Arizona cancels state land leases for company spreading sewage sludge in Yuma County

Arizona has terminated five state land leases held by a company that spreads treated sewage sludge on farmland in Yuma County, following years of complaints from residents about flies, odors and potential contamination, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced Thursday.

The Arizona State Land Department found AgTech LLC out of compliance with one lease and declined to renew four others, according to the governor’s office. The company has leased state land since 2002 and applied more than 68,000 dry metric tons of treated sewage sludge, commonly called biosolids, in 2025, with over 97% coming from California utilities.

“Arizona is not a disposal site for California’s treated sewage sludge,” Hobbs said in the news release.

Attorney general’s sewage investigation continues

Attorney General Kris Mayes, whose office opened an investigation after complaints from Yuma-area residents, growers and business owners, said the probe will continue.

More than 250 residents attended a town hall she hosted in Yuma in July.

“For too long, the people of Yuma were told to live with the flies, the smell and the uncertainty about what was going into their soil and water,” Mayes said.

The Yuma County Board of Supervisors had urged the state to terminate the leases in a December letter, saying local date growers reported crop losses amounting to millions of dollars every year that they attributed to conditions aggravated by the biosolid application.

According to the governor’s office, AgTech’s site received an estimated 47 truckloads of material daily, and its loading rate of roughly 140 dry metric tons per acre far exceeded the state average of about 7 tons for other biosolids applicators.

The state said the action does not affect other Arizona farmers who responsibly apply biosolids on state trust land.

KTAR News 92.3 FM asked AgTech for a comment but did not hear back by deadline.

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