An out-of-state organization has taken to court to challenge the December 19, 2022 designation of the Hualapai Valley Groundwater Basin as an Irrigation No Extension Area (INA) by Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) Administrator Tom Buschatke. I went to court. Mojave County formally requested designation, arguing that agricultural operations north of Kingman put an undue burden on the watershed.
This designation generally precludes landowners within the basin from using more water for new agricultural purposes, but precludes previous uses, without compromise. The Tucson law firm representing Opal and Steff Investments, limited liability companies in Utah and Nevada, respectively, filed a notice of appeal of the administrative decision on Jan. 23 in Maricopa County Superior Court in Phoenix.
Munger, Chadwick & Denker Attorneys Adriane J. Hofmeyr and David Ruiz, Munger, Chadwick & Denker, have submitted that, given current withdrawal rates, there is not enough water to provide reasonably safe water for irrigation of cropland within the basin. It challenges the Buschatzke and ADWR findings that there is no watershed in the basin. Hualapai Gorge Groundwater Basin.
The lawsuit’s primary allegation is that the ADWR’s reliance on modeling and groundwater withdrawal projections by the US Geological Survey is flawed in its designation.
“ADWR’s failure to consider actual groundwater withdrawal data, and instead its reliance on estimated groundwater withdrawal rates, is arbitrary and capricious,” and an abuse of discretion not supported by evidence, the appeal said. “The final order was motivated by illegal political negotiations and by politically favorable trade-offs between two government agencies that hurt all landowners within the INA.”
Plaintiffs’ attorneys did not respond to inquiries for clarification and comment.
“At this time, ADWR has not received an appeal against the Hualapai Valley INA’s decision,” ADWR communications manager Doug MacEachern responded on January 25, two days after the appeal was filed. ADWR did not receive notice of his appeal until one week after the appeal was filed.
Court records show that service took place at 10:15 am on January 30 and was accepted by ADWR Docket Supervisor Sharon Scantlebury on behalf of Buschatzke.
MacEachern said ADWR does not refer water-related matters to the Attorney General’s Office and has its own attorneys.
Mojave County Manager Sam Elters said the county complies with ADWR and will not be involved in legal challenges.
“They’re the agency that established it (INA) and made the decisions at the request of the county,” Elters said.
