Author Archives: Terry Hernlund

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Authored by Attorney’s Sean F. Krieg and Grady Gammage Jr.

Arizona’s land use and real estate questions have water law answers

Land-use and water attorneys Grady Gammage Jr. and Sean F. Krieg trace how Arizona’s 1980 Groundwater Management Act tied the right to build to the right to water, and why that gate is straining under wildcat subdivisions, falling aquifers, and a shrinking Colorado River.

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Authored by Attorney Sean F. Krieg

What the 2026 Legislature Did (and Didn’t Do) on Water

If you want to know where Arizona water law is heading, don’t look at what passed this session.  Look at what didn’t make it.

Arizona’s 57th Legislature adjourned on June 13 after a water session defined by what didn’t get done.  Now, roughly a month after sine die, the dust has settled enough to take full stock—and the ledger is thin. 

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Built to last: Ag-to-Urban

Authored by Attorney Sean F. Krieg

Arizona’s groundwater fights rarely end cleanly.  They grind on in courts and at the Capitol, in rulemakings and in basins where neighbors disagree about water equity and availability.  Disagreements amplified in 2023, when state regulators stopped approving new groundwater-reliant subdivisions around Phoenix.  Since then, homebuilders, farmers, cities, and rural communities have all been pulling in different directions.  Meanwhile, Colorado River shortages loom over everything, and all signs point to increasing water costs. 

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Recent Rulings Put ADWR’s Groundwater Authority to the Test

Authored by Attorney Sean F. Krieg

Over the past several weeks, three Superior Court cases have brought a quiet but consequential question into focus: How far does the Arizona Administrative Procedure Act (APA) reach into the Arizona Department of Water Resources’ (ADWR) groundwater decisions?  For anyone who plans, builds, finances, or is responsible for approving groundwater-dependent projects, the answer is starting to matter a great deal.

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