Examination of the Phoenix Regional Water Supply for Sustainable Yield and Carrying Capacity

Metropolitan Phoenix lacks a current, publicly accessible statement of its water supply from which to evaluate options for growth. This article presents research into the size and sustainability of the regional water supply. It introduces residential carrying capacity as an intuitive measure of the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Natural resources journal 2006-10, Vol.46 (4), p.925-958
Main Authors: BUSH, JAN C., GUHATHAKURTA, SUBHRAJIT, KEANE, JOHN L., DWORKIN, JUDITH M.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arizona
Capacity
Cities
Ecological sustainability
Groundwater
Phoenix
Policy making
Regional studies
River water
Surface water
Sustainable development
Sustainable economies
Sustainable water management
U.S.A
Urban studies
Water
Water management
Water policy
Water resources
Water supply
Water supply - Arizona
Water transport
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Summary:Metropolitan Phoenix lacks a current, publicly accessible statement of its water supply from which to evaluate options for growth. This article presents research into the size and sustainability of the regional water supply. It introduces residential carrying capacity as an intuitive measure of the economic size of a water supply and examines entitlements, regulatory programs, and subsidies that constrain existing supplies from supporting new economic uses. The findings are (1) that the Phoenix renewable water supply is, in theory, sufficiently large to meet future regional economic goals and protect many environmental functions if the current context of entitlements and institutional arrangements is ignored; and (2) that Phoenix needs to engineer new water supply policies instead of new water resources, to avoid large economic and environmental costs in the future.
ISSN:0028-0739
2640-2149