A.E. Araiza / arizona daily star

More Photos (3):

Other articles by Tim Ellis:

Surfing on the Wi-Fi wave Biz licenses, permit fees going up Sahuarita's wish: more spots to shop Sahuarita's wish: more shopping Senior homes could face legal action Making Sahuarita homes affordable Sahuarita's crime-fighting windfall Sahuarita councilman seeks to launch affordable-housing programCarroll: State, feds tie locals' hands on water Town wants role in water efforts

Office and Clerical
ChartOne
Site Supervisor Restaurants and Clubs
Buffalo Wild Wings
Cooks, Greeters, Servers, Cashiers, and Bartenders Administrative & Professional
Confidential
Property Manager Health Care
confidential
Physician wanted Employment Information
Plant Manager Engineering
IOTA ENGINEERING
MECHANICAL INSPECTOR Finance and Accounting
Tohono O'odham Nation
Controller and Assistant Controller

Three industrial-strength wells a mining company intends to build east of Sahuarita could dry up residential wells in the area, homeowners fear.

About 30 Sahuarita Heights residents have organized over the past week to oppose Rosemont Copper Co.'s plans to develop at least three big wells in their area. The well field would pump water for the company's proposed open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains.

Rosemont's plans to pump 100,000 acre-feet of water over 20 years for the mine could threaten dozens of wells that provide water for hundreds of people, according to the residents and their lawyer.

"The whole idea that this is even happening is a shock," said Thomas Perry, who lives about a quarter-mile from a well Rosemont completed last week.

"They are intending to create an industrial water complex in the middle of a residential area in a pristine desert environment," Perry said.

An official with Augusta Resource Corp., the Canadian company that owns Rosemont, said last week that he's aware of residents' concerns and "takes them very seriously."

Jamie Sturgess, Augusta's vice president for projects and environment, said he doesn't believe the company's wells will cause a drop in the water table because the company plans to put 105,000 acre-feet into the aquifer, 5,000 more than it proposes to pump.

There are 325,829 gallons in an acre-foot, enough to cover an acre with a foot of water — the amount of water an average family of four uses in a year.

Verl Fenn said he's especially concerned about Augusta's pumping because he's the closest to the well completed last week.

"I live right across the road," said Fenn, who lives in the 17000 block of South Alvernon Way. "My well is about 300 yards from the one they just tested. My pump sits at 350 feet, and I'm sure I'll be one of the first to lose water."

The well, which Sturgess described as a test well, has a 12-inch pipe sunk 1,210 feet into the ground.

Perry's well, like most of the 98 other wells located within a mile of the Augusta well field, is about 350 feet deep.

And most, like Beto Gavino's, are shared by two or more households.

"We have five families on one well," he said. "My neighbor has five on his well, too.

"There are many other people worried about the (Augusta) well," Gavino added. "But they say, what can we do about it? Not much."

Augusta intends to pump water for the mine from at least three wells in a 53-acre parcel it owns in the area.

Hugh Holub, an attorney representing the residents, said he was struck by the size and expense of the facilities Augusta officials have proposed.

"These guys are spending real money," said Holub, who's gained broad experience in water issues during his 35-year career.

"There's no doubt that this size well field is going to wipe out the wells on the other side of the road. It's not a question of if; it's just a question of when."

The owners of Farmers Investment Co., or FICO, which manages 6,900 acres of pecan orchards and a processing plant about three miles east of the Augusta test well, have filed a formal objection to Rosemont's application with the Arizona Department of Water Resources.

"Pumping levels proposed by Rosemont Copper Co. could cause an additional 150 feet of drawdown over a 20-year period on FICO lands in the vicinity of this 50-acre tract," according to a letter from a lawyer representing FICO owners Dick and Nan Walden to Herb Guenther, Arizona Department of Water Resources director.

Dick Walden said Thursday that he has many other concerns, including where Augusta intends to drill its production wells for the mine, and where and how Augusta plans to develop a facility to recharge the aquifer with Central Arizona Project water.

Sturgess said such questions are "speculative" because the impact of Augusta's wells on residents' wells won't be known until the company conducts a detailed hydrological study of the area.

The well the company completed last week was drilled to learn more about the aquifer in that area, he said. "It will be several years before we do more drilling."

If the company's wells do cause water-table problems for neighbors, "we would make sure that there were no unacceptable consequences," Sturgess said.

That doesn't comfort Perry. The company has shown it doesn't care about the project's impact on area residents because it didn't tell anyone in the area it was going to drill the wells, he said.

The company published legal notices about the proposed drilling in the Arizona Daily Star on Oct. 8 and 15.

"It wouldn't have been any big deal to inform us what was going on, give us a heads-up and maybe offer to set up monitoring on our wells," Perry said.

"They've done none of that," he said. "They've just said, 'Don't worry.' It's B.S."

Check out the online version of this story to read related articles about the Rosemont mine at azstarnet.com/dailystar.

Pima County environmental officials said Friday that they will issue a notice of violation today to a Colorado company for excessive dust kicked up by contractors drilling an industrial well for Rosemont Copper Co.

County Department of Environmental Quality officials decided to issue the notice to the landowner, Colorado Springs, Colo.-based Kanarco Co., said Beth Gorman, a department program manager.

The decision was made after county officials ordered the contractors last week to stop work that was causing the dust, Gorman said.

She said county officials issued that initial order of abatement after visiting the site Nov. 9 after receiving complaints about excessive dust from residents of the area in the 17000 block of South Alvernon Way, two miles east of Sahuarita.

County Supervisor Ray Carroll said he went to the site, which has been cleared of vegetation, after residents called him.

"When I got there, I was standing ankle-deep in dust," he said. "There were no water trucks anywhere around. Every developer knows that if you're going to blade the desert, you need to have water trucks out there.

"The county inspector came out and took one look and cited them," he added.

Gorman said the order of abatement was issued Nov. 10, because county officials were unable to contact the contractors or landowner the day before.

The contractors were drilling a 1,210-foot well for Rosemont, a Phoenix-based company owned by Augusta Resource Corp.

The company drilled the well as part of its plan to pump water from the Sahuarita area for use in developing an open-pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains.

Augusta, a Canadian company, is seeking federal permits to develop the mine in the Rosemont Valley, on the eastern slope of the Santa Ritas.