Arizona Laws 45-440. Subsequent irrigation non-expansion area; limitation on use of groundwater
A. Except as provided in subsection B of this section, in a subsequent irrigation non-expansion area from which groundwater may be withdrawn and transported to an initial active management area pursuant to article 8.1 of this chapter, a person or entity may withdraw more than one hundred acre-feet of groundwater per year for commercial or industrial purposes other than irrigation or residential use only if the groundwater is withdrawn as follows:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 45-440
- Active management area: means a geographical area that has been designated pursuant to article 2 of this chapter as requiring active management of groundwater or, in the case of the Santa Cruz active management area, active management of any water, other than stored water, withdrawn from a well. See Arizona Laws 45-402
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Groundwater: means water under the surface of the earth regardless of the geologic structure in which it is standing or moving. See Arizona Laws 45-101
- Initial active management area: means the Phoenix, Prescott or Pinal active management area established by section 45-411, the Tucson active management area established by section 45-411 and modified by Section 45-411. See Arizona Laws 45-402
- Irrigation non-expansion area: means a geographical area that has been designated pursuant to article 3 of this chapter as having insufficient groundwater to provide a reasonably safe supply for the irrigation of the cultivated lands at the current rate of withdrawal. See Arizona Laws 45-402
- Person: means an individual, public or private corporation, company, partnership, firm, association, society, estate or trust, any other private organization or enterprise, the United States, any state, territory or country or a governmental entity, political subdivision or municipal corporation organized under or subject to the constitution and laws of this state. See Arizona Laws 45-402
1. From land that is eligible to be irrigated pursuant to section 45-437, subsection B.
2. From a depth to one thousand feet at the site or sites of the proposed withdrawals.
3. At a rate that when added to the existing rate of withdrawals in the area does not cause the groundwater table at the site or sites of the withdrawals to decline more than ten feet per year.
4. In an amount per acre of land from which withdrawals are made that does not exceed:
(a) Six acre-feet in any year.
(b) Thirty acre-feet for any period of ten consecutive years computed in continuing progressive series beginning in the year that withdrawals begin.
B. In a subsequent irrigation non-expansion area from which groundwater may be withdrawn and transported to an initial active management area pursuant to article 8.1 of this chapter, an electrical generating facility for which an application for a certificate of environmental compatibility was filed with the corporation commission pursuant to Title 40, Chapter 2, Article 6.2 before January 1, 2000 may withdraw groundwater for electrical generation and related uses in an amount not to exceed sixty-two thousand five hundred acre-feet per ten year period as determined using a ten year rolling average beginning on the date the facility first begins withdrawing groundwater.
C. This section shall not be construed to affect the rights of:
1. A political subdivision to transport groundwater withdrawn from an irrigation non-expansion area to an initial active management area pursuant to section 45-554.
2. Any person to store or recover water pursuant to chapter 3.1 of this title.