Sept. 24, 2026–Attorneys for Save the Scenic Santa Ritas on Wednesday requested the Town of Sahuarita to initiate default proceedings against Hudbay Minerals’ subsidiary Copper World for violating a 2013 contract requiring the company to recharge 105% of the groundwater it pumps with Central Arizona Project water.
“To protect the Sahuarita community’s declining water supply, the Town must enforce the terms of the (contract),” Rui Wang and Adriane Hofmeyr wrote in a nine-page letter that provides detailed evidence of the violation.
Rosemont Copper Company signed the 2013 Right-of-Way Encroachment License that gives Sahuarita extraordinary power to protect the region’s groundwater supply. Hudbay purchased Rosemont Copper in 2014 and subsequently changed its name to Copper World.
Copper World has a state permit to pump up to 6,000 acre-feet (2 billion gallons) of groundwater a year from wells located east of the Santa Cruz River. This is enough water to supply 18,000 households. Company reports state the mine could pump as much as 13,000 AF.
The contract requires Copper World to annually report to the town the amount of water it pumps from two wellfields and the amount of water it recharges back into the aquifer within a defined area in Sahuarita. The agreement requires Copper World to use Central Arizona Project water to recharge the aquifer.
In exchange, Sahuarita granted a Right-of-Way along the town-owned section of the Santa Rita Road allowing Copper World to install a water pipeline from its primary groundwater wellfield.
Wang and Hofmeyr requested the town to refuse to issue permits needed by Copper World to install the pipeline until the company cures the ongoing contract violation. Copper World is currently installing the water pipeline along the north side of the Santa Rita Road across seven miles of the Santa Rita Experimental Range east of Sahuarita’s town limits.
Earlier this year, SSSR discovered, and subsequently alerted the town in an April 16 letter, that Copper World in 2025 pumped more than 10 million gallons of groundwater from five production wells located in the two wellfields. Copper World had not disclosed the pumping. SSSR also notified the town that Copper World has not recharged any of groundwater with CAP water.
SSSR requested the town to notify Copper World it was in violation of the contract, which would give the company one year to correct the violation. This could be done by Copper World completing construction of a separate pipeline that would deliver CAP water to Sahuarita.
Hudbay has pledged to pay the cost of constructing Project Renews through a joint venture agreement with Community Water Company of Green Valley. Project Renews includes a 10-mile pipeline and construction of recharge ponds west of Old Nogales Highway at the south end of town. Project Renews has been stalled for more than a decade and Hudbay states it is only 20% complete.
On April 20, Sahuarita Town Manager Shane Dille sent SSSR’s April 16 letter to Hudbay for review. Dille, however, did not notify Hudbay that it was in default of the contract which would have triggered the one-year period to cure the violation.
On April 24, Sahuarita Mayor Tom Murphy endorsed Copper World in a full-page advertisement in the Arizona Capitol Times paid for by Hudbay. The advertisement included a photograph of the Sahuarita Town Hall implying that the town council has also endorsed the project, which it has not.
On April 27, Hudbay confirmed in a letter sent to Murphy and Dille that Copper World had pumped the groundwater but stated that the water was used for testing the wells and the company didn’t believe it was necessary to report the pumping.
Hudbay also stated that since the Town had not yet notified the company it was in default of the contract, that the company “respectfully requests that the Town disregard SSSR’s demand” to initiate default proceedings.
A few weeks later, the Town agreed to Hudbay’s request.
In a May 11 email to SSSR, Sahuarita’s assistant town manager stated the town would not initiate default proceedings against Copper World. The town claimed that CAP water Hudbay has stored at a state-owned recharge facility north of Sahuarita – and outside the recharge area defined in the contract — met the company’s 105% recharge obligation.
“Rather than enforcing a clear contract violation, it appears Mayor Murphy’s Copper World endorsement has influenced town staff to ignore the breech,” SSSR Executive Director John Dougherty said.
“SSSR requests the town council to direct staff to enforce the contract and put protecting the region’s groundwater supply ahead of Hudbay’s financial interests,” Dougherty said.
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