Monday, Oct 10 2011 9:13PM
The WRDC's statewide report is the first of it's kind, and EDF cited it as a key step towards supporting economic prosperity and ensuring natural resources in the state are protected from the physical limits of the water supply.
The Environmental Defense Fund (EDF), a national nonprofit organization focusing on conservation efforts, recently praised the Arizona Water Resources Development Commission's (WRDC) efforts to project the state's water supply and demand over the next century.
The WRDC's statewide report is the first of it's kind, and EDF cited it as a key step towards supporting economic prosperity and ensuring natural resources in the state are protected from the physical limits of the water supply.
The report predicts water usage may increase by 40 percent or more per year, growing several million acre-feet. Accordingly, it indicates new measures may be necessary to expand water supplies and meet the demand.
"This is the kind of forward-looking process that is needed for Arizona to ensure that it has secure water supplies for the future of its communities and natural resources, including its desert rivers and streams," said Jocelyn Gibbon, an EDF water law attorney.
In particular, Gibbon and the EDF noted the WRDC's Environmental Working Group's efforts to map and catalogue the state's water-dependent natural resources may allow effective analysis of the consequences of short supply, local conditions, and other relevant factors.
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Environmental Defense Fund