VICKSBURG, AZ — Lush green fields of alfalfa stretch across thousands of acres of desert valley in western Arizona, where a Saudi Arabian dairy company produces a thirsty crop by drawing groundwater from dozens of wells.
Fondomonte is the largest water user in the Ranegras Plain groundwater basin and ships hay overseas to feed its cows in the Middle East. Like other landowners in the area, he was allowed to pump unlimited amounts of water from the aquifer, even as water levels dropped.
That could soon change as Arizona officials consider a plan to regulate groundwater pumping in a rural area 100 miles west of Phoenix.
Misha Melehes, who lives near the rural town of Bows, Arizona, speaks at a hearing held by the Arizona Department of Water Resources at an RV park in Brenda Township.
At a meeting in mid-December, more than 150 La Paz County residents sat on folding chairs and listened as state officials emphasized the severity of the declining groundwater level, showing graphs with lines sloping steeply downward.
“This is where the heaviest pumping is happening. This is where we're seeing the most decline,” said Ryan Mitchell, chief hydrologist for the Arizona Department of Water Resources, showing that graphs falling aquifer level.
Well data revealed this: in one of them, water levels have dropped a staggering 242 feet since the early 1980s. The other dropped 136 feet.
Alfalfa storage structures at Fondomonte Farm in Vicksburg, Arizona.
Mitchell said the current pumping of water in the Ranegras Basin is not sustainable and that in some places it is causing the land surface to sink as much as 2 inches per year.
“This trend is alarming,” he said. “The basin’s water budget is unbalanced, significantly unbalanced.”
As he read the numbers, there was a murmur in the crowded room.
In recent years, some residents' wells dried upforcing them to look for solutions.
The problem of declining groundwater levels is widespread in many rural areas of Arizona. Gov. Katie Hobbs said Arizona needs to address the problem of unlimited pumping by “out-of-state corporations.” almost 10 times faster with which it is naturally replenished in the desert.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources has proposed a new “active control zoneIt will also require other measures, including forming a local advisory board and developing a plan to reduce water use.
Some residents believe such measures are long overdue.
“What’s happening now is freedom for everyone,” said Denise Beasley, a resident of the town of Bows. “It’s just the Wild West of water.”
Denise Beasley stands outside her home in Bowse, Arizona.
She believes the changes will bring much-needed controls and help protect her health and the health of others in her community of about 1,100 people.
Fondomonte, part of Saudi dairy giant Almarai. started his agricultural activities in Arizona in 2014. It's part of a trend: Saudi companies purchase of agricultural land abroad because groundwater in Saudi Arabia is depleting and as a result the country banned the domestic cultivation of alfalfa and other feed crops..
Company lawyer said he owns 3,600 acres of land in Vicksburg. The company also leases 3,088 acres of public farmland and 3,163 acres of public grassland in the Ranegras Basin under leases that expire in 2031.
Grant Greatorex fills jugs with purified drinking water at a gas station at Bows RV Park in Bows, Arizona. He says this water tastes better than the water from his home well.
The state Department of Lands charges the company about $83,000 a year for those leases, agency spokeswoman Lynne Cordova said.
Some residents who spoke at hearing I think it is wrong that Fondomonte uses water to grow hay and export it around the world. Others see no problem in being neighbors with a foreign company, but believe the region should switch to growing less water-intensive crops.
“This is a desert and our water is drying up,” said Misha Melehes, who lives near Bauze. “We're bleeding. We need a tourniquet while we wait in the emergency room.”
Others fear the state's rules could lead to farm cuts and even water being sent to Arizona's fast-growing cities.
Fondomonte's alfalfa field in Vicksburg, Arizona.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Kelly James, a nearby resident, called the proposal a “water grab.” He urged the state to delay making a decision and let local residents come up with their own plan.
He and others noted that Arizona has a history of cities that have found ways buy water on which farms used to depend and that, according to state law three groundwater basins the areas surrounding Ranegras have already been allocated as reserves to support urban growth.
The state's proposal makes no mention of transporting water from the Ranegras Basin. In fact, this would be illegal under current law. But that doesn't ease the concerns of some in the area.
