Arizona agency can now manage injection wells, EPA says

The federal Safe Drinking Water Act was enacted in 1974 to ensure the quality of drinking water is protected, and it authorized the EPA to enforce those standards.

The EPA is now letting state officials take over some of that work in Arizona.

The EPA granted an application from the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality to manage a program that regulates how companies put water into the ground through injection wells.

Those wells can be used for dumping industrial waste, oil and gas production or mineral extraction.

Trevor Baggiore is director of ADEQ’s Water Quality Division.

“We believe local regulation works,” Baggiore said.“It allows us to be faster and more accurate in our decisions. In addition, we're more responsive, too. If there becomes an issue where we need to take an inspection or receive a complaint, we're local. We can be there within a matter of minutes.”

He noted that regulation for groundwater in Arizona is critical, considering all of it has to be protected as drinking water, even if it is used for other purposes like farming.

Baggiore said that he hopes ADEQ taking the helm of will create a more efficient process for those seeking permits, as the department operates other similar local projects, such as the Aquifer Protection Program.

“Well, now that will all be in-house. So we expect that the permitting process will be quicker,” Baggiore said.

Baggiore says the EPA will periodically audit ADEQ to ensure local enforcement still meets the federal law’s standards.