Title 45 — Waters

The public policy of this state and the general purposes of this chapter are to: 1. Protect the general economy and welfare of this state by encouraging the use of renewable water supplies, particularly this state's entitlement to Colorado river water, instead of groundwater thro…

Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms defined in section 45-402 have the same meanings in this chapter and: 1. "Aquifer" means a geologic formation that contains sufficient saturated material to be capable of storing water and transmitting water in usable quantities to…

A. This chapter shall not be construed to affect vested water rights. B. Any determination made by the director for purposes of this chapter regarding the validity, invalidity, nature, legal character, extent or relative priority of a water right or source of water is not binding…

A. A person may apply to the director for a constructed underground storage facility permit or a managed underground storage facility permit and may operate an underground storage facility only pursuant to a permit. B. A person applying to the director for a managed underground s…

A. A person may apply to the director for a groundwater savings facility permit and may operate a groundwater savings facility only pursuant to a permit. B. The director may issue a permit to operate a groundwater savings facility if the director determines that all of the follow…

If any storage facility is to be located within a city or town, the director may consider for purposes of issuing the storage facility permit any land use ordinance provision addressing public health and safety and the aesthetics otherwise governing the use of land where that fac…

A. A storage facility project permit shall include the following information: 1. The name and mailing address of the person to whom the permit is issued. 2. The name of the active management area, irrigation non-expansion area, groundwater basin or groundwater sub-basin, as appli…

The following shall not be permitted as underground storage facilities: 1. A body of water, as defined by section 45-131, unless it has been designed, constructed or altered so that water storage is a principal purpose of the body of water. 2. Aqueducts, irrigation canals and oth…

A. A person may apply to the director for a water storage permit and may store water at a storage facility only pursuant to a water storage permit. B. The director may issue a water storage permit to store water at a storage facility if the director determines that all of the fol…

A. Water that has been stored pursuant to a water storage permit may be used or exchanged only in the manner in which it was permissible to use or exchange the water before it was stored. B. Water that has been stored pursuant to a water storage permit may be used only in the loc…

A. At the request of the applicant, the director may designate a water storage permit as storing nonrecoverable water. If the water storage occurs within an active management area, the water storage permit may be designated in this manner only if the storage is consistent with th…

A. A person who holds long-term storage credits or who may recover water on an annual basis may recover the water stored pursuant to a water storage permit only: 1. If the person seeking to recover stored water has applied for and received a recovery well permit under this articl…

A person may apply to the director for a storage facility permit, a water storage permit to store water at the storage facility and a recovery well permit to recover the water stored at the storage facility at the same time and the director shall process the applications for the …

A. In an active management area, if a city, town or private water company operates a constructed underground storage facility and stores water at a constructed underground storage facility pursuant to a permit issued under this chapter, any portion of the area of impact of the st…

A. To further the implementation of Indian water rights settlements in this state, an Indian community may accrue long-term storage credits as prescribed by this section. B. This section applies only to the settlement of a water rights claim by a federally recognized Indian commu…

A. Except as provided in subsections B, E and F of this section, a storer may recover the recoverable amount of water stored after January 1 of a calendar year on or before December 31 of the same calendar year. B. If water is stored pursuant to a water storage permit and its use…

A. The director shall establish one long-term storage account for each person holding long-term storage credits. The director shall establish subaccounts within the long-term storage account according to each active management area, irrigation non-expansion area, groundwater basi…

A. If the director has included an amount of long-term storage credits under section 45-855.01: 1. In determining whether to issue a certificate of assured water supply to the holder of the long-term storage credits, that amount of long-term storage credits shall be recovered onl…

A. Except as provided in section 45-855.01, subsection C, the holder of long-term storage credits may assign by grant, gift, sale, lease or exchange all or part of the holder's long-term storage credits. B. Except as provided in subsection C of this section, an assignment of long…

A. In an active management area, except as provided in section 45-853.01, subsection C, and on the request of a person who holds long-term storage credits, the director shall include the amount of long-term storage credits requested by the person in determining whether to issue a…

A. Except as provided in subsection B or E of this section, in an active management area the director shall not issue any of the following permits, certificates or designations unless the applicant demonstrates that the application for the permit, certificate or designation would…

A. With respect to a groundwater replenishment district and not later than the first day of each reporting year, the director shall determine the incidental replenishment factor for the reporting year and shall report that ratio to the groundwater replenishment district. B. For p…

