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County study session spotlights groundwater decline, calls for state action
Summary
Environmental Defense Fund briefing and multiple public commenters urged Santa Cruz County supervisors to address groundwater depletion, dewatering by mining, and PFAS contamination, and to monitor state bills proposing new rural groundwater management tools.
Santa Cruz County supervisors heard a study-session briefing on groundwater security Tuesday that highlighted accelerating well drilling in rural Arizona, described local impacts from large industrial pumps and mine dewatering, and urged local engagement in pending state legislation.
The presentation, by Chris Kuzdas, water program director at the Environmental Defense Fund, framed the issue as a statewide problem that is increasingly affecting small, rural communities. Kuzdas said open-access groundwater pumping in much of Arizona lets anyone drill and pump without a local management requirement and warned that “open access pumping means communities are not actually in control of their water supplies.”
Kuzdas told the board that groundwater provides the base flow for many Arizona rivers and that basin types and recharge rates vary by region. He showed Department of Water Resources notice-of-intent-to-drill data that, he said, reveal a noticeable rise in large-capacity industrial wells (greater than 35 gallons per minute) beginning…
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