WILLCOX, Ariz. — The Arizona Department of Water Resources has proposed that the Willcox area should reduce its groundwater overdraft by at least 50% over the next 50 years to address groundwater depletion and land subsidence.
The annual overdraft — the difference between how much groundwater is pumped out and how much is replaced by runoff or recharge — is estimated to be 180,426 acre-feet per year. Cutting that in half would represent a water use reduction of 42% over 50 years, based on supply and demand estimates.
The agency outlined its draft goal at an informal public hearing on April 8 in the southeastern Arizona city, part of its proposal for the Active Management Area the state designated in December 2024. Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs has said she would enforce groundwater protection in rural Arizona in the absence of legislative proposals with enough enforcement teeth.
The boundaries of the Willcox AMA follow those of the groundwater basin, an area defined by the Winchester, Dragoon, Swisshelm, Chiricahua and Pinaleño Mountains where water drains and stores in aquifers. While some 8,000 people live in the area, only those water users pumping more than 35 gallons per minute would be required to measure how much they are extracting and, depending on the industry, lower their water use.
It’s too early to know how a 42% reduction by 2075 would work. Agency staff said water reductions wouldn’t look the same across the board, and the goal is a work in progress.
“This is a draft goal,” Natalie Mast, director of the AMA program, told The Arizona Republic. “We need to have a starting point for these discussions. We are giving them something specific that they can provide feedback on. It’s not necessarily a hard number that’s going to be permanent.”
About 60 people attended the hearing at the Willcox Community Center, a sharp contrast from the over 300 who filled the chairs and lined the walls last November when the state agency held the last informal hearing for public input before designating an AMA.
“People are still very upset that the director and the governor overlaid this on top of the Willcox basin when we voted against it. That still makes people very angry,” Sonia Gasho, vice president of Cochise County Farm Bureau, told The Republic after the hearing.
Boundaries of Willcox Active Management Area in southeastern Arizona.
There is an agreement on the need to manage groundwater in the Willcox basin and also on the need for an alternative to active management areas for rural Arizona, she added. The conundrum is what does that look like.
“Fifty percent is not attainable,” Gasho said about the proposed goal. “We would put our farmers and vineyards and orchards out of business.”
Most of the residents who spoke at Tuesday’s meeting applauded the agency’s action. Some expressed concern over how the goal would hurt agricultural operations that cannot afford to cut more, like vineyards, orchards and small growers.
Rural water: In the ‘wild West’ of groundwater use, Hobbs hears about dry wells, ground fissures
“I can’t increase efficiencies on a drip irrigation system in the desert. Am I going to be asked as a vineyard owner to give up half of my acreage?” asked Brian Gilson, who grows grapes in the southern part of the basin.
The agency staff responded that the “mechanics” of the management plan still need to be worked on. Also, the goal is not exclusive to each individual water user and water rights holder, said Maddison Moreno, AMA establishment coordinator.
“It’s a collective goal to reach,” she said.
Gov. Katie Hobbs visits a large earth fissure near Kansas Settlement in Cochise County on September 5, 2024, with the principal hydrogeologist of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Brian Conway.
Residents ask for flexibility, more measures
More land subsidence and earth fissuring have occurred in the Willcox basin due to excessive groundwater pumping than in any other part of the state, according to data reviewed by the state water authority. Of 51 groundwater basins studied over 20 years, it’s also one of the three “priority basins” for management.
Land has sunk 11.5 feet in some areas and dozens of wells have gone dry. The aquifer is the only source of water for all users, which limits solutions.
“There’s two paths: one is to decrease demand, other to increase supply,” said Moreno, of the state agency. The initial AMAs, created in 1980 near urban areas, had additional supplies of river water and a big opportunity to reclaim wastewater. “With Willcox, that’s a different story. The only realistic option is to decrease demand.”
Turkey Creek Dairy in Pearce.
Excessive agricultural water pumping and a megadrought that has resulted in poor rain seasons means there is 3.5 times more water leaving the aquifer than what is being recharged naturally, the water agency estimates.
A local rancher, Phil Klump, complained he has reached out multiple times to the state water authority and offered his land for aquifer recharge, and so far no one has visited or replied.
The land behind his house “is like a beach,” he told The Republic. There’s a sand deposit about 2 miles wide and 4 miles long. He doesn’t know the depth, but as soon as water flows in it sinks fast, he added. If the state would help redirect drainage in other areas to his land, they could help restore aquifer levels. “I would gain but so would everybody else.”
Tracking use: Shrinking aquifers worry Cochise County residents, but support is weak for regulations
In 2011, a large earth fissure caused by excessive groundwater pumping opened on East Parker Ranch Road in southeastern Arizona. Cochise County has some of the highest subsidence rates in the state, according to the Arizona Department of Water Resources.
Water depth in the basin varies wildly, as does the rate of pumping by agricultural users. On Klump’s land, the water depth is 40 feet; near Pearce, some residents have to go 350 feet deep to get to the water. One neighbor near Turkey Creek Dairy, operated by Riverview LLP, saw his water level drop 10 feet in just one year. Farmers in the area have also had to dig deeper wells.
“If we do nothing there’s not going to be many years before there is no agriculture,” said Mark Spencer, a neighbor from Pearce who spoke in favor of finding alternatives to the AMA through a legislative solution.
Withdrawal fees, which are currently prohibited in the AMA, should be up for discussion too, Spencer suggested.
“Our ranchers graze their cattle on public lands and they pay fees,” he explained. “Like it or not, water is public property, not private property. If you use public property for private gain, you should pay for it. It’s that simple. It’s reasonable, it’s rational, and it doesn’t have to be a lot.”
Water rights would limit alternatives to the AMA
Growers, city officials and domestic water users have all warned that the framework of an AMA wouldn’t do enough to reduce groundwater pumping from the biggest agricultural players, like Riverview Dairy, and would be unfair to growers using the least water or investing in greater efficiency.
Under an AMA, the state agency can issue “grandfathered” rights for land farmed five years before designation. The AMA also gives farmers a maximum water allotment depending on what they historically grew; more if they grew a high-water crop like alfalfa, less if they grew watermelons or grapes.
“Once those grandfathered rights are issued, that’s something folks in this area would own,” Mast explained.
Several residents spoke in favor of advancing negotiations and amending Senate Bill 1520, a measure that would create Basin Management Areas and provide an alternative to the AMA. If the legislature would also pass new laws that allow the agency director to make changes to the AMA, the Willcox basin plan could be rewritten under a new form of groundwater management. But there is a time limit.
Once the water agency issues these rights there could be “legal or constitutional issues” to establish a Basin Management Area, or any other regulatory framework, that comes with a different form of water right, Mast added.
The application deadline for irrigation grandfathered rights in the Willcox AMA is April 8, 2026. Anyone who owns a well that pumps more than 35 gallons per minute and uses it to irrigate crops must apply for it or lose their right. The final management goal will be adopted by the end of 2026 with a management plan.
The state water agency is already processing Irrigated Grandfathered Rights certificates for the Douglas AMA, where Riverview owns thousands of acres for crops, feedlots, and milking parlors. Once those privileges are granted it will be extremely difficult and legally problematic to redesignate the Douglas basin.
“The Douglas AMA is running up against that timeline issue,” Mast said. “We are going to start issuing rights any day now.”
Clara Migoya covers agriculture and water issues for The Arizona Republic and azcentral. Send tips or questions to clara.migoya@arizonarepublic.com.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Arizona seeks deep cuts in groundwater use for Willcox Basin users