Arizona reaches groundwater settlement with major dairy operation that drained desert community wells

Arizona has secured a landmark agreement with Riverview LLP, a major dairy operation whose intensive groundwater pumping has left residents in the desert town of Willcox without water and caused their homes to sink into the subsiding earth.

The settlement comes nearly two years after Attorney General Kris Mayes held a town hall in nearby Pearce, widely considered ground zero for Arizona’s groundwater crisis. Residents shared harrowing stories of wells running dry and structural damage to their properties as the land literally collapsed beneath them due to excessive groundwater extraction by industrial agriculture operations.

Under the new agreement, Riverview must take significant steps to reduce its water consumption by fallowing agricultural fields and cease the groundwater pumping that has devastated the local aquifer. The company will also be required to provide compensation to homeowners whose wells have been affected by the dramatic drop in water table levels.

The Willcox area represents a microcosm of water challenges facing the American Southwest, where decades of unsustainable groundwater extraction have created a crisis that threatens both rural communities and the region’s agricultural economy. This settlement could serve as a precedent for addressing similar conflicts between industrial water users and residential communities across Arizona and other western states grappling with severe water scarcity. The agreement marks a rare victory for residents who have struggled to hold large agricultural operations accountable for their role in depleting shared groundwater resources.