AMA Management Plans

Management Plans for each active management area reflect the evolution of the Groundwater Management Code, moving Arizona toward its long-term water management goals. The plans include mandatory conservation programs for all persons withdrawing, distributing or receiving groundwater designed to achieve reductions in withdrawals of groundwater.

A series of five management plans prepared beginning in 1980 and running through 2025 contain progressively more rigorous management requirements for agricultural, municipal and industrial water users.

Live query for Supplement 1

In 2022, as a result of the discussions of the 5MP Safe-Yield Technical Subgroup, ADWR published the Overdraft, Safe-Yield, and the Management Goals in Arizona's Active Management Areas Report, a detailed interpretation and analysis of safe-yield. This comprehensive report includes a description of the aspects of safe-yield, how ADWR analyzes those aspects, and the status of each AMA with regards to its management goal. Although the management goal is not safe-yield in every AMA, the applicability of this analysis to other management goals is discussed in the report. The Overdraft Data Dashboard was developed as a supplement to the report, to support data transparency efforts of the department, and to allow an interactive method to stakeholders to explore the associated data.

Management Plans

Fourth Management Plan

ADWR is in the process of formulating and adopting the Fourth Management Plans (4MP), for the period 2010-2020. The AMA Groundwater Users Advisory Council meetings are the forum for public comment.

An evaluation of the management plans as of 2008 assisted the Department in the development of the Fourth Management Plan.

Phoenix AMA

Phoenix AMA Fourth Management Plan

Overview of Changes from the Third Management Plan

Application for Administrative Review

Application for Variance

Comments on the 4MP

COMMENTS ON THE 4MP submitted during formal comment period

Paradise Valley | Nathan Chipman-Boden | Roosevelt Irrigation District | Dobson Ranch | Moe Wakefield

COMMENTS ON THE 4MP

Letter from Speaker Bowers, Senator Kerr, & Representative Griffin | ADWR Response

COMMENTS ON THE 4MP SUBMITTED DURING FORMAL COMMENT PERIOD

MOTION FOR REHEARING OR REVIEW

Arizona Farm and Ranch Group| ADWR Decision

MSIDD & SCIDD | ADWR Decision

Central Arizona Irrigation & Drainage District | ADWR Decision

Prescott AMA

Prescott AMA Fourth Management Plan

Comments on the 4MP

CWAG | U of A Water Resources Research Center | Western Resource Advocates 1 | Western Resource Advocates 2

Santa Cruz AMA

Santa Cruz AMA Fourth Management Plan

Overview of Changes from the Third Management Plan

Map of the Santa Cruz Active Management Area

Santa Cruz AMA Fourth Management Plan Hearing Transcript

COMMENTS ON THE 4MP

Baca Float | Sopori

MOTION FOR REHEARING OR REVIEW

Baca Float and Sopori | ADWR Decision on Baca Float | ADWR Decision on Sopori

Tucson AMA

Tucson AMA Fourth Management Plan

Comments on the 4MP

Metro Water District | Tucson Water | PCRWRD | Tucson GUAC | U of A Water Resources Research Center

Meetings

Upcoming Meetings

Previous Meetings

Agricultural Water Conservation Best Management Practices Advisory Committee Meeting

Wednesday, December 9, 2020 - 10:00am to 12:00pm

Webinar Only

Agenda

The Agricultural Water Conservation Best Management Practices (BMP) Advisory Committee was initially established by executive order in 2002 and was continued in November by Governor Doug Ducey's Executive Order 2020-55. The Committee is charged with advising ADWR’s Director regarding the statutorily authorized Agricultural BMP Program and will provide vital input to the Director on the BMP Program as the fifth management plans and future management plans are finalized and promulgated. Pinal AMA farmer Scott Riggins is the chair of this committee.

This meeting will cover the purpose and scope of the Agricultural Water Conservation BMP Advisory Committee, the history of the Agricultural BMP Conservation Program, and next steps for the committee.

Meeting Recording

Join Meeting

Meeting number: 177 411 7899

Password: AZWater

Or join by phone

877-309-3457 US Toll Free

+1-404-397-1516 US Toll

Access code: 177 411 7899

Pinal AMA Fourth Management Plan Public Hearing

Thursday, August 20, 2020 - 1:00pm

1891 Historic Courthouse 135 N. Pinal Street

Attend via Webinar (strongly preferred):

