The Ak-Chin would be leasing water received in its 1983 settlement. The tribe was granted about 75,000 acre-feet, including CAP water and water from a Colorado River entitlement. Congress, however, amended the settlement in 1982 granting the tribe this right. Critics doubt the Ak-Chins have the water to spare. The tribe would get 72,000 acre-feet during years of shortages.
Critics also question whether the water supply is sufficient for the size of the proposed community.
The Maricopa County supervisors are scheduled to vote next month on the controversial Del Webb proposal to build 16,500 houses and three golf courses on an 8.8 square mile tract that would eventually attract a population about equal to that of Flagstaff. The New River property is located about 12 miles north of the urban edge of Phoenix and 33 miles from downtown. Preferred A poll of Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District customers revealed a strong desire to continue receiving groundwater rather than treated Central Arizona Project water, and a willingness to pay significantly higher water bills to make it happen. By a wide margin, they expressed a preference to have the utility recharge CAP water instead. Some 10.5 million tons of radioactive dirt lie exposed in southeastern Utah, three miles north of Moab, the legacy of a uranium mill that operated there during the 1950s.