“I'm highly suspicious,” said Robert Favela, who uses his well to water the bamboo clumps on his 5-acre property in Vicksburg. “Believe me, they are going to take our water.”
Larry Housley pours water into buckets for horses on his farm near Bows, Arizona.
(Kayla Bartkowski/Los Angeles Times)
Jenny Housley, who with her husband Larry owns a 40-acre horse ranch near Bows, fears the area could lose its agricultural industry and eventually lose water to growing subdivisions and basins.
“I believe that to sustain our country, we need to develop agriculture in places like La Paz County,” she said.
Larry Hancock, a farmer who grows crops in the nearby McMullen Valley, wrote a letter to the state making similar arguments. He said producers already “conserve water because it's in our best interest” and introducing regulation would be economically damaging.
Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke is scheduled to announce his decision on whether to begin regulating groundwater in the area by Jan. 17.
No Fondomonte representatives spoke at the meeting. The company did not respond to requests for comment.
Efforts to limit groundwater depletion present complex challenges for communities and government agencies throughout much of Arizona, California and other Western states.
Large agricultural operations extended in Arizona in recent years, while global warming has created a growing burden of water scarcity in the region. Scientists using satellite data estimate that since 2003. groundwater quantity The Colorado River Basin's depleted water supply is comparable to the total capacity of Lake Mead, the nation's largest reservoir.
Arizona has limited pumping to Phoenix, Tucson and other urban areas since the state passed groundwater act 1980.
But the law left groundwater completely unregulated in about 80% of the state, allowing large farming companies and investors drill wells and pump as much water as they want.
Since Hobbs took office in 2023, she has supported efforts to limit overpumping where aquifers are severely depleted. In January, her administration established a new regulated territory in the Wilcox Groundwater Basin in southeastern Arizona, and this month Hobbs appointed five local leaders to serve advisory board this will help develop a plan to reduce water use.
“We feel like this has given us hope for a sustainable future,” said Ed Curry, a farmer who is a Willcox council member. “It gave us strength.”
Luis Machado removes a pipe after testing a water well in Butler Valley, Arizona. Workers recently removed pumps from wells in the area after Arizona ended its lease on public farmland to the Saudi Arabian company Fondomonte.
A few months ago Hobbs toured La Paz district and spoke with residents about ways to protect water in the area. The Democratic governor has taken other steps to curb water use, stopping Rental Fondomonte 3,520 acres of public farmland in the Butler Valley of western Arizona. The decision followed Arizona Republic Investigation This showed that the state was charging reduced rates below market rates.
Now these former hayfields have dried up, and weeds are pushing through the parched soil. Workers are removing pumps from leased land, and power lines that once supplied wells sit unused in the desert.
An alfalfa farm in Butler Valley is abandoned after Arizona ended its lease on state-owned farmland to Fondomonte.
Although Fondomonte continues to farm nearby, the company also facing legal action Arizona Atty. Gen. Chris Mayes says overpumping violates the law by causing groundwater levels to decline, land subsidence and water quality to deteriorate.
The suit says the company operates at least 36 wells and accounts for more than 80% of all production in the Ranegras Basin.
Fondomonte's lawyers argued in court papers that the attorney general does not have the authority to regulate groundwater pumping and that the lawsuit is an attempt to force the court “to get involved in a political issue.”
The Water Resources Department's proposal is a way to finally protect water for area residents, said Holly Irwin, a La Paz County supervisor who has been pushing for a solution to the problem for years.
“You're starting to see more and more wells running dry. If we don't try to slow this down, where will we be in 20 years?” – said Irwin.
Nancy Blevins, who lives near Fondomonte Farm, agrees.
In 2019 she and her family watched their well run dry. She spent months driving back and forth to a friend's house, filling plastic bottles and bringing water home.
Nancy Blevins outside her home in La Paz County, Arizona.
They eventually bought a new pump and installed it at the bottom of the well, restoring running water. She still keeps bottled water in a shed next to her mobile home in case the well runs dry again.
“They need to start regulating,” Blevins said. “The water level here is falling.”
If something doesn't change, the water will eventually run out, she said, and “future generations will be left in the lurch.”
