Arizona Water Resource September-October 1998

Achieving safe yield, the fundamental objective ofArizona's 1980 Groundwater Management Act (GMA), may prove to be a more elusive goal than once expected. The GMA mandated that the Phoenix, Tucson and Prescott Active Management Areas (AMAs) achieve safe yield, a balancing ofgroundwater withdrawals with recharge, by the year 2025. Some ofthe assumptions and projections used to set the goal, however, have not held up after 20 years, with the result that safe yield may be a difficult target for some AMAs to reach.