WATER SECURITYCounties Call for Rural Groundwater Management Despite Some Voters Rejecting It

By Madeline Armstrong, The Center Square

Published 5 October 2024

Four rural Arizona county supervisors are asking for more regulation when it comes to pumping rural groundwater, something that their constituents denied them in 2022.

Four rural Arizona county supervisors are asking for more regulation when it comes to pumping rural groundwater, something that their constituents denied them in 2022.

“It is long past time for the Arizona Legislature to approve a balanced, commonsense, and customizable rural management framework to protect the water future of our rural Arizona communities—most who have no other options to round out their water portfolios,” reads a joint statement from Coconino County Supervisor Patrice Horstman, La Paz County Supervisor Holly Irwin, Mohave County Supervisor Travis Lingenfelter and Yavapai County Supervisor Dona Michaels.

Gov. Katie Hobbs visited Willcox a few weeks ago to address the water shortage issues in rural Cochise County. Willcox officials expressed numerous concerns, noting that one of the town’s two main wells started “pumping air” back in May. This is not uncommon in rural Arizona.

In La Paz County, areas have started sinking, according to records of land subsidence conducted by the Arizona Department of Water Resources. This report shows that ground in parts of the county have sunk over five feet and earth fissures have cropped up due to the loss of groundwater.

Opponents of AMAs have said they are an overreaction to the problem of water conservation and carry a reputation for stunting businesses looking to locate or expand within its jurisdiction. 

It’s a sledgehammer where you need a tuning fork,” Kent Callaghan, winemaker at Callaghan Vineyards, told the Center Square in October 2022. He and others warned that an AMA in the Willcox Basin would put a halt to any growth of the wine industry there. The area accounts for a significant portion of the state’s small group of vineyard owners. 

Most of rural Arizona’s groundwater lies outside of an Active Management Area or an Irrigation Non-Expansion Area, meaning that the water supply is neither monitored nor regulated.

However, the ADWR periodically monitors the basin levels in rural areas. While this data is sparse, the ADWR can be sure that the demands on rural basins outweigh the supply.

For example, according to an ADWR 2023 Supply and Demand Assessment of the McMullen Valley basin in La Paz County, the water supply has severely diminished from 1990 when there was 34,602 acre-feet of water available compared to 2022 when there was 8,219 acre-feet.