Active Management Areas (AMAs)

Within Arizona's Active Management Areas (areas in which groundwater use is highly regulated) there is a cap and trade system for groundwater, and cities, Tribes and other entities can accrue and exchange long term storage credits for water that is stored in underground aquifers. This report explains how these credits are accrued and accounted for and how they have become an integral tool for water providers. It includes a dashboard of long term storage credit accounts in Arizona. 

Four of Arizona's Active Mangagement Areas (AMAs) have a goal of "safe-yield" -- a long-term balance between groundwater withdrawals and recharge. And yet four decades after that goal was adopted there is little expectation that any AMA will achieve safe yield over the long-term. This critical analysis examines the barriers to achieving safe-yield and offers recommendations for strengthening groundwater management in the AMAs.

The Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District (CAGRD) was created to enable groundwater-reliant urban growth in areas that lacked access to renewable supplies. This critical analysis examines how CAGRD has shaped urban growth and water policy over the past 25 years, outlining reforms to strengthen the state's water future amidst CAGRD's long-term sustainability challenges.

Within the state's Active Management Areas, cities, Tribes and other entities can accrue long term storage credits for groundwater stored in the aquifers. This tool provides details about each long term storage credit account -- how much water and where it is stored -- potentially facilitating exchanges of groundwater supplies among account holders.   

This interactive map shows how groundwater levels have changed in Arizona's 51 groundwater basins over 1-year, 10-year and 20-year periods.