Choosing Large-scale Rain Harvesting for Potable Supply: Guide for Rural Homeowners in Arizona

Abstract

As groundwater becomes harder to access in many areas of Arizona, risks and costs associated with groundwater wells have become an important economic consideration for property owners. Groundwater is considered a non-renewable water supply when aquifers do not recover enough from pumping to reliably produce water from the same level through time. Water may refill the aquifer very slowly, so slowly that the groundwater being pumped today may be thousands of years old. Once more water is pumped than is recharged, an aquifer is in overdraft, with multiple potential negative effects, including the water level drops that have affected the water supplies of individual small-acreage landowners.