A. The director shall establish a long-term storage account and a master replenishment account for each groundwater replenishment district. B. The director shall compute the master replenishment account debit for a reporting year for the district as follows: 1. For each district …

A. The director shall establish a long-term storage account and a conservation district account for each active management area in which a member land or member service area is or may be located. The director shall establish a replenishment reserve subaccount within the long-term…

A. The director shall establish a long-term storage account and a water district account for the active management area in which a water district member land or water district member service area is or may be located. B. For each reporting year, the water district groundwater rep…

A. The director shall prescribe and furnish application forms for the permits prescribed by articles 2 and 3 of this chapter. The application forms shall require the applicant to submit the information needed by the director to determine whether the permit may be issued. The dire…

A person who stores water at an underground storage facility, who delivers in lieu water to a recipient at a groundwater savings facility or who recovers stored water pursuant to a recovery well permit shall use a water measuring device approved by the director and shall comply w…

The in lieu water that is delivered pursuant to a groundwater savings facility permit and a water storage permit issued under this chapter is deemed to be groundwater for all purposes of chapter 2 of this title as if the recipient of the in lieu water had withdrawn it from a well…

A. The director shall levy and collect a long-term storage credit recovery fee from each person who recovers long-term storage credits pursuant to a recovery well permit issued under section 45-834.01. The amount of the long-term storage credit recovery fee is equal to the amount…

A. Each person who holds a storage facility permit shall file an annual report with the director that includes the following information: 1. The total quantity of water stored at the facility during the year. 2. The name, address and water storage permit number of each person sto…

A. Each groundwater replenishment district shall file an annual report with the director that includes: 1. The total amount of water that was stored by the district during the reporting year pursuant to each water storage permit issued to it under this chapter. 2. The amount of w…

A. Each conservation district shall file an annual report with the director that includes for each active management area in which a member land or member service area is or may be located: 1. The total amount of water that was stored by the conservation district during the repor…

A. Each water district shall file an annual report with the director that includes for the active management area in which a water district member land or water district member service area is or may be located: 1. The total amount of water that was stored by the water district d…

A. Each annual report required by this article shall contain either a sworn statement or a certification under penalty of perjury that the information contained in the report is true and correct according to the best belief and knowledge of the person filing the report. B. Each p…

A. The director or the director's authorized representative may enter at reasonable times on private or public property where any facilities used for the purposes of water storage, stored water recovery or stored water use are located and the owner, manager or occupant of the pro…

A. Except as provided by subsection B of this section, if the director has reason to believe that a person is violating or has violated a provision of this chapter or a permit, rule or order issued or adopted pursuant to this chapter, the director may give the person written noti…

A. A person who is determined pursuant to section 45-881.01 to be in violation of this chapter or a permit, rule or order issued or adopted pursuant to this chapter may be assessed a civil penalty in an amount not exceeding: 1. One hundred dollars per day of violation that is not…

It is declared that the public policy of this state and the general purposes of this article are: 1. To protect the general economy and welfare of this state and its citizens by wise resource management of the water of the central Arizona project. 2. To store for future needs or …

In this article, unless the context otherwise requires: 1. "Excess central Arizona project water" means central Arizona project water that in any year would otherwise not be delivered to central Arizona project subcontractors or their designees. 2. "Project permits" means permits…

A. A conservation district may apply to the director pursuant to articles 2 and 3 of this chapter for project permits for one or more state demonstration projects to be funded by account A of the state water storage fund established by section 45-897.01 and one or more projects t…

A. After the qualification of any real property as member land pursuant to section 48-3774 or the qualification of any service area as a member service area pursuant to section 48-3780, a conservation district may use the facilities and excess storage capacity of any state demons…

A. Water that is stored in a state demonstration project, that is purchased with monies from the state water storage fund established by section 45-897.01 and that is eligible for credits in a long-term storage account pursuant to section 45-852.01 shall be credited to a state de…

A. Notwithstanding section 45-895.01, if a groundwater replenishment district is established pursuant to title 48, chapter 27 on or before July 1, 1996 in the Phoenix active management area: 1. The multi-county water conservation district and the groundwater replenishment distric…

A. A state water storage fund is established to be administered by the director as provided in this article. The fund shall be divided into two accounts, one account for the benefit of counties having a population of more than five hundred thousand persons but less than one milli…

For purposes of this article only, when proposing, obtaining permits for, acquiring property for or constructing, operating, maintaining, terminating or dismantling a state demonstration project, a conservation district is an agent of the state, and the state shall indemnify and …