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REFERENCE TITLE: Big Chino; groundwater withdrawal; mitigation |
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State of Arizona House of Representatives Fifty-seventh Legislature Second Regular Session 2026
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HB 2723 |
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Introduced by Representative Bliss
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AN ACT
Amending section 45-555, Arizona Revised Statutes; RELATING to groundwater.
(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)
Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:
Section 1. Section 45-555, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended to read:
45-555. Transportation of groundwater withdrawn in Big Chino subbasin of the Verde River groundwater basin to initial active management area; exception; adequate mitigation; Prescott AMA; rules; definition
A. A city or town that owns land consisting of historically irrigated acres in the Big Chino sub-basin subbasin of the Verde River groundwater basin, as designated by order of the director dated June 21, 1984, or a city or town with the consent of the landowner, may withdraw from the land for transportation to an adjacent initial active management area an amount of groundwater determined pursuant to this section. The amount of groundwater that may be withdrawn from the land pursuant to this section shall not exceed:
1. In any year two times the annual transportation allotment for the land determined pursuant to subsection B of this section.
2. For any period of ten consecutive years computed in continuing progressive series beginning in the year transportation of groundwater from the land begins, ten times the annual transportation allotment for the land.
B. The director shall determine the annual transportation allotment as follows:
1. Determine each farm or portion of a farm owned or leased by the city or town in the sub-basin subbasin.
2. For each such farm or portion of a farm, determine the historically irrigated acres retired from irrigation. Multiply the sum of those historically irrigated acres by three acre-feet per acre.
C. In making the determination required by subsection B of this section, the director shall rely only on credible documentary evidence submitted by the city or town or otherwise obtained by the department.
D. For the purposes of subsections A, B and C of this section:
1. "Documentary evidence" means correspondence, contracts, other agreements, aerial photography, affidavits, receipts or official records.
2. "Farm" means an area of land in the sub-basin subbasin that is or was served by a common irrigation water distribution system.
3. "Historically irrigated acres" means acres of land overlying an aquifer that were irrigated with groundwater at any time between January 1, 1975 and January 1, 1990.
E. A city or town in the Prescott active management area may withdraw and transport eight thousand sixty-eight acre-feet per year of groundwater from the Big Chino sub-basin subbasin of the Verde River groundwater basin to the Prescott active management area if the city or town does both of the following:
1. Relinquishes a supply of water from the central Arizona project allocated to the city or town.
2. Enters into a federally-approved settlement of the water rights claims of an Indian tribe in the Prescott active management area.
F. Notwithstanding the volume limitation in subsection E of this section, in any year in which a city or town that qualifies under subsection E of this section delivers more than two hundred thirty-one acre-feet of water to an Indian tribe for use on its reservation in the Prescott active management area pursuant to a federally-approved Indian water rights settlement, the city or town may withdraw and transport additional groundwater from the Big Chino sub-basin subbasin to the Prescott active management area in an amount equal to the amount by which those deliveries exceed two hundred thirty-one acre-feet.
G. Groundwater that is withdrawn and transported pursuant to subsections E and F of this section may be delivered to and used by any city, town or Indian tribe in the Prescott active management area without regard to whether that entity withdraws and transports the water.
H. Before a city or town withdraws water from the big chino subbasin for transportation to the Prescott active management area, the city or town shall obtain a certificate of adequate mitigation.
I. The department shall adopt rules to obtain a certificate of adequate mitigation. The rules must:
1. Be consistent with the best available science, including the department's most recent groundwater model.
2. Ensure that base flow, water quality and natural flood flow cycles are maintained for the duration of the certificate of adequate mitigation.
3. Ensure that a city or town that receives a certificate of adequate mitigation complies with all applicable law.
4. Require a city or town with a certificate of adequate mitigation to renew the certificate every ten years until the impacts of groundwater pumping cease and submit an annual report to the department. The annual report must include the following:
(a) Data on the city's or town's groundwater withdrawal and recharge impacts on base flow, water quality and natural flood flow cycles as measured at the Paulden stream gage operated by the United States geological survey.
(b) Data on the city's or town's mitigation water, including the water quality and quantity.
(c) The data collection methodology, including the location and timing of testing.
5. Require a city or town that withdraws groundwater from the big chino subbasin to mitigate any degradation of base flow, water quality or natural flood flow cycles by any combination of the following:
(a) Recharging treated effluent in the big chino subbasin.
(b) Permanently retiring acres in the subbasin subject to consistent irrigation in the five years preceding the application.
(c) Other forms of recharge that maintain base flow, water quality and natural flood flow cycles as determined by the director.
J. A city or town that applies for a certificate of adequate mitigation shall provide the following to the department:
1. The anticipated location and quantity of groundwater pumping in the big chino subbasin.
2. The anticipated timing, location, quality and quantity of any mitigation water.
3. The anticipated impacts to water quality and base flow.
4. A demonstration that the projected groundwater withdrawal will not cause a reduction in base flow or the degradation of water quality.
5. Evidence that the mitigation water is physically, continuously and legally available and that the city or town has the financial capability to ensure that the mitigation water is available.
K. For the purposes of this section, "base flow" means the average of the seven consecutive lowest daily average flows between October 1 and September 30 at the Paulden stream gage operated by the United States geological survey.