Stories - AZPM

The Central Tucson Groundwater Treatment System, located near Davis Monthan Air Force Base, removes PFAS contaminates from the aquifer below the area.

The Buzz: Dealing with Arizona's PFAS problem

Why are the chemical class also known as forever chemicals so dangerous, and what's being done to fix the problem?

Reductions to Arizona's Colorado River supply, including water delivered by the Central Arizona Project, are issued starting in January 2022. The first-ever cutbacks will mean less available for underground storage.

Tucson gives up some CAP water for cash

City will still get its daily need, but less surplus.

An ore cart, encrusted in invasive mussel shells, rests on a ledge above a receding Lake Powell.

‘It’s getting close’: As the megadrought grinds on, Arizona working to meet water demands

Satellite photos show a dramatic change.

Garnett Querta fills his water truck from a fire hydrant on the Hualapai reservation Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in Peach Springs, Ariz. The water pulled from the ground here will be piped dozens of miles across the rugged landscape to serve the roughly 600,000 tourists a year who visit the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai reservation in northwestern Arizona — an operation that's the tribe's main source of revenue.

State of unease: Colorado basin tribes without water rights

Hualapai tribal land in northwestern Arizona borders 100 miles of the Colorado River, but the tribe can't draw from it.

Treated wastewater, like this sample in Carson, California, could soon become a bigger part of the West's water portfolio. Cities in the drought-stricken Colorado River basin are putting big money behind project

Water managers see promise in recycling sewage

It could be a solution for the shrinking Colorado River

A vacant lot is used as a place to stack and assemble sandbags for use by residents whose properties are at risk of flooding.

The Buzz: A strong monsoon brings road closures and floods

Why does some infrastructure get overwhelmed by above-average summer rain?

Sweetwater Wetlands

The Sweetwater Wetlands is a public park, birding hotspot - and part of Tucson’s reclaimed water system.

Rancho Sahuarita has grown fast, and its water utility has had to grow quickly with it.

We should go where the water is

Arizona’s economy runs on growth. But as the state is forced to make cuts in its water usage, it will have to reconsider what the housing developments built to accommodate that growth look like and even how many more people it can realistically handle.

The seven states in the Colorado River basin couldn't agree on a plan to conserve unprecedented amounts of water before a federal deadline. Meanwhile, grim projections for the future of water levels in Lake Mead have forced mandatory cuts to water for some users in the lower basin. Federal authorities are trying to prop up levels in the nation's largest reservoir before they dip too low to generate hydropower or allow the passage of water.

The Buzz: How will more Colorado River water cuts affect Southern Arizona?

Tucson's rights means municipal users aren't likely to feel the pinch, but the same can't be said for agriculture.

The Central Arizona Project canal north of Phoenix moves water from Lake Pleasant to southern Arizona. July 2021

Tucson keeps same water order despite drought

Kozachick urged council to "lead by example" and cut water order.

Lake Mead’s light-colored “bathtub ring” of mineral deposits towers above a speeding boat on June 29, 2022, near Hoover Dam.

No firm new deadline for Colorado River basin states’ conservation plans

The seven states that rely on the river blew past an August 16 deadline without a plan to conserve 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water.

Granados’ beloved dog Thor — named for the Norse god of agriculture and thunder — heads towards the vermicompost area of the ranch. There, Granados’ California red worms create the compost he uses to augment the soil.

The water diplomats

Many communities along the U.S.-Mexico border share aquifers, and that works better for some states and cities than others. In this collaboration with the Texas Water Resources Institute, we compare how those relationships work in Texas and Arizona.