Across The Western US, Cities Reaching Aggressively For New Water - Pipelines, Groundwater, Desalination
Little more than two months ago, on an unusually rainy November evening, the Queen Creek Town Council staked claim to the city’s future. Queen Creek, located in central Arizona southeast of Phoenix, was founded in 1989 but is already home to some 88,000 people. In a unanimous vote, the council approved a $244 million deal to acquire 12,000 acre-feet of water annually for the next century from the Harquahala groundwater basin, some 90 miles away. (An acre-foot is enough water for about three households per year.)
The purchase, which does not include interest payments or the cost of the infrastructure to pump and move the water, represents 100 years of the young city’s current water demand and gives the fast-growing area access to a water source that will not be subject to Colorado River restrictions, a valuable asset in a state where many cities rely on the beleaguered and shrinking river for a portion of their water. “This truly is a legacy decision that helps us have water self-sufficiency,” said Leah Martineau, a Queen Creek council member, just before the vote.
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Many of these projects bear the weight of controversy. Irrigators in central Kansas sued to block the Hays and Russell pipeline. That case has reached the Kansas Supreme Court. Landowners near one of Corpus Christi’s groundwater pumping projects complain that their household wells are producing less water than before the city turned on its pumps. The Pine Valley groundwater project in southwest Utah has been the subject of a lawsuit over potential harm to spring-fed ecosystems.
Contests for water are a reflection of the times. Major rivers like the Colorado and Rio Grande are drying as a result of the buildup of heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere. The warming climate is gobbling their moisture. Young cities like Queen Creek are adding thousands of new residents each year. Despite the pressures, the western states are not running out of water, economists say. What they are running out of is cheap water. Utilities managers fear that the longer they wait, the more they’ll pay. “Essentially, we’re buying 100 years of future supply at today’s pricing,” said Marc Skocypec, Queen Creek utilities director, about the Harquahala groundwater purchase. The deal essentially locks in the price, and eliminates a state requirement to pay a fee for replenishing groundwater pumped locally.
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https://www.circleofblue.org/2026/supply/western-u-s-cities-open-wallets-in-quest-for-water/
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