groundwater; transporting requirements; technical correction

SB1610 - groundwater; transporting requirements; technical correction

Water

Passed Legislature

This bill passed both chambers and reached final enrollment, even if later executive action is not shown here.

Sponsor: Thomas "T.J." Shope
Last action: 2026-06-12
Official status: Senate Rules: None
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Checked against official source text during the last sync.

SB1610: Rules for Moving Groundwater Between Areas

This bill updates Arizona law about when cities and water companies can count transported groundwater as a reliable supply.

What This Bill Does

Stops the director from counting certain moved groundwater as an assured water supply if the user was offered but did not sign a Central Arizona Project contract.
Requires users with contracts to prove they have pipes and plants ready for 95% of their allocated surface water before using transported groundwater.
Mandates that these users must accept or trade at least 80% of their available surface water in one of the three years prior to moving groundwater.
Creates an exception allowing specific rules not to apply when moving water from the Big Chino sub-basin to a neighboring area.

Who It Names or Affects

Cities and towns that manage local water supplies
Private water companies operating in Arizona
The director of the state agency managing groundwater

Terms To Know

Initial Active Management Area: A region where new rules apply to control how much groundwater is pumped.
Central Arizona Project (CAP): The system that delivers surface water from the Colorado River to parts of Arizona.
Assured Water Supply: Proof required by law showing a community has enough reliable water for its residents and businesses.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill does not state when these new rules will officially start.
The text only changes one specific section of the Arizona Revised Statutes (45-557).

Bill History

2026-06-12 Senate
Senate Rules: None
2026-06-12 Senate
Senate first read

Official Summary Text

SB1610 - groundwater; transporting requirements; technical correction

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

SB1610 - 572R - I Ver

REFERENCE TITLE:
groundwater; transporting
requirements; technical correction

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

SB 1610

Introduced by

Senator
Shope

An Act

amending
section 45-557, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to groundwater.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 45-557, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
45-557.

Requirements for transporting groundwater to an initial active
management area; exception

A. Except as provided in subsections B and C of this
section:

1. The director shall not consider groundwater that
is being or will be withdrawn in a groundwater basin or sub-basin pursuant to
this article or the Pinal active management area and transported to an initial
active management area for purposes of determining or providing an assured
water supply pursuant to section 45-576 if the groundwater is being or
will be used by a city, town or private water company that was offered but did
not sign a central Arizona project water delivery subcontract.

2. A city, town or private water company that has
signed a central Arizona project water delivery subcontract may not use
groundwater withdrawn in a groundwater basin or sub-basin pursuant to this
article or the Pinal active management area and transported to an initial
active management area until it has both:

(a) Demonstrated that it has the physical capacity,
including the water treatment plant and delivery system, to accept delivery of
ninety-five
per cent

percent
of
its central Arizona project water entitlement under its central Arizona project
water delivery subcontract.

(b) Accepted delivery of or exchanged eighty
per cent

percent
or more of the central
Arizona project water available to it under its central Arizona project water
delivery subcontract in at least one of the three years immediately preceding
the year it intends to begin using groundwater transported away from a groundwater
basin or sub-basin pursuant to this article or the Pinal active management
area.

B. Subsection A of this section does not apply to
groundwater withdrawn in the Big Chino sub-basin of the Verde river groundwater
basin and transported to an adjoining initial active management area pursuant
to section 45-555.

C. Groundwater transported to an adjoining initial
active management area pursuant to section 45-555, subsections E and F shall be
deemed to be legally available under the rules adopted pursuant to section 45-576.

END_STATUTE