“The Colorado River Basin is losing groundwater at an alarming rate,” said Karem Abdelmohsen, the lead author and a researcher at ASU’s School of Sustainability. “If this trend continues, it could lead to severe water shortages that impact not only local farmers and residents but also broader agricultural markets and municipal water supplies throughout the southwestern U.S.”

“Climate change is only exacerbating the stress on groundwater,” said Jay Famiglietti, the study’s senior author and science director for ASU’s Arizona Water Innovation Initiative.

“Groundwater is disappearing 2.4 times faster than the surface water,” said Jay Famiglietti, a hydrologist at Arizona State University and the study’s senior author.

“Everyone in the US should be worried about it, because we grow a lot of food in the Colorado River basin, and that’s food that’s used all over the entire country,” he added. “These days, we’re also supporting a number of data centers and computer chip manufacturers, and these are essential to our economy.”

Negotiations continue between the seven Colorado River basin states over new rules dealing with use of the overallocated river, and the clock is ticking. But one area of those talks that’s not getting a lot of attention is the idea of setting some water aside, and the details of how that might happen. Kathryn Sorensen, director of research at the Kyl Center for Water Policy, has been thinking and writing about this and joined The Show to discuss.

The Kyl Center for Water Policy recently released a study on tap water affordability in Arizona which found most water systems could increase their rates and stay affordable for homes in low-income areas. Grant Heminger, Policy and Research Analyst at the Kyl Center for Water Policy, joined “Arizona Horizon” to discuss.

“It’s like a double whammy,” said Arizona State University hydrology professor Enrique Vivoni, who’s studied the Río Sonora watershed for years. “Two seasons back to back where one would expect precipitation to help alleviate the drought have failed. And thus the drought situation has worsened considerably.”

"Dismissing its authors and canceling its development undercuts decades of bipartisan progress," Dave White said. "This leaves the nation more vulnerable to extreme heat, water shortages, floods and other climate-related disasters. This decision is not only reckless but also indifferent to the economic, environmental and human health impacts already occurring."

As a child growing up in the small village of Bagerhat in southwestern Bangladesh, water insecurity was a part of everyday life for Jobayer Hossain, who graduates this month with his PhD in environmental social sciences from ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change. “The struggle was that there was so much water, or no water at all. With little systems in place to harvest and store water during the rainy season, people are living in a situation with chronic water insecurity,” said Hossain.

“Is the increase in tax revenue and the relatively paltry number of jobs worth the water?” asked Kathryn Sorensen, a professor at Arizona State University and former water director for Mesa, Arizona. As the AI boom accelerates, so do concerns about its environmental toll. With data centers expanding into drought-stricken regions, the industry faces growing pressure to balance innovation with sustainability.

"It's incumbent upon us to call out the reality behind the rhetoric here," Dave White, a professor at Arizona State University and director of its Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, told The Republic. "The Climate Assessment has, for all intents and purposes, been canceled."

White was the lead author on the Southwest Chapter of the Fifth National Climate Assessment, which was published in late 2023 and celebrated by President Joe Biden. "It is a patriotic duty and a patriotic responsibility," he said. "Many of us, including myself, are incredibly proud of that. These folks are doing this out of service to their country."