Reports indicate that the Arizona Department of Water Resources sometime soon will appeal a recent judicial decision regarding construction project water restrictions.
That decision, issued two weeks ago, struck down a rule imposed last year by the Water Resources Department requiring what is known as a “100-year groundwater supply” for all new development sites across designated water management areas.
Issued in the Superior Court of Arizona, the new decision asserted that the Water Resources Department has been failing to follow an accepted process for creating new rules, as required by state law. In so doing, the department has utilized “criteria when reviewing applications that did not previously exist, while claiming that it is still applying the existing rules.”
The restriction has been particularly resisted by home builders. According to a press release issued by the Goldwater Institute, which has represented the builders in the litigation, the Water Resources Department’s actions have “effectively strangled home construction in one of the fastest-growing residential markets in the country.”
Home builders were unhappy with the water restriction rules governing residential construction projects to begin with, but the decision by the Water Resources Department to widen the focus to what is known as active management areas is what spirited the litigation.
The Goldwater Institute additionally noted that the Water Resources Department action has had the effect of limiting construction “at a time in which the limited supply of residences has caused housing prices to soar.”
In an interview with the Phoenix Business Journal, Douglas MacEachern, communications administrator for the Water Resources Department, said that the agency “does plan to appeal, but at this time we don’t have a filing date set.”
May 6, 2026
By Garry Boulard
