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SB1610 • 2026

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.

Groundwater Transport Rules Update

This bill updates Arizona's groundwater transport requirements, making technical corrections and creating an exception for certain areas.

What This Bill Does

  • Updates the rules about transporting groundwater to specific water management zones in Arizona.
  • Adds an exception for groundwater transported from the Big Chino sub-basin of the Verde River basin to nearby initial active management areas.
  • Clarifies that groundwater moved according to section 45-555, subsections E and F is legally available under certain rules.

Who It Names or Affects

  • Water companies in Arizona
  • Cities and towns in Arizona

Terms To Know

Initial Active Management Area (IAMA)
A specific area designated by the state for managing groundwater resources.
Central Arizona Project Water Delivery Subcontract
An agreement related to water delivery from a major water project in central Arizona.

Limits and Unknowns

  • The bill does not specify when it will take effect.
  • It only updates existing rules and does not create new requirements for groundwater transport outside of the specified exceptions.

Bill History

  1. 2026-06-12 Senate

    Senate Rules: None

  2. 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