Arizona AG sues Saudi-owned farm for allegedly overpumping La Paz County groundwater
Dec 11, 2024, 11:59 AM | Updated: 1:50 pm
A water truck pulls into a road next to a Central Arizona Project canal near the Fondomonte farm in Butler Valley, Arizona, on Monday, June 27, 2023. The state is suing the Saudi-owned farm over its groundwater use in the Ranegras Plain area. (Photo by Caitlin O'Hara for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
(Photo by Caitlin O'Hara for The Washington Post via Getty Images)
PHOENIX – Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced Wednesday she is suing a Saudi-owned farm company for pumping so much groundwater that it’s harming the surrounding community.
The complaint filed in Maricopa County Superior Court accuses Fondomonte Arizona of creating a public nuisance by depleting groundwater levels and causing the land to sink in western Arizona’s Ranegras Plain basin.
Ranegras Plain is located in La Paz County approximately 110 miles west of downtown Phoenix and 45 miles east of the Arizona-California state line.
Why is Arizona AG suing Saudi-owned farm?
Fondomonte Arizona is a subsidiary of Almarai, a multinational dairy company based in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
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The farm company, which has been growing water-intensive alfalfa in western Arizona and exporting it to Saudi Arabia, allegedly pumped enough groundwater in 2023 alone to supply more than 90,000 single-family homes for an entire year.
Mayes said the company’s actions are making life more difficult for everybody who depends on the Ranegras Plain basin for water.
“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,” Mayes said in a press release. “Arizona law is clear: No company has the right to endanger an entire community’s health and safety for its own gain.”
Mayes’ lawsuit asks the court to declare Fondomonte’s activities a public nuisance and prevent the company from further excessive groundwater pumping.
The attorney general also wants the Saudi-owned farm to establish an abatement fund.
State declined to renew other Fondomonte Arizona leases
Fondomonte has been operating in western Arizona since 2014.
In October 2023, the Arizona State Land Department gave notice that the Saudi-owned farm’s four leases in Butler Valley, about 20 miles north of Ranegras Plain, would not be renewed when they expired. Some residents there had complained that the company’s pumping was threatening their wells.
As a result, Gov. Katie Hobbs announced in February 2024 that Fondomonte had ceased pumping Butler Valley groundwater.
Years of drought have increased pressure on water users across the West, particularly in states like Arizona, which relies heavily on the dwindling Colorado River. The drought has also made groundwater — long used by farmers and rural residents without restriction — even more important for users across the state.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
