How do major copper producers in Arizona navigate water stewardship issues?Terry Braun - SRK Consulting | November 27, 2023 | 4:45 pm News USA C...
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network
Terry Braun - SRK Consulting | November 27, 2023 | 4:45 pm News USA Copper
US court overturns Trump water rule on environmental grounds
The San Pedro River is one of the Arizona’s waterways affected by the Trump-era clean water rules. (Image courtesy of Katja Schulz | Flicr Commons.)
On May 6, 2022, the Central Arizona Project and the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) held a public briefing on Colorado River Shortage Preparedness. The briefing started with three observations.
First, the Colorado River Basin drought has lasted more than 22 years. Second, dry soil, higher temperatures, and low precipitation represent the driest basin conditions in more than 1,200 years. Third, the Colorado River was 36% of Arizona’s water supply in 2020. The briefing ended with the certainty of increased reductions to Arizona’s Colorado River allocation in 2023—beyond the 30% reduction instituted in January 2022. Two months later, the Governor of Arizona announced a $1.2 billion, three-year investment in improving water infrastructure.
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In 2021, copper mining (e.g., metal mining) in Arizona accounted for 74% of the domestic US copper production (USGS 2021). How do the major copper producers in Arizona navigate the sustained drought conditions, climate change forecasts, and complex legal frameworks of today? The solutions lie in an established strategy of long-term conservation planning and a sustained commitment to water stewardship.
Regulatory brief
The most recent statewide water conservation measures announced in 2022 are the latest of a long series of forward-looking water strategies in Arizona, accelerated by the construction start of the Central Arizona Project in 1973.
Established in 1980, ADWR assumed responsibility for all groundwater planning and regulation in the state except for water quality. This legal authority included the development and oversight of mandatory conservation programs for groundwater use in four areas of heaviest groundwater pumping, classified as active management areas (AMAs). ADWR’s legal authority on groundwater use outside of the AMAs requires users to demonstrate a reasonable and beneficial use. In this role, ADWR regulates “groundwater mining”.
The Surface Water Division of ADWR administers permits, certificates of water rights, and claims to the appropriation of surface water in the state. This legal authority defines beneficial use as the basis, measure, and limit to the use of surface water. Mining is one beneficial use.
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- Water Stewardship