Groundwater is dwindling in Arizona and across the U.S. What should be done?

By Mark Brodie
Published: Thursday, August 31, 2023 - 11:21am
Updated: Thursday, August 31, 2023 - 12:46pm

Audio icon Download mp3 (11 MB)

Getty Images
An irrigation canal and siphon tubes water an alfalfa field in Arizona.

The headline in a new story in the New York Times reads "America is Using up its Groundwater Like There’s no Tomorrow." The paper’s reporters investigated basins across the country — both their present supplies, and those from over the past several decades.

They found supplies dwindling in many of those places.

In Arizona, groundwater has been very much on the minds of residents and policymakers recently. The state issued a pause earlier this year on some new development in some communities that rely solely on groundwater.

Kathleen Ferris is a senior research fellow at the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University and a former director of the state Department of Water Resources. She joined The Show to talk more about this.

More stories from KJZZ