People won’t move to a place if there’s not enough water for their needs. In a place like Arizona, where surface water supplies are relatively scarce, sustainable management of water is a prerequisite to developing a population and an economy. Generally, this entails developing infrastructure projects for purposes such as water storage, treatment, delivery and even importation from distant places.

When it comes to conceptualizing new water supplies for Arizona, there’s no lack of imagination -- and seemingly no lack of ingenuity: Engineers and futurists have proffered everything from ocean desalination to hauling icebergs to 

Since the 1980s, Arizona Tribes have leased water for off-reservation use by cities and industries. A Tribal water lease is an agreement through which a Tribe allows an entity to temporarily use part of the Tribe’s water allocation in exchange for payment.

A project to move water, change its use, alter its quality or store it is likely to be expensive.

augment (verb): to make greater, more numerous, larger or more intense
augmentation (noun): the act or process of augmenting something

Merriam-Webster.com. Merriam-Webster, 2022.

Water Augmentation Series

Behshad Mohajer is a Research and Policy Analyst at the Kyl Center for Water Policy, where he maintains the comprehensive geodatabase for Arizona Water Blueprint and develops web-based tools to support water policy research. His work focuses on improving access to water data and enhancing its usability for stakeholders and the public.

Cora Tso is a Senior Research Fellow at Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy. She researches, analyzes, and develops recommendations on Arizona Tribal water policy, focusing on Tribal Nations’ interests, needs, and opportunities in regulatory and legislative processes.

In 2024 the Kyl Center for Water Policy introduced a blog series featuring updates on Colorado River, groundwater and other water policy issues in Arizona. The next two years will be pivotal as stakeholders negotiate the reservoir operating rules that dictate Colorado River shortages in our state, and these shortages will impact our groundwater. We will try to bring some clarity through light-hearted updates featuring a movie theme. This is our second segment in this series. We hope you enjoy it!

Water: Blogged 

Exploring Arizona’s Water Future: Blog Series from the Kyl Center