Arizona agency takes action to regulate groundwater use in rural southeast

PHOENIX — It’s necessary to regulate groundwater in the state’s rural southeast, allowing the designation of a controlled area to stop rapid depletion of the water through agricultural use, the Arizona Department of Water Resources announced Friday.

The department’s Director Tom Buschatzke said data analysis of hydrologic conditions in the state’s Willcox basin shows that the conditions have been met “to take necessary steps to defend our groundwater supplies for future generations.”

Under state law, Buschatzke is empowered as director to designate what is known as an “active management area” for the Willcox Groundwater Basin in Arizona’s Cochise and Graham counties.

“As my staff has made clear in public hearings held in Willcox and in response to comments on our presentations from members of the public, the hydrologic conditions in the basin meet the statutory requirements,” he said in a statement.

The designation was made on Dec. 1, after a public hearing and a vote by area residents, according to a statement by the water agency. During that period, the basin was closed to new agriculture use while the department decided whether to create the management area southeast of Tucson that would allow it to set goals for the well-being of the basin and its aquifers.

Gov. Katie Hobbs and the state water resources agency had been under pressure by local residents to deal with the groundwater depletion.

Hobbs on Friday praised the designation.

“I’ve heard from families, farmers, and businesses who have experienced the devastating impacts of unchecked pumping by unaccountable, big corporations,” said said. “Their wells are running dry, their homes are damaged by fissures in the earth, and their farms are barely able to get by.”

High rates of pumping can dry up wells and cause the ground to collapse, damaging roads and other property. According to a water resources department report, 26 wells in the basin that are regularly measured fell 10 feet (3 meters) to nearly 142 feet (43 meters) between the years 2000 and 2020.

Arizona farm interests have historically opposed groundwater pumping regulations, saying such a structure is too inflexible.

The Willcox Groundwater Basin management area is the first formed by executive action since approval of Arizona’s Groundwater Management Act in 1980. Several other such areas in Arizona were created by similar laws. The urban areas of Phoenix and Tucson have long been under groundwater management.