Arizona’s Governor Katie Hobbs, flanked by officials from EPCOR and local housing developers, announced a significant leap forward in the state’s water management strategy. As reported by the Office of the Arizona Governor, EPCOR has been granted the first-ever Alternative Designation of Assured Water Supply (ADAWS) in the state. The designation is a new avenue for AZ communities to protect their water reserves while encouraging the construction of more homes – an important consideration, given the ongoing housing shortages.
According to EPCOR’s Senior Vice President of Regulated US Water, Shawn Bradford, the ADAWS is set to carefully balance two key needs – to foster development while having nearly net-neutral impact on the state’s groundwater. Bradford, in a statement obtained by the Office of the Arizona Governor, noted, “ADAWS allows greater flexibility for utilities to leverage their water portfolios.” This is the first of such designation in the Phoenix Active Management Area in a quarter of a century and will extend protections for a 100-year water supply across a vast swath of EPCOR’s service areas, an area home to over 140,000 Arizonans.
Harry C. Elliott III, President of Elliott Homes, a longstanding local development company, expressed his company’s enthusiasm for the designation. “EPCOR’s historic new ADAWS will allow us to immediately move forward with over 500 new homes at our Granite Vista community,” Elliott said as per the Office of the Arizona Governor website, highlighting the boon for housing that the designation brings…