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San Pedro River's future is unclear as water regulation battles continue in rural Arizona

San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area
Bob Wick/BLM
The San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in Cochise County, Arizona.

Many rivers across Arizona have been lost due to groundwater pumping, and environmentalists have been fighting for decades to protect one in southern Arizona. But now, a judge has dismissed a lawsuit by some of those environmentalists that would have made the San Pedro River a state-regulated Active Management Area.

These so-called AMAs are often controversial in the state. But, they are one of the only tools available to regulate groundwater pumping in rural areas where, for the most part, anyone can pump as much water as they want.

Tony Davis, a longtime environmental reporter in Arizona, currently with The Arizona Daily Star in Tucson, joined The Show to discuss the San Pedro River and this judge’s most recent decision refusing to create an AMA to protect it.

Full conversation

TONY DAVIS: The judge basically said, he said two things. One is he doesn't see the urgency to do this because the environmentalists who want an AMA, they have another path to do it, that doesn't require going to court. It would be to get 10% of the people to get signatures on petitions, and then that would force an election, and then people could vote as to whether they want it or not, and that is what did happen two years ago in the Douglas basin, OK? So there is a precedent for that, and they tried in Willcox and failed miserably. So that can be done.

And the second thing he said, which is more contestable, is the fact that he said, the DWR [Department of Water Resources] has discretion as to when they're supposed to conduct reviews to even think about an AMA. They've done two of them in the last 40 years, but the state law doesn't require them to do these reviews, any particular interval, you know. So he's saying, “yeah, they're required to do it, but there's no timetable, and so if they have, the last one they did was in 2005, and there's nothing I can do about that.”

You know, the attorney general had already said to the governor's office that she found that explanation inadequate, but that's what the judge ruled, and his ruling is the law for now unless the opponents can appeal and win.

LAUREN GILGER: OK, so this gives us a glimpse into some of the controversy over this particular river, which is in dire straits, right? Like, give us a little bit of the history of the San Pedro River. Like, it is not gonna be there, a lot of scientists say, if there isn't some kind of regulation.

DAVIS: Well, it has been in deficit for at least four decades. In other words, it's been documented that more water is being pumped out from underneath the river then it is coming in from rainfall and runoff, and snow melt and all that.

There are a number of studies that have said if nothing is done to raise the deficit, at some point in the future, and it could be 20 years or 50 years or 100 years, the river is gonna dry up. And the key thing about that, of course, is a number of other rivers in the state have already partially or completely dried up due to groundwater pumping, most notably Tucson's own Santa Cruz River, which they're now doing a last ditch effort to try to restore.

GILGER: Why do environmentalists want this to happen? Is it because this looks like it's gotta happen now or never?

DAVIS: I think they want some kind of regulation. You know, in rural areas outside of this, the AMAs that exist in Tucson and Phoenix, and Prescott and Pinal County and Santa Cruz County, there's no regulation of groundwater pumping at all. So, people can drill wells. There's been thousands of what they call exempt wells, they only pump a small amount of groundwater. There's been thousands of them drilled and the water table keeps dropping, and they're looking for a way to get a handle on this pumping.

GILGER: So AMAs, these active management areas, are controversial in the state, often political. We're seeing the governor's office here say that they do not want this to happen. They were happy with this judge's decision, but they have backed AMAs in other parts of the state where aquifers or water is drying up. Why don't they support this one? What did they say about it?

DAVIS: Well, that's called a $64,000 question. I think most of the places where the AMAs are being supported or promoted or looked upon favorably by the governor and the ADWR. There, where the water supplies for people are in danger of running out, like Willcox. OK, they just designated an AMA in Willcox, and that's because the big farmers are coming in and pumping the aquifer unmercifully, people's wells, individuals wells are drying up all over the place.

Now, in the Sierra Vista area and the San Pedro, there's no immediate danger of people's wells drying up. That could happen in the future, but it's not gonna happen anytime soon. And the threat is to a river, and, you know, this is strictly my observation, but the politics have never been there to limit groundwater pumping in this state to protect rivers. For a long time, they wouldn't even, officials wouldn't even agree that groundwater pumping affects rivers, that there's a connection between surface and groundwater.

Well, now they, I think, most people agree that's the case, but politically and legally, it's been hard to get government officials to take the steps and saying, “hey, we're gonna limit pumping.”

You know, the governor's office also said the biggest pumper down here is the military, and that's federal government, Fort Huachuca, and they don't feel they can do much to curb them. And the, the advocate for the river, Dr. Robin Silver, says that's complete nonsense and that it can be done.

GILGER: Are there other ways to regulate pumping in places like this around the state, Tony? Like if, if they don't want an AMA, if the judge says this isn't gonna happen as well, are we just looking at, you know, pumping until there's no water, or are there other options?

DAVIS: Well, the Legislature could pass a law, but I think that's extremely unlikely. The other alternative that Dr. Silver is now looking at, he's looking at trying to get all the federal agencies and state agencies to stop issuing various kinds of permits and approvals for building down there, on the grounds that he believes Federal Reserve water rights are being violated.

This is what they're reduced to. He's tried, they, he and others have tried everything you can think of to try to get limits placed on pumping, and nothing has happened. You know, a lot of people in these rural areas don't want regulation. They don't believe in it. They believe it's the taking of private property rights, and that's really an important thing.

GILGER: Yeah. What do the people in these areas say, why do they say no? Like, why do they not want regulation on this?

DAVIS: Sierra Vista used to be growing a lot and it isn't now, but it could grow again, and I don't think they want to limit their growth. A lot of the pumping is being done for Fort Huachuca, and that's their biggest employer. And they don't wanna do anything that's gonna hurt their biggest employer. It's just one of the biggest employers in all of southern Arizona.

You know, and then of course their state representative is Gail Griffin, and she is the chairwoman of the House Natural Resources, Energy and Water Committee, and she has been an ardent opponent of regulation of groundwater pumping for many, many years. And so there's just a lot of factors down there.

KJZZ's The Show transcripts are created on deadline. This text is edited for length and clarity, and may not be in its final form. The authoritative record of KJZZ's programming is the audio record.

Lauren Gilger, host of KJZZ's The Show, is an award-winning journalist whose work has impacted communities large and small, exposing injustices and giving a voice to the voiceless and marginalized.
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