Community Water Company’s Nov. 13 conservation workshop must address Copper World’s enormous groundwater pumping and impact on future water bills
This op-ed was published in the Sahuarita Sun/Green Valley News on Oct. 29, 2025.
Community Water Company’s Nov. 13 conservation workshop must address Copper World’s enormous groundwater pumping and impact on future water bills
By Nina Luxenberg
In the wake of August’s 24% percent rate hike, the Community Water Company’s upcoming Nov. 13 water conservation workshop must address the elephant in the room: How will Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals’ Copper World mine impact future water bills and our regional groundwater supply?
Water bills across the country are skyrocketing because of increased demand from data centers. The Copper World mine will require far more water than the proposed Project Blue/Amazon data center in Tucson, which is creating an uproar. Copper World plans to pump groundwater from wells immediately east of the Santa Cruz River, directly impacting our regional groundwater table.
Without a doubt, Copper World will require enormous amounts of groundwater. According to Hudbay’s 2022 technical report, Copper World will require 8.4 million gallons of groundwater a day (3.1 billion gallons/year). During the first 20 years of operation, the mine will require more than 61.32 billion gallons of groundwater and Hudbay plans on mining for more than 40 years.
Copper World’s annual consumption is more than four times greater than the 741 million gallons CWC pumped in 2023, according to the Arizona Corporation Commission’s July 2025 order raising CWC water rates.
Copper World’s massive groundwater pumping will only aggravate an already grave situation. The water supply in the Upper Santa Cruz River Basin, particularly beneath the Green Valley area, “faces significant challenges due to historical and ongoing groundwater extraction,” CWC told the Commission.
CWC reported the groundwater table has plummeted by 187 feet since 1965, causing ongoing land subsidence. The decline is averaging 3.2 feet per year. CWC reported current water usage is about 58% for existing mines, 29% for agriculture, 8% for residential, and 5% for other commercial operations.
CWC told the Commission groundwater replenishment is already being reduced because of upstream activities. The Santa Cruz River Basin is recharged by treated wastewater from Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, AZ that is discharged from the Nogales International Wastewater Treatment Plant in Rio Rico into the northerly flowing river.
CWC told the Commission that Nogales, Sonora has started “utilizing this treated water, thereby reducing a significant inflow to the aquifer.” In addition, development along the Santa Cruz River, especially in Rio Rico and Tubac, is resulting in more groundwater pumping which is “exacerbating the overdraft,” CWC states.
Copper World’s huge groundwater demand will only make this situation far worse. So far, Hudbay has only replenished less than 1% of the 61.32 billion gallons of groundwater it intends to pump from the aquifer where the CWC draws its water during just the first 20 years.
Hudbay is relying on ever-decreasing supplies from the Colorado River to be transported across the desert in the Central Arizona Project (CAP) canal to replenish the aquifer beneath Sahuarita and Green Valley. But nearly all the CAP water that has been purchased by Hudbay, and its predecessor Augusta Resource, has been stored for over the last 18 years in replenishment basins in Marana, 40 miles north of Sahuarita. This will have no impact on replenishing the aquifer beneath Green Valley and Sahuarita.
CWC says it has plans to bring CAP water to the area through a joint venture with Hudbay called Project Renews. But this effort has been stalled for decades. CWC told the Commission the project won’t be completed until 2028. The ongoing drought, however, is forcing CAP to slash Colorado River water deliveries, casting doubt on whether CWC will ever be able to access its allocation of CAP water. Besides, the quantity of water they plan to transport for recharging the aquifer is less than one-third of what Hudbay will pump.
Hudbay’s planned groundwater pumping and the lack of meaningful replenishment means the area’s groundwater table will plummet. And the deeper the groundwater, the more electricity will be required to operate the pumps, and the higher the utility rates for residential customers.
It’s time for the CWC to explain to customers and the public how it intends to manage this looming water crisis that will inevitably result if the Copper World mine is constructed. The upcoming water conservation meeting beginning at 1:30 p.m., Nov. 13 at Joyner-Green Valley Library is a perfect opportunity to do so.