Investigations into the availability of additional water supplies and water storage areas for the Santa Cruz active management area, Arizona

Abstract

The desert climate of Southern Arizona coupled with the overdraft of its groundwater resources, led to the passing of the 1980, Groundwater Management Act. The Act mandates the creation of management plans in designated areas of heavy overdraft. Of the four initial Active Management Areas (AMAs, three had management plans that were designed to secure sustainable yield of the aquifer by 2025. In 1994, the Arizona legislature created a fifth AMA by designating the southern part of the Tucson AMA as the Santa Cruz AMA (SCAMA). The purpose for this subdivision was to facilitate the bi- national negotiations for coordinated water resource management in this internationally shared basin. Additionally, the SCAMA is to coordinate the management of surface water and groundwater rights for public health, safety and welfare. A.R.S. § 45-411.04. The legislature also assigned the SCAMA the management goals of maintaining safe -yield conditions and preventing long -term declines in local water table levels. A.R.S. § 45- 562(C) (ADWR, 1999). This study is a result of a grant award from the 1999 Augmentation and Conservation Assistance Program in an attempt to investigate the availability of additional water supplies and water storage areas within the SCAMA.