Alexandra M. Arboleda

Alexandra is a seasoned attorney who specializes in water and natural resources law, focusing on finding creative, practical solutions for clients navigating the complexities of water supply issues. She represents a broad range of clients, including municipalities, utilities, water providers, real estate developers, industrial users, farmers, and ranchers, with a particular emphasis on general stream adjudications, groundwater management, and Colorado River issues.

Alexandra is a Member with Gammage & Burnham, where she brings extensive experience in water and natural resources law to assist clients in securing reliable and sustainable water supplies.  Alexandra’s in-depth understanding of water law and policy enables her to deliver innovative strategies for her clients, ensuring long-term solutions to complex water challenges.

Alexandra successfully led several initiatives on behalf of her clients to develop policy solutions to water challenges involving multiple stakeholders.  She achieved a statutory change to facilitate an agricultural client’s ability to cost-effectively adapt to reductions in Colorado River supplies.  Also, she led a policy initiative on behalf of several real estate developer clients to create a pathway to incentivize the voluntarily development of actively irrigated farmland in compliance with Arizona’s Assured Water Supply Program.

As lead negotiator for several municipal, industrial, and agricultural clients in Arizona’s General Stream Adjudication, Alexandra helped those clients navigate comprehensive settlements, and she served as primary drafter of an Indian water rights settlement agreement.  She was also a vital member of the litigation team, responsible for drafting legal briefs and arguing motions to the Court, including on issues of first impression in water law.

Alexandra has extensive experience protecting her client’s historic water rights and water supplies, and she has negotiated and drafted important agreements for those clients.  Notably, Alexandra also represents a municipal client in protecting water rights for conservation and instream flow in its parks and recreation areas.

Engaging regularly with the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Alexandra has achieved successful outcomes for several commercial and industrial clients in Administrative Review actions, negotiating cost-effective solutions that allowed clients to continue operating their businesses while complying with increasingly more stringent conservation regulations.  She also spearheaded the Department’s initiation of an agricultural best management practices workgroup, with participation from water stakeholders, to collaboratively develop regulations that meet conservation goals in an achievable manner.

Moreover, Alexandra advises real estate clients on their water portfolios, optimal ways to provide water to diverse properties in Arizona, and on compliance with Arizona’s Assured Water Supply Program.  She has advised her commercial and industrial clients regarding the sale and lease of water rights as well as the acquisition of new supplies including reclaimed water supplies.

In addition to her legal practice, Alexandra has played a prominent role in water policy as an elected member of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board of Directors.  She has developed a strong network of community leaders and decision makers to forge collaborative solutions with, and she is a recognized voice on water issues, regularly speaking and writing about western water law and policy.

Alexandra was born in Iowa and raised in New York, Germany, and Arizona. She graduated with a B.A. in Political Science from Stanford University in 1991 and earned her J.D. from the University of Arizona College of Law in 1995. Before law school, Alexandra spent time teaching second grade in Honduras and studying abroad in Santiago, Chile.

