Western U.S. Cities Are Opening Their Wallets in the Quest for Water

Little more than two months ago, on an unusually rainy November evening, the Queen Creek Town Council staked claim to the city’s future.

Queen Creek, located in central Arizona southeast of Phoenix, was founded in 1989 but is already home to some 88,000 people. In a unanimous vote, the council approved a $244 million deal to acquire 12,000 acre-feet of water annually for the next century from the Harquahala groundwater basin, some 90 miles away. (An acre-foot is enough water for about three households per year.)