Water

NE Santa Cruz County depends entirely on groundwater for domestic and commercial use. Perennial surface streams and wetlands, like the Narrows of Cienega Creek, are rare in the Southwest, and important resources in their natural state.

Policy 17. Water Resources

The availability of potable water will be the ultimate limiting factor on development in our community. The shallow alluvial aquifers along OÕDonnell Canyon and Sonoita and Turkey Creeks are subject to depletion from overuse and contamination from surface sources. The deeper regional aquifer is less vulnerable to pollution, but subject to overdrafting as the population grows.

Groundwater depletion will affect perennial streams and cienegas, possibly resulting in irreversible loss of those resources. This is of special concern in the Cienega and Sonoita Creek basins because conservation organizations and the public have made substantial investments in the Empire-Cienega RCA and the Patagonia Preserve, The Nature ConservancyÕs property on Sonoita Creek downstream from the planning area.

our community's goal

Development in NE Santa Cruz County should not require or depend on overdraft of the regional groundwater resource. This will minimize the risk that perennial streams and wetlands will be dewatered. It will also reduce the potential for localized interference between wells. Appendix H2O presents the current understanding of groundwater recharge in our area.

Watercourses and alluvial aquifers should be protected from contamination. Development should leave buffers in which native vegetation is retained or restored along all watercourses. These buffers will also help protect development from flooding and stream channel changes. The density of development in alluvial valleys should be consistent with the high potential for groundwater pollution in the coarse, permeable soils of those valleys.

implementation strategies

Additional development in NE Santa Cruz County should be limited to approximately 2,485 residential units, or their equivalent in some combination of residential, commercial, and other uses. This is about 26% of the buildout anticipated with the current zoning. See Appendix H2O for the analytical basis for this strategy.
Santa Cruz County, the Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum (SCCF), the Bureau of Land Management, and other local organizations and individuals should find sponsors, including the Arizona Department of Water Resources, and funding for the groundwater study that was proposed in the previous comprehensive plan, but never done. As Appendix H₂O indicates, the existing research does not answer critical questions. That appendix also provides some details about what should be covered in the groundwater study. Strategy 17.A should be revised to reflect the results of this study.
Santa Cruz County should at least monitor well levels. Evidence of a declining water table should be cause for a prompt re-evaluation of the limits on development set in this plan and the accompanying regulations.
Water conservation should be promoted through:
1. recycling grey water (water that does not contain human waste) and water harvesting; and
2. the use of native plants in landscaping, which should be encouraged by the development regulations designed for implementation of this plan. Santa Cruz County and SCCF should work with the Natural Resources Conservation Service and other agencies to prepare educational materials on the use of native plants in landscaping that are specifically tailored to NE Santa Cruz County.
The development regulations designed for implementation of this plan should require buffers along streams and washes, and discourage development that could contaminate surface or ground waters.
Santa Cruz County should continue to participate in the National Flood Insurance Program. Where the countyÕs floodplain ordinance is less stringent, however, this plan and the accompanying development regulations shall apply.

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Sonoita Crossroads Community Forum
P.O. Box 1274
Sonoita, AZ 85637