Arizona Attorney General Secures Historic Groundwater Settlement for Rural Arizona

(PEARCE, AZ – Jan. 8. 2026) Rural Arizonans are losing homes and their communities to unsustainable groundwater pumping, and Arizona’s attorney general has just won them $11 million to offset the harmful impacts of industrial-level agriculture in a settlement announced today.

The settlement agreement secured by Attorney General Kris Mayes between the state of Arizona and Riverview, LLP, a Minnesota-based dairy conglomerate, sets up two multimillion-dollar funds for well drilling, water hauling, and groundwater access for impacted Arizonans. The settlement also binds Riverview to new conservation practices and fallowing 2,000 acres of irrigated land to reduce their continued impact on the local community.

“Rural Arizonans have been losing their homes, farms, and businesses because of unregulated overpumping of groundwater, leaving many with dried out wells and costly bills to drill deeper or haul water,” said Kevin Moran, Associate Vice President, Regional Affairs, for Environmental Defense Fund. “This historic settlement, a first in the nation, finally acknowledges the harms being done to rural Arizona by exploitative and unsustainable water pumping. Arizona is fortunate to have Attorney General Kris Mayes defending rural communities and taking action, in addition to the incredible work the Arizona Department of Water Resources is doing to establish new groundwater management areas. It’s unfortunate our state Legislature has repeatedly failed rural Arizona by protecting special interest profit margins instead of providing basic protections to rural Arizonans.”

Community leaders, elected officials, and business owners from rural communities have spent years fighting for increased groundwater protections at the Arizona Legislature, only to see bipartisan solutions fail year after year.

“The lack of protection for groundwater across rural Arizona is almost unfathomable,” said Steve Kisiel, Cochise County resident and a property owner near a Riverview Dairy feedlot, who has seen his domestic well’s water level drop nearly 150 feet in the past 30 years. “The Legislature has blocked common-sense groundwater protections for rural Arizona for years, literally inviting large scale agricultural pumping by organizations like Riverview with deep pockets to drill the deepest wells. Meanwhile the little guys end up with the short straw and dry wells. Thanks to leaders like Attorney General Mayes for sticking up for the little guys and giving us hope for a more secure water future.”

The two funds will support residents’ continued access to potable water, and also support improvements to existing community water systems and impacted local school systems.

The Sulphur Springs Water Fund will support groundwater access for residents outside of a 1.6- mile radius of any Riverview irrigation well, and the Riverview Funding Commitment will support those within 1.6 miles of Riverview’s wells. To ensure compliance with the agreement, both funds will provide reports to the Arizona Attorney General’s office.

Today’s settlement is also a direct result of the tireless efforts by the Cochise Groundwater Stewards, a local organization that has brought together their community to fight for responsible stewardship of their critical water resources. Their situation isn’t unique, it’s reality in rural Arizona. Across the state rural leaders have been working together as the Rural Water Working Group to push for actionable solutions to their groundwater management needs. Despite recent gains, the majority of Arizona exists without strong protections from groundwater exploitation.