Nearly 80 percent of Arizona has no regulations over the pumping of groundwater, leading rural residents and leaders to push for change as wells go dry, something Gov. Katie Hobbs has vowed to enact.
The Bureau of Reclamation announced that California, Arizona and Nevada will enter a Tier 2 water shortage next year. The proposed cuts will make only a small dent in the estimated 4 million acre-feet of water that needs to be conserved.