States that rely on water from the over-tapped Colorado River want the U.S. Supreme Court to block a lawsuit from the Navajo Nation that could upend how water is shared in the Western U.S.

Parts of California are under water, the Rocky Mountains are bracing for more snow, flood warnings are in place in Nevada, and water is being released from some Arizona reservoirs to make room for an expected bountiful spring runoff.

There is no sugar-coating it: Water supplies in Arizona are approaching crisis levels. We are at an inflection point in our history, where we must confront that the West’s reservoirs are sharply declining – and may never return to historic levels.  

While the lack of groundwater regulation plagues rural Arizona, there are proposed ways to create a larger supply in the region without depending on dwindling amounts from the Colorado River and groundwater.  

Groundwater is one of the main water resources for most of Arizona. It is finite and mostly unregulated, especially in rural communities that solely depend on it.  To change this, in 2022, the basins around Douglas and Kingman became regulated by the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR).  

The Environmental Protection Agency has notified Salt River Project that it plans to deny the utility’s request to continue dumping coal ash into an unlined pond at its Coronado Generating Station coal-fired plant in eastern Arizona.

The Scottsdale City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to adopt a resolution supporting a plan that would temporarily resume service providing water to the nearby Rio Verde community. 

Attorney General Kris Mayes issued an opinion today affirming that Maricopa County has the power to temporarily supply water to Rio Verde, which was recently cut off by Scottsdale after decades of reliance on the city for water. 

A House panel passed a bill that would force Scottsdale to temporarily resume service providing water to the unincorporated Rio Verde community, but Democrats withheld the support needed for immediate relief.  

Will new urgency around Arizona’s water woes lead to more action on the decades-old issue? Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke said he thinks so, and there’s a few specific things he has in mind for the next few years under new Gov. Katie Hobbs.