Arizona will not approve new housing construction on the fast-growing edges of metro Phoenix that rely on groundwater thanks to years of overuse and a multi-decade drought worsened by climate change. In a news conference Thursday, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the pause on new construction that would affect some of the fastest-growing suburbs of the nation’s fifth-largest city. Driving the state’s decision was a projection that showed that over the next 100 years, demand for almost 5 million acre-feet of groundwater in metro Phoenix would be unmet without further action, Hobbs said. An acre-foot of water is roughly enough to serve two to three U.S. households per year.
There isn’t much water to go around in the desert, and it seems Arizona is at least partially starting to realize this.
Never understood why anyone would be foolish enough to try to grow lawns in a desert.