SIERRA VISTA - A new Arizona rule that strengthens water-conservation control for rural-Arizona governments is not perfect, but is a step in the right direction, state officials said Monday at a public workshop.

A state senate bill went into effect Wednesday that allows rural counties, including Cochise County, to adopt ordinances requiring subdivision developers to obtain a finding of "adequate water supply" from the state before getting approval.

The new opportunity applies to all Arizona jurisdictions that are outside of the state's Tucson, Prescott, Phoenix, Pinal and Santa Cruz "active management areas."

Dozens attended the workshop including real estate and development professionals from the public and private sectors, city and county staff, and elected officials as well as one of U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' staff members. More of these workshops are scheduled throughout rural Arizona for Arizona Department of Water Resources officials to explain the new adequacy rules.

Prior to the passing of Senate Bill 1575, "adequate water supply" rules for rural Arizona served as more of a buyer-beware clause, and local jurisdictions did not have the explicit authority from the state to stop subdivision development for a lack of sufficient water, said Scott Miller, the manager for ADWR's Assured and Adequate Water Supply Program.

"Had we attempted something like this 15 years ago, the response probably would have been "go away,' " said Tom Whitmer of the Department of Water Resources. Whitmer is the principal contact between the Department of Water Resources and the Upper San Pedro Partnership.

The partnership is a consortium of 21 government and non-government agencies working to address sustainable use of the San Pedro River and mitigation of the groundwater pumping deficit in the aquifer of the Upper San Pedro Valley.

Rural Arizona counties now have the option to adopt their own adequacy definitions varying with respect to the aquifers in a given county, following a Department of Water Resources public input process about to begin. The "overwhelming majority" of jurisdictions are expected to retain their current definitions of water adequacy, Whitmer said. But a few are expected to make use of the new opportunity to personalize their local laws, Whitmer said.

Ultimately, a county's board of supervisors must unanimously approve new adequacy rules, and if not, municipalities may still implement their own. But if a county approves new rules, its towns and cities must adhere to them. Such county governance applied to Arizona cities and towns is admittedly "unusual," Miller said.

"They didn't want to penalize the cities," Whitmer said. "If you decide to do it, and your neighboring city doesn't do it, that's a big loophole."

So Senate Bill 1575 is not perfect, but is a step in the right direction, Whitmer said. The former, more lax rule governing water adequacy definitions came about in 1973 in response to land scams where people were being sold property with no water access at all, Whitmer said.

And there has been a need to update that old rule for some time, he added. "The program we have right now is broken. It doesn't work," he said. It is unknown what the potential cost for developers could be as a result of the new rule, and such a cost would vary, depending on project size and local rules, Miller said.

"So this is at least moving in the right direction, and hopefully we'll get there," Whitmer said.

Summarily, new adequacy requirements for a given aquifer must prove there exists sufficient groundwater, surface water or effluent that will be "continuously, legally and physically available to satisfy water needs of a proposed land use for at least 100 years," and there must be financial capability proven to make that water supply available.

Sierra Vista Mayor Bob Strain said last week there is such adequate water in the Sierra Vista Subwatershed for the next 100 years, but the question for the greater Sierra Vista-urban area is rather one of sustainability.

Hypothetically, a particular aquifer's adequacy definition could be based on adequacy, or it could be based on preservation of the flow of a river that coexists with a water table - as is the case with the Upper San Pedro River, the state officials said.

While the county government would eventually be the body that approves new adequacy rules, it is the Department of Water Resources that will draft the final language with public input from meetings this fall.

"The county is going to go through quite a rule-making process," Miller said.