ASU professor discusses the future of water in Arizona

In light of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's recent announcement regarding Lake Mead water levels falling to historic lows since the 1930s, concerns have been raised regarding the availability of a reliable supply of water in the American Southwest.

Discussing how potential shortages could affect Arizona, in both the short and long term, ASU professor Dave White, who directs the university's National Science Foundation-funded Decision Center for a Desert City, spoke with KJZZ-NPR journalist Steve Goldstein.

According to White, while the state and regional water managers deserve accolades for the last 100 years of water management and the effectiveness of those strategies to support economic development and growth of the region, the direction of the conversation should focus on the next 100 years of water management and planning.

"There are ... new problems ahead, where our historical solutions will not be effective solutions for the future," said White.

"I think the focus of the conversation should be the quality of growth. We need to move the conversation away from the common question of 'Do we have enough water?' What we need to focus on is what type of growth is going to occur and what quality it should be. Should it be denser, urban development? Should it be focused on desert, low-water-use landscaping in the residential sector? What type of industries do we want to support, because different industries have different water demands? So it's really a conversation about the quality of growth that is going to occur and how we are going to use water to meet those demands."