strict set of rules for development.
A developer in an Adequate Water Supply Program area just has to either demonstrate that there’s “adequate” water supply, or disclose that there isn’t adequate water supply to a buyer.
INAs
An Irrigation Non-Expansion Area is an area where groundwater is not abundant, but not as depleted as in an AMA. Irrigation rights for farming can’t be added within an INA (hence the name), but other uses may be allowed.
Chapter Summary
