By 2040, the region’s population is expected to reach more than 7 million, despite its limited and shrinking water supply.Įven though the effects of climate change are intensifying throughout the Southwest, people keep moving here - to the hottest, driest part of the country. A few outlying “mega-burbs” like Buckeye and Goodyear to Phoenix’s west and Queen Creek to the east have annexed large amounts of land and are themselves some of the nation’s fastest-growing cities. In 2017, Phoenix became the fifth-largest city in the U.S., a sprawling “megalopolis” of almost 5 million people that’s also known as the Valley of the Sun.

There’s just one problem: The region doesn’t appear to have enough water for all the planned growth. The pandemic has only intensified that trend, with home sales increasing by nearly 12 percent in 2020. 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. Santana began researching states that had few natural disasters, and Arizona turned up at the top of the list. 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. Instead, the yearly hurricane season caused her so much stress that she moved to Dallas. 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. 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.

City of phoenix water quality report