BENSON, AZ — Two conservation groups filed a lawsuit against Arizona’s top water official, accusing the state of ignoring its legal duty to reassess the water supply for a massive housing project planned in Benson.
The Center for Biological Diversity and the San Pedro 100 say Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke failed to review and revoke the designation guaranteeing a 100-year water supply for the proposed Villages of Vigneto, a 28,000-home development.
The groups argue that recent court rulings in 2023 and 2024 make clear that the project would rely on groundwater no longer considered available. That groundwater feeds the San Pedro River, the last free-flowing desert river in the Southwest, which the groups say provides a critical habitat for millions of migratory songbirds and numerous endangered species.
Arizona law requires new developments to prove they have enough water to sustain residents for at least a century.
“The Villages of Vigneto development has always been predicated on the mirage of unavailable water,” said Robin Silver, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity. “It’s hard to believe that we now need to file a fourth lawsuit against the state because officials continue refusing to protect the San Pedro River.”
The lawsuit states that the Department of Water Resources was required to review the Benson project’s water designation by July 14, 2023, but has not done so.
Three separate hydrology studies found that pumping for the development would violate federal reserved water rights and harm the San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area.
This is the fourth lawsuit filed against Gov. Katie Hobbs and Buschatzke over what the plaintiffs call a failure to protect the river.
While the Hobbs administration created an Active Management Area in the Willcox region and is weighing similar action for Gila Bend, the groups say the administration has not moved to safeguard the San Pedro’s groundwater basin from overuse.
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