Buckeye and Queen Creek Secure Historic Approvals to Augment their Water Portfolios with Imported Harquahala Water
By the Gammage & Burnham Water Group: Alexandra M. Arboleda, Grady Gammage, Jr., Michael J. Pearce, Kyle R. Stenseth, and Sean F. Krieg
The City of Buckeye and the Town of Queen Creek have secured approvals to augment their water supplies by importing water from the Harquahala groundwater basin. On July 18, 2025 the Arizona Department of Water Resources (“ADWR”) issued a decision and order approving applications by each municipality to transport the water pursuant to A.R.S. § 45-554. These historic approvals will bolster each municipality’s water portfolio and support responsible development.
Since 2021, Gammage & Burnham water law partner Michael J. Pearce has represented the municipalities in their transactions to acquire the rights and in the transportation applications.
What Happened
Arizona’s 1991 Groundwater Transportation Act broadly prohibits importing groundwater into an Active Management Area (“AMA”), with limited exceptions for certain transportation basins. One of these transportation basins is the Harquahala Irrigation Non-Expansion area, a hydrologically distinct groundwater basin roughly sixty miles west of Phoenix. Pursuant to A.R.S. § 45-554, groundwater may be transported from the Harquahala basin and imported to an AMA.
For years, the City of Buckeye and the Town of Queen Creek have worked with ADWR and Harquahala landowners to navigate the complex requirements for these transportation applications. These approvals by ADWR represent the first approvals of transportation applications from the consortium of private lands and the Arizona State Land Department lands within the Harquahala basin.
Why It Matters
Groundwater modeling released in 2019 and 2023 by ADWR projected that available groundwater within parts of the Phoenix and Pinal AMAs had already been allocated to existing and planned uses. The modeling prompted a moratorium on new Assured Water Supply determinations using groundwater withdrawn from the Phoenix and Pinal AMAs, and signaled the importance of utilizing alternative water sources. This has limited new development within the City of Buckeye and the Town of Queen Creek. For the two municipalities, this Harquahala water will augment their portfolios and give them another tool for supporting responsible development.
The Harquahala basin is well-positioned to augment the Phoenix AMA because of its access to the Central Arizona Project (“CAP”) canal. Subject to federal water quality standards for the introduction of non-Colorado River water, Harquahala water could be wheeled through the CAP canal and delivered to municipalities in the Phoenix AMA. ADWR’s approval of these transportation applications could now lead to progress on finalizing water quality standards for wheeling water through the canal, which are currently pending at the federal level.
Next Steps
With these approvals, the City of Buckeye and the Town of Queen Creek can now proceed with constructing infrastructure to withdraw and transport the Harquahala water. The municipalities and other stakeholders can also support efforts to adopt federal standards that would allow for wheeling the water through the CAP canal. Although it will take time for wet water to begin flowing to the municipalities, these approvals by ADWR are a historic achievement.
From a larger water management perspective, these approvals illustrate the benefits of Arizona’s long-term approach to water management. It shows that the municipalities are proactively planning for the future by augmenting their water supplies. These approvals coming over three decades after the transportation statutes were first adopted shows that the Arizona legislature had the foresight to facilitate these applications decades before they were needed. Arizona has and will continue to be a leader in responsible water management.
Gammage & Burnham is proud to support our clients in shaping Arizona’s water future—contact us to learn how we can help navigate complex water transactions and regulatory approvals.
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