Attorney General Kris Mayes announced a lawsuit against Fondomonte Arizona, LLC, alleging that the company’s excessive groundwater pumping in La Paz County violates Arizona’s public nuisance law by threatening the public health, safety, and infrastructure of communities in the Ranegras Plain Basin in La Paz County.
The complaint, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, alleges that Fondomonte’s actions have had widespread effects, including declining groundwater levels and escalating land subsidence – harming everyone reliant on the Basin for water. The complaint alleges that these actions constitute a public nuisance under Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-2917, defined as any activity that injures health, obstructs property use, or interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by a community.
“Fondomonte’s unsustainable groundwater pumping has caused devastating consequences for the Ranegras Plain Basin, putting the health and future of the residents of La Paz County at risk,” said Attorney General Mayes. “Arizona law is clear: no company has the right to endanger an entire community’s health and safety for its own gain.”
The lawsuit alleges that since 2014, Fondomonte has extracted extraordinary amounts of groundwater—approximately 31,196 acre-feet in 2023 alone—to grow water-intensive alfalfa for export to Saudi Arabia. For comparison, one-acre foot can supply water to three single-family homes for an entire year. This excessive pumping has significantly accelerated the depletion of the Basin’s aquifer.
The State is seeking a court order to declare Fondomonte’s activities a public nuisance, enjoin the company from further excessive groundwater pumping, and require the establishment of an abatement fund.
Original source can be found here.