Rapid growth in Arizona's suburbs bets against an uncertain water supply

The entrance to the Cadence subdivision, a new housing development on the outskirts of Mesa, Arizona, itself a suburb of Phoenix, is a long paved road lined with towering palm trees. Built by Lennar, the nation’s largest homebuilder, Cadence offers a plethora of amenities: an indoor fitness center, a game room, tennis, volleyball, basketball and bocce courts, an event center called Mix, a coffee shop called Stir, a spa, two swimming pools and two chute-style waterslides.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” asked Megan Santana, whose own home is currently under construction, as we walked toward the back of the Flourish Community Center, which has a large green lawn. “You feel like you’re on an island resort.”

Santana, who is 34, moved to the Phoenix area last October from Texas with her 9-year-old son, Malachi, and her business partner, Alyssa Bell. Tanned and fit, with long dark hair that hangs in loose curls, Santana grew up in rural Virginia but moved to Florida when she was 22, hoping to settle down and enjoy the warm weather. Instead, the yearly hurricane season caused her so much stress that she moved to Dallas. From a natural disaster standpoint, though, Dallas was not much better: The city, which lies in a so-called Tornado Alley, experiences frequent severe storms. Santana began researching states that had few natural disasters, and Arizona turned up at the top of the list.

Six months ago, Santana joined the hundreds of thousands of people who have moved to the greater Phoenix area in recent years looking for affordable homes, sunshine and warm winters. The pandemic has only intensified that trend, with home sales increasing by nearly 12 percent in 2020. There’s just one problem: The region doesn’t appear to have enough water for all the planned growth.

Read more: https://www.hcn.org/issues/53.6/south-water-rapid-growth-in-arizonas-suburbs-bets-against-an-uncertain-water-supply
(High Country News)