Photo Courtesy Keith Schneider
“Sustainable Water for All”
Our water security in the Sulphur Springs Valley of Cochise County is being threatened:
- The mega-drought continues – 22 years and counting of below average precipitation and mountain snowpack, low soil moisture.
- More and more land is being cleared for new orchards and center pivots with wells as deep as 2500 feet. Agricultural irrigation is up over 80% since 2000 in the Willcox Basin.
- Riverview Dairy is irrigating over 39,000 acres of corn, alfalfa and wheat and pumping over 110,000 acre feet of water out of the Sulphur Springs groundwater basins each year. THAT IS MORE WATER THAN IS USED BY THE ENTIRE CITY OF TUCSON IN ONE YEAR!
- Water is being pumped from our groundwater basins at a rate of 2 to 4 times the amount of water recharging these basins.
What happens when more water is pumped out of these basins than is being recharged?
- Groundwater levels are dropping 3 to 10 feet per year throughout the valley.
- Domestic wells are going dry all over the Sulphur Springs Valley with costs for drilling new wells running well over $40,000. Deeper wells require deeper pockets.
- Cochise County is experiencing the worst land subsidence rates in all of Arizona with parts of the Sulphur Springs Valley sinking 3 to 5 inches per year.
- Fissures are becoming more common and more severe and resulting in road closures and significant repair costs. This subsidence and the resulting fissures are directly related to the severe over pumping of our groundwater.
Who we are:
The Cochise Groundwater Stewards is a community organization dedicated to creating a sustainable water policy for all of Cochise County. We are local residents working to create a strong network of well-informed neighbors committed to working together to assure the preservation of our precious groundwater resources.
We are dedicated to the idea that we all need to be good stewards of the groundwater everyone relies on for life and sustenance and invite all members of our community to join us in this work. Our current focus is on the Willcox and Douglas groundwater basins within the Sulphur Springs Valley. Let’s all work together to save our groundwater!
Threats to our Water Supply:
Here in the southeastern corner of our state we are nearly 100% dependent on groundwater to support our daily water needs. Regardless of whether you have your own domestic well or you get your water through a private water company (eg: Clear Springs Utility in the Sunsites area) or a public water district (eg: Elfrida Water District) your water is coming from one of the groundwater basins in our area.
In the Sulphur Springs Valley the groundwater we all depend on is being depleted at an alarmingly rapid rate. The Arizona Department of Water Resources estimates that we are pumping 3 to 8 times more water out of the Willcox Basin than is being recharged each year. Hydologists call this condition overdraft -- more water taken out than goes back in. Significant overdraft means that water levels drop in our wells and more wells go dry.
The biggest source of the overdraft of groundwater in the Willcox and Douglas Basins is agricultural irrigation. Agricultural irrigation is responsible for 97% of all the groundwater used in the Willcox Basin (90% in the Douglas Basin) while domestic and municipal uses account for less than 1.5% (10% in the Douglas Basin) . Coming up with a viable solution to the overdraft problem will require significant input and cooperation from the agricultural community.
What can you do?
- The first thing you can do is learn everything you can about what is happening to our groundwater. Start by reading through some of the articles on our Media Links and Resources pages. Check out our Groundwater 101 to view basic facts about groundwater in the SSV.
- The second thing you can do is share everything you learn and all of your concerns with your friends and neighbors. Start building your own micro-community of neighbors, family and friends that are informed and engaged on the water issues here. A good place to begin is by sharing the link to this website with them or some of the links in our Media Links and Resources pages.
- The third thing you can do is to join the Cochise Groundwater Stewards (see below) to stay informed and united on this important issue. Link to our contact/member sign-up. We'll keep you informed of educational opportunities, important events and actions that you can participate in to help preserve our groundwater.
Has your well gone dry or needed to be deepened over the past 8-10 years? If so we want to hear from you. Please join our DRY WELL REGISTRY. Learn why it is important that we track the number of wells that are going dry and share that information with our elected officials and the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR).
