A. Except as provided in subsection D of this section, a person who is engaged in or proposes to engage in the extraction and processing of minerals shall be issued a permit to withdraw groundwater in the required amount, if all of the following apply:

Terms Used In Arizona Laws 45-514

  • 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or, in the case of the Santa Cruz active management area, active management of any water, other than stored water, withdrawn from a well.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
  • Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
  • Director: means the director of water resources, who is also the director of the department. See Arizona Laws 45-101
  • Effluent: means water that has been collected in a sanitary sewer for subsequent treatment in a facility that is regulated pursuant to Title 49, Chapter 2. See Arizona Laws 45-101
  • 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
  • including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
  • 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
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • Permit: means a permit to withdraw groundwater which is issued by the director pursuant to this article. See Arizona Laws 45-511
  • 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
  • replenishment district: means a district that is established pursuant to Title 48, Chapter 27. See Arizona Laws 45-402
  • Surface water: means the waters of all sources, flowing in streams, canyons, ravines or other natural channels, or in definite underground channels, whether perennial or intermittent, floodwater, wastewater or surplus water, and of lakes, ponds and springs on the surface. See Arizona Laws 45-101
  • Well: means a man-made opening in the earth through which water may be withdrawn or obtained from beneath the surface of the earth except as provided in Section 45-591. See Arizona Laws 45-402

1. The amount of groundwater available for mineral extraction, metallurgical processing and compliance with applicable environmental controls under a dewatering permit is insufficient.

2. Uncommitted municipal and industrial central Arizona project water is not available at the point where the operator’s wellhead or distribution system would otherwise be, at a cost which does not exceed the current municipal and industrial central Arizona project delivery rates.

3. Other surface water of adequate quality or effluent of adequate quality is not available at the point where the operator’s wellhead or distribution system would otherwise be, at a cost, including treatment costs, which does not exceed by twenty-five percent the cost the operator would otherwise incur in withdrawing groundwater.

4. The applicant does not own or lease type 2 non-irrigation grandfathered rights originally based on withdrawals of groundwater for the extraction or processing of minerals that the applicant is not using or leasing and that can be used at the proposed location without imposing an unreasonable economic burden on the applicant.

B. A permit issued pursuant to this section shall be granted for a period of up to fifty years, subject to renewal under the same criteria used in granting the original permit.

C. If, during the duration of a mineral extraction and metallurgical processing permit, the director determines that uncommitted municipal and industrial central Arizona project water is available or surface water of adequate quality or effluent of adequate quality is available to the permittee at a cost comparable to groundwater, the director may require the permittee to use such water in lieu of groundwater.

D. Beginning January 1 of the calendar year following the year in which a groundwater replenishment district is required to submit its preliminary plan pursuant to Section 45-576.02, subsection A, paragraph 1, and except for an application to renew a mineral extraction and metallurgical processing permit, on receiving a permit application the director shall not issue a permit for a well in the district unless at the time the application is filed:

1. The director has determined that the district’s plan for operation is consistent with achieving the management goal, according to Section 45-576.03, subsection E, and the designation has not expired.

2. The master replenishment account, as established in Section 45-858.01, does not have a debit balance in an amount in excess of the amount allowed under Section 45-576.01, subsection A, paragraph 3.

E. If, during the duration of a mineral extraction and metallurgical processing permit issued after the effective date of this amendment to this section, the permittee earns long-term storage credits under Section 45-852.01, subsection B for the storage of central Arizona project water in the active management area in which the permittee has the right to withdraw groundwater pursuant to the permit, and the central Arizona project water qualified as water that cannot reasonably be used directly due solely to the exclusion of groundwater withdrawn by the permittee for mineral extraction or metallurgical processing pursuant to Section 45-802.01, paragraph 23, subdivision (c), the director shall establish a separate subaccount for those credits pursuant to Section 45-852.01, subsection A. After each calendar year in which the permit is in effect, the director shall debit the subaccount by the amount of groundwater pumped by the permittee in the active management area during that calendar year pursuant to the permit, not to exceed the amount of long-term storage credits in the subaccount. This subsection shall not apply to:

1. A mineral extraction and metallurgical processing permit issued on or before the effective date of this amendment to this section, including any renewal or modification of the permit.

2. A mineral extraction and metallurgical processing permit unless the permittee was engaged in mineral extraction and metallurgical processing within an initial active management area on or before January 1, 2011.

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