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.
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.
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.
ADWR Active Management Areas Low Water Use & Drought Tolerant Plant Lists: