Cases
San Pedro River Watch Continues
In Brief: Ft. Huachuca, in Southern Arizona, has not followed through on its own plan to limit groundwater use to sustain the San Pedro River. Now development in the city of Sierra Vista is taking even more water from the over-used aquifer. Earthjustice is pursuing ways to ensure that future groundwater pumping is sustainable for the San Pedro river ecosystem.
The San Pedro River, which flows north from Mexico into southern Arizona, is the last un-dammed river in the desert Southwest. It is home to one of the Southwest's most precious and rare wetland ecosystems and provides sanctuary to hundreds of species of birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, and plants. In recognition of its unique qualities, Congress, in 1988, designated 26 miles of the river's upper basin the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
In the summer of 2005 for the first time in recorded history the wettest section of the San Pedro ran dry. But the city of Sierra Vista continues to pump groundwater, which feeds the river, at an unsustainable rate to support its rapid commercial and residential development. To make matters worse, the nearby Army base, Fort Huachuca, failed to follow through on its own plan to limit growth and mitigate its unsustainable groundwater pumping despite a court order that resulted from a related Earthjustice case. In its current form, the government's groundwater management strategy for Sierra Vista and for the fort makes the region's ecological future uncertain.
Earthjustice Attorneys McCrystie Adams and Neil Levine filed Earthjustice's second San Pedro River lawsuit on behalf of Center for Biological Diversity to force several governmental agencies to confront, and to potentially mitigate, the excessive groundwater pumping and to make a development plan that will sustain the river.
| The San Pedro River in winter |
| Photo: Robin Silver/Center for Biological Diversity |
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The San Pedro River, which flows north from Mexico into southern Arizona, is the last un-dammed river in the desert Southwest. It is home to one of the Southwest's most precious and rare wetland ecosystems and provides sanctuary to hundreds of species of birds, mammals, reptiles, fish, and plants. In recognition of its unique qualities, Congress, in 1988, designated 26 miles of the river's upper basin the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
In the summer of 2005 for the first time in recorded history the wettest section of the San Pedro ran dry. But the city of Sierra Vista continues to pump groundwater, which feeds the river, at an unsustainable rate to support its rapid commercial and residential development. To make matters worse, the nearby Army base, Fort Huachuca, failed to follow through on its own plan to limit growth and mitigate its unsustainable groundwater pumping despite a court order that resulted from a related Earthjustice case. In its current form, the government's groundwater management strategy for Sierra Vista and for the fort makes the region's ecological future uncertain.
Earthjustice Attorneys McCrystie Adams and Neil Levine filed Earthjustice's second San Pedro River lawsuit on behalf of Center for Biological Diversity to force several governmental agencies to confront, and to potentially mitigate, the excessive groundwater pumping and to make a development plan that will sustain the river.
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Updated: July 1, 2009
Case #02536
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