Pinal County’s future water shortfall leaves some developers in limbo today
by Bret Jaspers | KJZZ
Patrick Johnson bought 2,500 acres in Pinal County more five years ago, and the property, just off Interstate 8, still is mostly farm fields. Johnson’s plan is to build a haven for motorsports lovers, including two tracks for racing and testing, 2,000 homes and a hotel.
But millions of dollars in, Johnson is a long way from a grand opening.
“You can’t get financing, you can’t do anything until you’ve got that water,” said Johnson, president of Danrick Builders.
Johnson is a developer stuck in limbo. The Arizona Department of Water Resources last month released a new model for Pinal County that projected supply and demand over the next 100 years. It showed the expected demand for groundwater pumping in the Pinal Active Management Area outstrips the supply by more than 8 million acre-feet of water – more than enough to cover Maryland with 1 foot of water.
