Bill 1 · Water

Your Well or Their Profit?

Arizona's groundwater management laws were written to protect urban areas. Rural communities — especially mining communities — have no equivalent protection.

The Problem

In Green Valley, the water table is dropping because ASARCO-Mission Mine, Freeport-McMoRan Sierrita Mine, and Farmers Investment Co. are industrial-scale water users pumping from the same aquifer as residents.

In Greenlee County, residents share groundwater with the largest copper mine in North America. No state law requires mines to prioritize residential water access over industrial extraction.

Wells go dry. Families drill deeper. The cost falls on homeowners.

The Bill

The Arizona Family Well Protection Act establishes residential priority for wells near industrial extraction, requires quarterly water table monitoring and disclosure from major industrial users, creates a compensation fund for well-deepening costs, and requires water impact assessments before new industrial extraction permits.

Why It Matters in LD-19

Every community in this district has a water story. Green Valley retirees watching their water table drop. Safford families competing with the Lone Star mine. Willcox agricultural water disputes.

Water is the one issue that crosses every political line in southern Arizona.

"Green Valley: median age 73. These are retirees watching their wells go dry. That's not a political issue — it's a moral one."