Court Admissions

• State Bar of Arizona
• Federal District Court

Speaking Engagements

• Presenter, CAP, CAGRD, and the Colorado River, Advanced Water Law Seminar, ASU Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law (2023, 2024, 2025)
• Presenter, CAP 101, CAP and CAGRD, CAP Power, CAP Water Quality, CAP Finance, CAP University (2023, 2024, 2025)
• Presenter, Arizona’s Assured Water Supply Program: Impacts on Growth and Development, State Bar of Arizona Real Property Section (2024, 2025)
• Presenter, Overview of Arizona Water Law, ASU Master of Real Estate Development Class (2024)
• Presenter, CAP, CAGRD, and the Colorado River, Arizona Forward Emerging Leaders Program (2023, 2024)
• Presenter, Arizona’s Assured Water Supply Program: Impacts on Growth and Development, Rocky Mountain Land Use Institute (2024)
• Presenter, Law of the Colorado River, Inns of Court (2024)
• Presenter, CAP 101, Scottsdale Citizen’s Water Academy (2022, 2023)
• Presenter, Land Use Update: Economic Development, Water, Housing & More, State Bar of Arizona CLE (2023)
• Presenter, Looking to the Future: New Solutions and Opportunities for Augmentation, Law of the Colorado River Conference, CLE International (2023)
• Presenter, CAP and the Colorado River, ABI Multifamily Lunch & Learn (2023)
• Presenter, CAP and the Colorado River, Arizona Commercial Mortgage Lenders Association (2023)
• Presenter, CAP and the Colorado River, Luxury Home Tour (2023)
• Presenter, CAP and the Colorado River, Peoria City Council (2022)
• Presenter, CAP and the Colorado River, Cave Creek Town Council (2022)
• Presenter, CAP and the Colorado River, Scottsdale Association of Realtors (2022)
• Presenter, Arizona’s Drought Contingency Plan Implementation Challenges: Planning for the Future, Law of the Colorado River Conference, CLE International (2021)
• Presenter, CAP and the Colorado River, Scottsdale Realtors (2021)
• Presenter, CAP and the Colorado River, Glendale Rotary Club (2021)
• Presenter, Update on Colorado River Issues, League of Arizona Cities and Towns Conference (2019)
• Presenter, Colorado River Update – Will the Law of the River Survive Drought and Growth, California Water Law & Policy Conference (2019)

Publications

• Reflections on United States Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Arizona Attorney Magazine (December 2024)
• Opinion: Ag-to-Urban Groundwater Incentive A Win for Arizona, Arizona Capitol Times (June 6, 2024)
• Opinion: One State Stands in the Way of Fair Colorado River Cuts. (Hint: It isn’t Arizona), Arizona Republic (March 15, 2023)
• The Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan: A Collaborative Approach to Adaptive Management, Law of the Colorado River Conference (March 11, 2021)
• Update on the Colorado River Drought Contingency Plan: Collaboration and Adaptation, California Water Law & Policy Conference (May 28, 2019)
• Water Trading in Arizona: Free Market Solution or Water Grab, Western Water Law & Policy Reporter (Vol. 22, No. 3, Jan. 2018)
• Arizona Supreme Court Finds State Department of Water Resources Need Not Consider Unquantified Federal Reserved Water Rights in Determination of Land Use Development, Western Water Law and Policy Reporter (Vol. 22, No. 11, Oct. 2018)
• Opinion: Everyone Loses if We Can’t Agree on Water, Arizona Republic (April 21, 2017)

Professional & Community Involvement

Professional & Community Involvement

• State Bar of Arizona, Energy and Natural Resources Law Section Member
• Co-Chair, Law of the Colorado River Conference, CLE International (2025)
• TGen Ambassador, Translational Genomics Research Institute Foundation (2025)
• Elected Official, Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board of Directors, Maricopa County (2017-present)
  • Vice President, Executive Committee Member (2023-present)
  • Chair, Finance, Audit, and Power Committee (2023-present)
  • Chair, CAWCD Insurance Company Board of Directors (2023-present)
  • Delegate, Arizona Re-consultation Committee (2023-present)
  • Secretary, Executive Committee Member (2021-2023)
  • Chair, Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District & Underground Storage Committee (2021-2023)
  • Co-Chair Water Quality Standards Task Force (2017-2019)
• Commissioner, Arizona Water Banking Authority (2019-2023)
• Public Leadership Credential, Public Policy Analysis, Harvard Kennedy School (2021-2022)
• Flinn-Brown Fellow, Arizona Center for Civic Leadership Academy (2018)
• Mary’s Food Bank Alliance, Volunteer (2015-present)
• Teacher, Law, Speech and Debate, Mock Trial, Moot Court, and Logic, BASIS Phoenix (2014-2015)
• Writer, Raising Arizona Kids Magazine (2008-2011)
• Girl Scouts of the USA (2008-2011)