45-576. Certificate of assured water supply;
designated cities, towns and private water companies; exemptions;
definition
(L10, Ch. 244, sec. 37. Eff. 10/1/11)
A. A person who proposes to offer subdivided lands, as defined in section 32-2101,
for sale or lease in an active management area shall apply for and obtain a certificate
of assured water supply from the director prior to presenting the plat for approval to
the city, town or county in which the land is located, where such is required, and prior
to filing with the state real estate commissioner a notice of intention to offer such
lands for sale or lease, pursuant to section 32-2181, unless the subdivider has obtained
a written commitment of water service for the subdivision from a city, town or private
water company designated as having an assured water supply pursuant to this section.
B. A city, town or county may approve a subdivision plat only if the subdivider has
obtained a certificate of assured water supply from the director or the subdivider has
obtained a written commitment of water service for the subdivision from a city, town or
private water company designated as having an assured water supply pursuant to this
section. The city, town or county shall note on the face of the approved plat that a
certificate of assured water supply has been submitted with the plat or that the
subdivider has obtained a written commitment of water service for the proposed
subdivision from a city, town or private water company designated as having an assured
water supply pursuant to this section.
C. The state real estate commissioner may issue a public report authorizing the
sale or lease of subdivided lands only on compliance with either of the following:
1. The subdivider, owner or agent has obtained a certificate of assured water
supply from the director and has paid any activation fee required under section 48-3772,
subsection A, paragraph 7 and any replenishment reserve fee required under section
48-3774.01, subsection A, paragraph 2.
2. If the subdivider has obtained a written commitment of water service for the
lands from a city, town or private water company designated as having an assured water
supply pursuant to this section and the subdivider, owner or agent has paid any
activation fee required under section 48-3772, subsection A, paragraph 7.
D. The director shall designate private water companies in active management areas
that have an assured water supply. If a city or town acquires a private water company
that has contracted for central Arizona project water, the city or town shall assume the
private water company's contract for central Arizona project water.
E. The director shall designate cities and towns in active management areas where
an assured water supply exists. If a city or town has entered into a contract for
central Arizona project water, the city or town is deemed to continue to have an assured
water supply until December 31, 1997. Commencing on January 1, 1998, the determination
that the city or town has an assured water supply is subject to review by the director
and the director may determine that a city or town does not have an assured water supply.
F. The director shall notify the mayors of all cities and towns in active
management areas and the chairmen of the boards of supervisors of counties in which
active management areas are located of the cities, towns and private water companies
designated as having an assured water supply and any modification of that designation
within thirty days of the designation or modification. If the service area of the city,
town or private water company has qualified as a member service area pursuant to title
48, chapter 22, article 4, the director shall also notify the conservation district of
the designation or modification and shall report the projected average annual
replenishment obligation for the member service area based on the projected and committed
average annual demand for water within the service area during the effective term of the
designation or modification subject to any limitation in an agreement between the
conservation district and the city, town or private water company. For each city, town or
private water company that qualified as a member service area under title 48, chapter 22
and was designated as having an assured water supply before January 1, 2004, the director
shall report to the conservation district on or before January 1, 2005 the projected
average annual replenishment obligation based on the projected and committed average
annual demand for water within the service area during the effective term of the
designation subject to any limitation in an agreement between the conservation district
and the city, town or private water company. Persons proposing to offer subdivided lands
served by those designated cities, towns and private water companies for sale or lease
are exempt from applying for and obtaining a certificate of assured water supply.
G. This section does not apply in the case of the sale of lands for developments
that are subject to a mineral extraction and processing permit or an industrial use
permit pursuant to sections 45-514 and 45-515.
H. The director shall adopt rules to carry out the purposes of this section. On or
before January 1, 2008, the rules shall provide for a reduction in water demand for an
application for a designation of assured water supply or a certificate of assured water
supply if a gray water reuse system will be installed that meets the requirements of the
rules adopted by the department of environmental quality for gray water systems and if
the application is for a certificate of assured water supply, the land for which the
certificate is sought must qualify as a member land in a conservation district pursuant
to title 48, chapter 22, article 4. For the purposes of this subsection, "gray water" has
the same meaning prescribed in section 49-201.
I. If the director designates a municipal provider as having an assured water
supply under this section and the designation lapses or otherwise terminates while the
municipal provider's service area is a member service area of a conservation district,
the municipal provider or its successor shall continue to comply with the consistency
with management goal requirements in the rules adopted by the director under subsection H
of this section as if the designation was still in effect with respect to the municipal
provider's designation uses. When determining compliance by the municipal provider or its
successor with the consistency with management goal requirements in the rules, the
director shall consider only water delivered by the municipal provider or its successor
to the municipal provider's designation uses. A person is the successor of a municipal
provider if the person commences water service to uses that were previously designation
uses of the municipal provider. Any groundwater delivered by the municipal provider or
its successor to the municipal provider's designation uses in excess of the amount
allowed under the consistency with management goal requirements in the rules shall be
considered excess groundwater for purposes of title 48, chapter 22. For the purposes of
this subsection, "designation uses" means all water uses served by a municipal provider
on the date the municipal provider's designation of assured water supply lapses or
otherwise terminates and all recorded lots within the municipal provider's service area
that were not being served by the municipal provider on that date but that received final
plat approval from a city, town or county on or before that date. Designation uses do
not include industrial uses served by an irrigation district under section 45-497.
J. For the purposes of this section, "assured water supply" means all of the
following:
1. Sufficient groundwater, surface water or effluent of adequate quality will be
continuously available to satisfy the water needs of the proposed use for at least one
hundred years. Beginning January 1 of the calendar year following the year in which a
groundwater replenishment district is required to submit its preliminary plan pursuant to
section 45-576.02, subsection A, paragraph 1, with respect to an applicant that is a
member of the district, "sufficient groundwater" for the purposes of this paragraph means
that the proposed groundwater withdrawals that the applicant will cause over a period of
one hundred years will be of adequate quality and will not exceed, in combination with
other withdrawals from land in the replenishment district, a depth to water of one
thousand feet or the depth of the bottom of the aquifer, whichever is less. In
determining depth to water for the purposes of this paragraph, the director shall
consider the combination of:
(a) The existing rate of decline.
(b) The proposed withdrawals.
(c) The expected water requirements of all recorded lots that are not yet served
water and that are located in the service area of a municipal provider.
2. The projected groundwater use is consistent with the management plan and
achievement of the management goal for the active management area.
3. The financial capability has been demonstrated to construct the water facilities
necessary to make the supply of water available for the proposed use, including a
delivery system and any storage facilities or treatment works. The director may accept
evidence of the construction assurances required by section 9-463.01, 11-823 or 32-2181
to satisfy this requirement.
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