https://bit.ly/Pinal4MPHearing

DRAFT PAMA 4MP Notice of Public Hearing Template.pdf

Notice of Public Hearing for the Pinal AMA Fourth Management Plan

PAMA Hearing Additional Information.pdf

Additional Information on the Pinal AMA Fourth Management Plan Public Hearing

Phoenix AMA Fourth Management Plan Public Hearing

Monday, February 10, 2020 - 1:00pm

1110 W. Washington St., Suite 310, Phoenix, AZ 85007 Conference Room 3175A-B

Hearing Transcript

Public Hearing Notice

Phoenix AMA Fourth Management Plan Stakeholder Meeting

Wednesday, October 16, 2019 - 2:00pm

1110 W. Washington St., Phoenix, AZ 85007, Conference Room 3175

Phoenix AMA 4MP Stakeholder Meeting Agenda

Phoenix AMA 4MP Stakeholder Meeting Presentation

At several recent public meetings, ADWR has received input regarding the path forward for the Phoenix, Pinal, and Santa Cruz AMAs Fourth Management Plans. Two options were presented during these meetings: one to allow additional time for stakeholder feedback while moving forward with incremental adjustments to the conservation programs in these plans and another to maintain the status quo and adopt conservation programs substantially similar to those in the Third Management Plans. ADWR received comments supporting both options.

As Governor Ducey has stated, Arizona is transitioning into a drier future; the time to begin additional conservation is now. Maintaining the status quo would be a missed opportunity to expand on the conservation framework in the Third Management Plans and would do a disservice to the incremental design of the management plans in the Groundwater Management Act.

ADWR will proceed with incremental adjustments to these remaining Fourth Management Plans. The Department has been working with various stakeholders on refinements to the program outlines that were published in July and is incorporating those changes into the draft Phoenix AMA 4th Management Plan. Additionally, ADWR will hold a Phoenix AMA Fourth Management Plan Stakeholder Meeting at 2 pm on October 16, which will serve as a public forum for questions or further stakeholder input on the draft Phoenix AMA 4th Management Plan.

The Director expresses his appreciation to all those who took time to provide input. That input was weighed carefully as he made a decision on this matter. ADWR believes this path forward balances the need for time and stakeholder input with the need to move forward and make conservation progress under these plans.

First Management Plan

The first management plan for each AMA set forth conservation requirements to assure a dependable water supply and to protect and enhance the future of Arizona. The First Management Plans contained chapters on water resources, management strategy, conservation programs for agricultural, municipal, and industrial users; and description of a groundwater withdrawal management program and a monitoring and enforcement program.

Second Management Plan

The Second Management Plan, adopted in 1989, is the second in a series of five management plans required by the 1980 Groundwater Management Code. The plan guided water management efforts in the Active Management Areas during the last decade of the 20th century. The conservation programs for agricultural, municipal and industrial waters users, introduced in the First Management Plan, have been strengthened; and the water resources analysis of the Active Management Areas have been revised. With the addition of two new programs - water quality assessment and management, and water supply augmentation and reuse - the Second Management Plan presents a more comprehensive water management strategy. The plan's requirements are designed to bring water users another step closer to achieving the water management objectives for the Active Management Areas.

Phoenix AMA

Second Management Plan

First Order of Modifications

Second Order of Modifications

Pinal AMA

Second Management Plan

First Order of Modifications

Second Order of Modifications

Prescott AMA

Second Management Plan

First Order of Modifications

Second Order of Modifications

Tucson AMA

Second Management Plan

First Order of Modifications

Second Order of Modifications

Fifth Management Plan 2020-2025

The provisions of the 4MP will be in effect until the Fifth Management Plan is effective, for the period 2020-2025.

The Fifth Management Plan drafts below are available for informal comments.

Overview of Changes between the 4MPs and 5MPs

Application for Administrative Review

Application for Variance

Phoenix AMA

Draft Phoenix AMA Fifth Management Plan

Informal cOMMENTS ON THE phoenix ama 5MP

formal cOMMENTS ON THE phoenix ama 5mp

informal cOMMENTS ON THE pinal ama 5MP

Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) | William Collings | Arizona Farm Bureau Federation | Salmon, Lewis & Weldon, P.L.C. | Global Water Resources

formal cOMMENTS ON THE pinal ama 5MP

informal cOMMENTS ON THE prescott ama 5MP

Citizens Water Advocacy Group | Town of Prescott Valley | Arizona Farm Bureau Federation | City of Prescott

formal cOMMENTS ON THE prescott ama 5MP

Citizens Water Advocacy Group | Mark Holmes | City of Prescott

informal COMMENTS ON THE santa cruz ama 5MP

Arizona Farm Bureau Federation | TSL Law Group

formal COMMENTS ON THE santa cruz ama 5MP

informal COMMENTS ON THE tucson ama 5MP

Metro Water District | Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) | Arizona Farm Bureau Federation | Mike Block | City of Tucson

formal COMMENTS ON THE tucson ama 5MP

Third Management Plan

All AMAs are currently in the third management period. (The Third Management Plans were adopted in December 1999.) ADWR is in the latter stages of completing the Fourth Management Plan (4MP), scheduled for adoption before 2020. The provisions of the 4MP will be in effect until the effective date of the Fifth Management Plan (5MP).

The Third Management Plan adopts water management programs for the Prescott, Phoenix, Pinal, Tucson and Santa Cruz Active Management Areas until the Fourth Management Plan takes effect.