What Arizona is proposing is not quite managed retreat — up to 80,000 under-construction homes in already-permitted subdivisions have still been given the green light to build — but what the new rules will do is send a strong message that the state will no longer be subsidizing sprawl at the expense of its own water security, as Sarah Porter, director of Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy, told CNN: “It’s going to make it harder for developments to spring up on raw desert in the far-flung parts of town where developers like to develop.”

“We want to be the greatest semiconductor and microchip manufacturer in the world. We can do that. We have enough water, but our food prices are going to go up because we’re not going to grow as much food,” Rhett Larson said. “Those are the hard conversations that Arizona has to have right now.”

“Groundwater is really the key to long-term sustainability in desert cities like Phoenix,” said Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist and professor in Arizona State University’s School of Sustainability. “So anything that we can do to save water moving forward becomes critically important, not just for right now, but for future generations.”

 “It’s another impediment to that kind of development, like new subdivisions out in Buckeye or Queen Creek.” Porter said the change won’t necessarily curtail development in the booming Phoenix metro area, but it could push it towards bigger and older cities like Tempe and Scottsdale. Nor is it expected to curtail water use for industry and manufacturing – an important distinction given Arizona is quickly becoming a hub for advanced manufacturing of technology, including semi-conductor chips.

“This deal does not address the long-term water sustainability challenges in the region,” Dave White, who specializes in water sustainability at Arizona State University, said.

Series of ASU courses use the power of storytelling to connect students across disciplines. In response to Arizona’s unprecedented water challenges, the Narrative Storytelling Initiative at Arizona State University is engaging students in conversations about urgent water issues through a series of interlinked courses.

Phoenix and most of its suburbs have become really good at using a lot less water even as their populations boomed, according to Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. "We have largely decoupled urban growth from an increase in water demand," Porter says.

Arizona State University water researcher Kathleen Ferris had called for the groundwater report’s release, and on Tuesday said she was delighted that Hobbs made it public. “It’s a hugely important step,” Ferris said. “As the governor said, it’s about transparency and knowledge. We should not be allowing this growth to occur when the water isn’t there.”

Water and energy play a vital role in every part of our society. They are closely related; water is needed to produce energy, and water cannot be moved without energy.

“We're really trying to push these boundaries of, you know, what is it? What does water and energy mean?” said Paul Westerhoff in an interview before a recent event on the relationship between water and energy at the Barrett & O’Connor Center in Washington, D.C.