Arizona moves to regulate rural groundwater pumping near Willcox

Despite community protests, Arizona designated its seventh
groundwater active management area Friday in the southeast corner of the
state. 

Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke made the sole decision
Friday morning to regulate groundwater pumping in the 2,000 square mile
Wilcox Basin to curb dramatic fissuring and land subsidence amid a historic drought.

“Rural
communities deserve to have their groundwater protected, and today’s
action is a critical milestone for the people of southeastern Arizona,”
Governor Katie Hobbs said in a press release. “For too long politicians
have buried their heads in the sand, refused to take action, and caved
to out-of-state special interests profiting off Arizona’s water.

In most of Arizona, water pumping is virtually lawless, but the Groundwater Management Act of 1980 gave the state the ability to regulate pumping by designating active management areas. 

There,
groundwater pumping is controlled to prevent overuse, and water users
are subject to conservation measures specific to the area. New
developments must demonstrate 100 years of assured water supply to move
forward, and wells drawing more than 35 gallons per minute are
registered and monitored. 

The Willcox Basin provides water to
more than 8,100 people, who will continue water use but be subject to
conservation requirements developed by the Department of Water Resources
over the next two years. The active management area will also prevent
more large, out-of-state corporations from over pumping groundwater and
leaving local wells dry and cracked, as has been seen across other areas of the state. 

Those opposed to the regulation are largely wine grape growers who said in a public hearing in November that overregulation would prevent them from expanding their vineyards and stifle economic growth.

The Arizona Wine Growers’ Association didn’t reply to a request to comment. 

Those with cracks in their houses caused by overdrafting the aquifer showed little sympathy.

Since
the 1940s, the water table beneath the basin has reduced by more than
400 feet, losing 5.7 million acre-feet of water. That water is being
pumped from the basin 3 1/2 times faster than it’s being replenished. 

As
a result, the subsurface earth that was once saturated with water dries
and compacts on itself, eventually sinking. In some areas, the land has
sunk as much as 11 1/2 feet, and is sinking by 3 1/2 inches per year.
Even if the community stopped pumping completely, the land could still
sink for decades, and it would take even longer for the water level to
rise to its natural levels.

“Our community is facing difficult
decisions as Arizona moves forward with an active management area. While
there are a range of views on the AMA, the urgency of addressing our
water challenges cannot be overstated,” Willcox Mayor Greg Hancock said
in the governor’s press release. “We recognize the perspectives many
residents and stakeholders have raised, and we are committed to ensuring
that our community’s voice is heard throughout this process. Our focus
remains on securing a sustainable future for our water supply and
ensuring the long-term economic vitality of our region.”

Buschatzke
found that the basin qualifies for an active management area
designation based on two criteria: regulation is necessary to the only
dependable source of water in the area, and land subsidence or fissuring
is endangering property or groundwater storage capacity.

The
Willcox Basin is the first to be designated by the water resources
director. Voters in the border town of Douglas approved their own active
management area in a special election in 2022, and the Legislature
created the first five in Phoenix, Tucson, Prescott and Pinal and Santa
Cruz counties with the Groundwater Management Act.

“This decision
by me goes to the heart of our state’s landmark 1980 groundwater
protection legislation which invests in the ADWR director the duty to
take necessary steps to defend our groundwater supplies for future
generations,” Buschatzke said in a separate press release.

The boundaries of the Willcox AMA encompass
the entire Willcox Groundwater Basin, covering the northern Sulfur
Springs Valley, the Willcox Playa watershed, and the upper watersheds of
Leslie Creek and Rucker Canyon east of the Swisshelm Mountains.
Groundwater is the only dependable water source in the basin, used for
agricultural, domestic, and municipal water supply.