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REFERENCE TITLE: exemption area; assured water supply |
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State of Arizona Senate Fifty-sixth Legislature Second Regular Session 2024
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SB 1081 |
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Introduced by Senator Kerr: Representatives Carbone, Dunn
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An Act
amending title 45, chapter 2, article 9, Arizona Revised Statutes, by adding section 45-576.10; relating to the groundwater code.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Title 45, chapter 2, article 9, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding section 45-576.10, to read:
45-576.10. Waterlogged area; assured water supply; designation
A. On application to the department by a city or town, the director shall designate a portion of a city or town that is located both in the area delineated for exemption under section 45-411.01 and in the phoenix active management area as having an assured water supply if all of the following apply:
1. The portion of the city or town seeking an assured water supply designation is located entirely within an irrigation and water conservation district established pursuant to title 48, chapter 19.
2. The city or town seeking an assured water supply designation has contracted with the irrigation and water conservation district for a term of not less than one hundred years under which the city or town will receive water that the landowners in the district have the right to use on their lands and will treat and deliver the water for exclusive use on irrigation and conservation district lands for municipal use.
3. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, the city or town seeking an assured water supply designation is not using new groundwater as the basis for the assured water supply within any portion of the city's or town's service area located inside the irrigation and water conservation district.
B. For the purposes of this section and within an exemption area established pursuant to section 45-411.01:
1. An irrigation and conservation district may allow withdrawal of up to ten thousand acre-feet per year of groundwater by the city or town from the irrigation and water conservation district wells for municipal use on lands within the boundaries of an irrigation and water conservation district.
2. The director shall deem groundwater withdrawn pursuant to this section to be physically available and sufficient groundwater as prescribed in section 45-576.
3. The director shall deem groundwater withdrawn pursuant to this section to be consistent with the management goals of the phoenix active management area if the average groundwater level in the irrigation and water conservation district, as measured by ten index wells, is less than one hundred fifty feet below surface level over a three-year period.
4. If the director determines average groundwater levels in the irrigation and water conservation district, as measured by ten index wells, is more than one hundred fifty feet below surface level over a three-year period, all future groundwater withdrawals from wells in the irrigation and water conservation district for municipal use shall be deemed to be groundwater subject to replenishment pursuant to title 48, chapter 22, article 4, and any portion of the city or town with a contract for groundwater with an irrigation and water conversation district shall either be or apply for and become a member service area pursuant to title 48, chapter 22, article 4.