Arizona ruling sides with developer in San Pedro River water-use dispute

The Arizona Supreme Court has given the go-ahead to new development in and around Sierra Vista even if it could dry up the San Pedro River or later leaves home buyers with no water.

In a ruling with statewide implications, particularly for rural areas, four of the seven justices concluded Thursday that the Department of Water Resources is required only to consider whether developer Castle & Cooke Inc. and the Pueblo del Sol water company it owns have a 100-year supply of water beneath its land where it plans to construct up to 7,000 homes on 2,000 acres, the legal right to the water, and the financial ability to supply it.

The majority said the state agency need not consider other potential future claims for the same underground water — in this case, by the federal Bureau of Land Management — or even the possibility that those other claims could end up leaving the development and the people who buy homes there high and, literally, dry.

"Whether the adequate water supply designation process should go further in protecting consumers is a matter for the Legislature,” wrote Justice John Lopez for himself and three colleagues. And he said that the way water laws are crafted "demonstrates the Legislature's intent to provide only limited protection to consumers and simultaneously encourage development.”

https://tucson.com/news/state-and-regional/arizona-ruling-sides-with-developer-in-san-pedro-river-water/article_1f1c5c38-9bfa-11e8-bf3e-5f10c9f09463.html