Arizona is considering the most significant change in decades to its Assured Water Supply program, which helps ensure that new growth has acquired enough water for the long haul.

It’s not perfect.

But it also has the potential to do a great amount of good.

And yet, some folks are trying to kill it.

The idea behind the Alternative path to Designation of Assured Water Supply, or ADAWS for short, was initially to help Buckeye and Queen Creek become designated water providers.

Such a designation signifies that they have secured enough renewable water supplies to handle all users within their service territories for at least 100 years.

Both cities are heavily reliant on groundwater, and ADAWS was supposed to offer them a bridge, allowing them to continue pumping finite groundwater for a time while they acquired the renewable supplies necessary to earn a designation.

This short-term groundwater allowance also would help some homebuilders resume projects that were paused after models found unmet demand for water over time.

But after months of negotiation, Buckeye and Queen Creek say the new pathway to designation won’t work for them. They still can’t pencil out the amount of water and infrastructure that it would require.

Meanwhile,........

© Arizona Republic