A.R.S. 9-516(C) Interpretation

In Arizona, a municipality has the right to provide water service "through its municipal water plant to customers without, as well as within, its corporate limits." City of Phoenix v. Kasun, 54 Ariz. 470, 474, 97 P.2d 210, 212 (1939). Once established, a municipality may not discontinue water service to nonresidents as long as it owns or controls the utility. A.R.S. 9-516(C). But absent either a statutory or contractual obligation, a municipality has no duty to provide service to nonresidents. Kasun, 54 Ariz. 470, 478-79, 97 P.2d at 214; see also Yuma Valley Land Co. v. City of Yuma, 227 Ariz. 228, 7, 256 P.3d 625, 626 (2011).