Activists sue to force Arizona to regulate pumping near San Pedro River

Environmentalists are suing to try to force Arizona to protect the San Pedro River from the groundwater pumping that has threatened its future for 40 years.

The suit, filed late Monday, seeks a court order directing the Arizona Department of Water Resources to start proceedings to designate the Upper San Pedro River Basin as an state-run Active Management Area.

Such an area, commonly called an AMA, would be a political subdivision bearing the authority to limit nearby groundwater pumping.

The environmentalist San Pedro Alliance, activist Robin Silver and the Center for Biological Diversity said in their lawsuit that ADWR and Gov. Katie Hobbs have failed to carry out their “mandatory duty” to conduct a review to determine if some kind of management is needed “to preserve long-term, reliable groundwater supplies” in the basin.

Hobbs and ADWR have “also abused their discretion by ignoring incontrovertible scientific data showing that groundwater is threatened in the basin,” the lawsuit said.

In a statement to the Star, ADWR spokesman Doug MacEachern said, “ADWR has not had an opportunity to review the lawsuit yet so we have no comment at this time.”

Hobbs’ press secretary Christian Slater said, “We are not commenting at this time.”

The San Pedro Alliance, a coalition of local, Arizonan, regional, national and international conservation and environmental groups, wrote a letter to ADWR Director Tom Buschatzke last September, seeking designation of an AMA for the basin. It hasn’t received a response, the lawsuit said.

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It made a similar request in 2005 that was later turned down by ADWR.

While there are six other AMAs in Arizona, a San Pedro AMA would be unique in that it is being pushed as a means to preserve a river from groundwater depletion. The other AMAs were formed to preserve groundwater supplies so there would be enough for future human use.

The river is an internationally known bird haven, drawing hundreds of bird species to its still-rich stands of cottonwood and willow trees and its extensive understory vegetation. It’s the desert Southwest’s last undammed, free-flowing river.

The basin covers the river’s watershed north from the Mexican border to the Narrows, a spot where the river narrows sharply a bit north of Benson. It lies about 50 miles southeast of Tucson.

Creation of an AMA in the San Pedro River would doubtlessly create political upheaval in the river’s surrounding communities. Leaders of Sierra Vista, Bisbee and other area governments have formed a partnership of interest groups and government agencies to try to enhance river flows by such methods as artificially recharging effluent near the river. They’ve resisted repeated entreaties by Silver and his allies to limit growth to reduce pumping, however, calling such measures extreme.

The historic deficit between groundwater pumping and recharge has persisted despite such measures, although it has narrowed. Numerous studies have warned over the years that continued over pumping could or will dry the river.

Despite concerns about the river, ADWR has issued statements that the area has adequate water supplies for two big developments planned in the area, the lawsuit noted. One is the 7,000-home Tribute subdivision in Sierra Vista, and the other is the 28,000-home Villages of Vigneto project planned for Benson. Neither has been built.