‘Arizona Horizon:’ Water conservation, water crisis and developing policies

Water conservation is an important issue in the state of Arizona, and “Arizona Horizon” has featured various stories covering the water crisis and developing policies.

View the episodes below to learn more about water conservation in the Grand Canyon State. Watch “Arizona Horizon” weeknights at 5 p.m. on air or on our YouTube news channel, AZPBS Now, or catch full episodes online later or on the PBS app.

Arizona leaders call for stalemate in Colorado River negotiations – November 17, 2025

The seven states, including Arizona, that rely on the Colorado River for drinking water missed a deadline to agree on reduced shares as the river’s flow continues to decline dramatically, though the states and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, which manages the river and its reservoirs, said negotiations would continue. Last Tuesday, Governor Katie Hobbs and Arizona legislative leaders from both parties asked the U.S. Interior Department to ensure that any agreement to curb overuse of Colorado River water requires the river’s Upper Basin states to limit their use.

Sarah Porter, Director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss this call to action from Arizona leaders regarding the Colorado River.

Watch the story online.

Groundwater disappearing from Arizona at alarming rate – August 20, 2025

A new ASU-led study using 20 years of satellite data shows freshwater is disappearing rapidly, with two-thirds lost from groundwater, worsening continental drying, including in the southwestern U.S., and contributing to rising sea levels, threatening global food and water security.

Jay Famiglietti, ASU’s Global Futures Professor, explained on “Arizona Horizon” that NASA’s GRACE mission tracks these changes on land, including snow, ice and soil moisture, revealing that drying areas are expanding each year by twice the size of California.

Watch the story online.

Officials warn Arizona lakes could see water levels drop – July 29, 2025

Officials warn that Lake Powell, the nation’s second-largest reservoir on the Colorado River, could drop low enough to halt hydropower generation by December 2026, threatening power for tribes and rural communities across six western states.

Sarah Porter, Director of ASU’s Kyl Center for Water Policy, told “Arizona Horizon” that declining storage, following historic lows at Lake Powell and Lake Mead in 2022, could remove a key source of clean, non-carbon-emitting energy with even an average winter unlikely to improve the situation.

Watch the story online.

Agriculture to Urban bill focused on increasing Arizona’s housing supply – July 1, 2025

The Arizona Legislature passed a bipartisan “ag-to-urban” bill to increase housing while conserving water, allowing developers to buy water rights from farmers who sell their land for homes in metro Phoenix and Pinal County, with new homes using only a portion of the water the farms had used.

Prompted by a moratorium on new construction due to low groundwater, the law converts agricultural water rights into smaller rights for urban or municipal use, benefiting both new developments and existing water providers.

Sarah Porter, Director of ASU’s Kyl Center for Water Policy, joined “Arizona Horizon” to explain.

Watch the story online.

Improving Arizona’s water infrastructure to combat drought – May 5, 2025

Almost all of Arizona is currently under a drought condition. Some cities are asking residents to conserve water. Water infrastructure for cities encompasses all the systems that move, store, treat and dispose of water within a city.

Shawn Bradford, Senior Vice President Regulated U.S. Water at EPCOR, joined “Arizona Horizon” to take a closer look at what constitutes infrastructure, ways to improve or repair infrastructure and also how improving infrastructure makes it easier for businesses and residents to conserve water or make it less likely that we’ll use more water than we need.

Watch the story online.

Study on tap water affordability promising for low-income areas – March 10, 2025

The Kyl Center for Water Policy recently released a study on tap water affordability in Arizona. The study assessed the rates of 659 water providers across the state against two metrics of affordability.

The study found most water systems could increase their rates and stay affordable for homes in low-income areas. The findings also showed in Arizona the monthly costs for tap water are much lower than monthly costs for electric power.

Grant Heminger, Policy and Research Analyst at the Kyl Center for Water Policy, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss.

Stream the segment online.

Current Arizona water use issues and fears for summer – Feb. 18, 2025

There are currently two big water issues in the news, including concerns about water in Arizona.

The top federal representative to the Upper Colorado River Commission, Anne Castle, was forced to resign by President Donald Trump. Castle was appointed by the Biden Administration in 2022. Castle said she resigned because she is worried about “the future under Trump.” Castle said this order to release water from California reservoirs shows President Trump’s “total lack of understanding about how the system works.”

To talk about these issues, Sarah Porter, Director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at ASU, joined “Arizona Horizon.”

Watch the story online.

Where does the Colorado River water go? – June 17, 2024

A study done in 2020 by NAU is being updated to include a comprehensive look at where water from the Colorado River is going. According to the research, the river loses 19.3 million acre-feet of water each year to cities, farms and evaporation, and the water cycle can’t keep up.

This shortage of water triggered a formal declaration of a Tier 1 water shortage beginning in 2021, resulting in cuts in water deliveries, especially for Arizona farmers.

Richard Rushforth, NAU Assistant Research Professor, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss the research.

Stream the segment online.