WILLCOX, Ariz. (CN) — 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.