As Arizona continues to over pump groundwater across the state, lawmakers advanced four measures Tuesday that would ease pumping regulations in active groundwater management areas.  Two of the bills approved by the Senate Natural Resources Committee Tuesday would allow farmers to irrigate land not already included in an active management area irrigation right if the land meets certain criteria.  The Groundwater Management Act of 1980 established five initial active management areas in Arizona — the cities of Phoenix, Prescott and Tucson, as well as Santa Cruz and Pinal counties — in which groundwater pumping is recorded and regulated, as opposed to pumping being entirely unregulated in other parts of the state. 

Other Arizona water news:

• KTAR (Phoenix, Ariz.): Data centers that power AI have huge impact on Arizona’s power grid, water supply
• Navajo-Hopi Observer: $4M goes to Hopi Tribe to advance energy and water independence