News
Arizona’s land use and real estate questions have water law answers
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.
Arizona’s 57th Legislature Water Law Update: The Vetoes Told the Story
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.
Breaking News: Built to last: Ag-to-Urban
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.
Breaking News: Recent Rulings Put ADWR’s Groundwater Authority to the Test
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.
Breaking News: Project Blue Groundwater
When a City’s “No” Isn’t the Last Word: Groundwater, Data Centers, and the Limits of Local Control.
Authored by Attorney Sean F. Krieg
Last August, the Tucson City Council encountered a public outcry over water and power consumption for Project Blue, a data center proposed on the city’s southeast edge. Faced with this opposition, the council voted unanimously to reject the project, including its access to city water.
