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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 around 2010 in basins that lack a management framework. Kuzdas pointed to Wilcox as an example where a new active management area (AMA) was created after community pressure.
Public commenters tied the statewide patterns to local concerns. Carolyn Schaeffer, Patagonia Area Resource Alliance missions coordinator, said mining company South32 is permitted to “withdraw, treat, and release 6 and a half million gallons of water per day” from the Reynosa Mine and questioned how long nearby dewatering would persist. Robin Lucky, president of the Calabasas Alliance, said monitoring shows current dewatering “to the tune of a million gallons of water a day” and that in November excavation activity reached about 2,600,000 gallons per day. Lucky also raised PFAS contamination, saying Liberty Water estimated a $5,000,000 filtration need for the area and that “there is $42,000,000 available from ADEQ right now to remediate PFAS.”
Other commenters described household and property impacts. A resident who identified himself as Vance Williams described living without reliable water and asked, “Why are you letting it be taken?” A recorded clip from a La Paz County resident described wells dropping more than four feet over 15 years and homes cracking from subsidence.
Supervisors asked Kuzdas for legislative guidance. Kuzdas recommended monitoring a bipartisan measure he referred to as “bill 2714, Rural Groundwater Management Areas,” and he noted a competing proposal, “Senate Bill 1520,” which he said has generated concerns from rural communities. He urged local engagement with the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), the governor’s office and legislators during current negotiations.
Kuzdas emphasized early action and community input, suggesting that possible future designations for basins at risk could be part of a legislative package and that proactive measures could reduce the need for the steep pumping reductions that follow severe decline.
The study session did not produce a board vote or new local regulation; it was an informational briefing. Board members and staff indicated they will continue inviting experts and the ADWR to present and encouraged public involvement in follow-up meetings.
The county also heard that groundwater in the Santa Cruz AMA has declined substantially, and a commenter summarized a University of Arizona isotope study that identified Patagonia Mountain groundwater as “ancient,” likely recharging over centuries, a detail raised to underscore the long-term implications of current withdrawals.
Supervisor John Fanning and Supervisor Luis Carlos Davis asked several technical questions about recharge, the role of rainfall and snowmelt, and how evaporation and storm intensity affect infiltration. Kuzdas said natural recharge is included in basin balances but that in some basins current pumping can exceed natural recharge by multiple times, using Wilcox as an example where pumping “at least 3 and a half times more than what naturally comes in” was cited.
The session closed with supervisors and staff committing to continued public briefings and outreach to state agencies and legislators.
