News & Events

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.

Ten months later, the project has its water anyway.  In May 2026, the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) approved wells for an entity tied to the project’s developer to pump groundwater for the facility.  

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Gammage & Burnham Practice groups Earn Top Chambers & Partners Rankings for Construction, Water Law, Land Use & Zoning, and Real Estate. Click here for our LinkedIn posting,

This article may be distributed with attribution but may not be excerpted or modified without the permission of the author(s). Copyright © 2026.

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AZ Business Magazine® has recognized Gammage & Burnham PLC as one of the Top 100 Places to Work in Arizona. The firm continues to receive distinguished recognition for the depth and quality of its legal services and workplace culture, and we are honored to celebrate this achievement, which reflects our longstanding commitment to excellence, collaboration, and delivering exceptional service to our clients. Click here for more detailed information on our specific areas of practice.

Click below to view our LinkedIn posting.

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Gammage & Burnham PLC is proud to announce its recognition for excellence across multiple practice areas in the 2026 edition of Ranking Arizona. The firm continues to receive distinguished recognition for its legal capabilities, and we are honored to once again celebrate these achievements earned through our longstanding commitment to delivering exceptional results for our clients. Click here for more detailed information on our specific areas of practice.

These accolades reflect our attorneys’ dedication to delivering high-quality legal representation to clients in a wide range of practice areas.

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Legal Alert: The Superior Court granted Home Builders Association of Central Arizona motion for summary judgment in the homebuilders’ lawsuit against Arizona Department of Water Resources on April 21st, 2026. This could potentially provide a path forward for residential development on groundwater in the Valley.

The Challenged “Rules”

In November 2024, ADWR released an updated groundwater model for the Phoenix AMA. Based on this model, ADWR shifted from site-specific assessments to two new “AMA-Wide” standards. HBACA challenged the following two applications of the Phoenix AMA model:

• AMA-Wide Unmet Demand Rule: If modeling predicts that even a single well in the Phoenix AMA cannot meet its demand within 100 years, ADWR concludes that groundwater is not physically available anywhere in the domain.

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