Drought-stricken Arizona moves to curb groundwater use in more rural areas

PHOENIX (AP) — Officials in drought-stricken Arizona are moving to regulate groundwater use on the state’s western edge where wells have been running dry.

The new rules allow for a management plan formed by the Arizona Department of Water Resources and locals, as well as requirements for conserving water. It applies to water users in the basin, including the Saudi Arabian agribusiness Fondomonte, which draws all of its water from a basin in La Paz and Yuma counties to grow alfalfa as an export crop.

The changes won’t reverse the decline of groundwater. Rather, they are meant to slow the depletion of supplies through conservation mandates.

What it means for local residents

Gov. Katie Hobbs announced the designation of an active management area Monday during her annual address to the Legislature on its opening day. It followed a determination by the Arizona Department of Water Resources that plummeting water levels are causing land within the Ranegras Plain Groundwater Basin to sink, which impacts the amount of water that can be held underground.

“We can no longer sit idly by while our rural communities go without help,” Hobbs said. “They deserve solutions and security, not another decade of inaction and uncertainty.”

Under the designation, water users in the Ranegras Plain Groundwater Basin will have to track and report water usage.

Kari Ann Noeltner, chief deputy assessor for La Paz County who lives in the basin and is Republican, said she has started saving money in anticipation of needing to dig a deeper well for her own property.

“What this does is give us some breathing room that we’re not going to have more straws put into this basin without some serious oversight,” she said of the designation.

Frustration between Hobbs and GOP lawmakers

Arizona’s regulatory framework for managing groundwater was enacted in 1980 with a focus around Tucson and Phoenix, where most people live. There, for example, housing developers have to prove there’s a 100-year supply of water before building.

The lax laws in most rural areas, where water users essentially could pump to their hearts’ delight, attracted large-scale farming operations. Hobbs, a Democrat, toured Fondomonte’s operation last May as she called for the Republican-led Legislature to pass a deal aimed at giving several rural parts of the state a more flexible alternative to active management areas.

Some Republicans saw it as a threat to the local economy, farming and property values. The talks stalled.

The new set of regulations are subject to being challenged administratively or through the courts. It’s the second such designation that Hobbs has made since becoming governor.

Aims at agribusiness

Philip Bashaw, chief executive of the Arizona Farm Bureau, is weary of the changes. The agriculture industry will be the most immediately and directly impacted by the regulations he considers too stringent.

“It doesn’t matter if it’s Fondomonte or they are family farms that have been in that area for a long time,” he said. “Everyone is going to wind up with the same limitations.”

A map from the Arizona Department of Water Resources shows land subsidence in the basin is most pronounced where Fondomonte farms.

After the governor’s announcement, Fondomonte spokesperson Barrett Marson said the company — a subsidiary of Saudi dairy giant Almari Co. — will continue abiding by all state and local regulations. He said the company has invested significantly in water efficiencies on the long-established farm.

“We are proud supporters of Arizona Agriculture and the farming community,” he said in a statement.

Attorney General Kris Mayes has accused the company of being a public nuisance. She sued in 2024, alleging Fondomonte’s groundwater pumping threatens public health, safety and the area’s infrastructure. Fondomonte has said the allegations are unfounded and the lawsuit is an attempt to sidestep the Legislature and implement water policy through the courts.