Sept. 30, 2026 — The Tucson Country Club has signed a short-term lease to provide Copper World up to 75 acre-feet of groundwater per year that would be pumped from the mining company’s well fields near Sahuarita, state Department of Water Resources records show.
Copper World intends to tap TCC’s groundwater allocation through five, high-capacity production wells located in the Sanrita West and Sanrita South well fields east of Sahuarita’s town limits. Copper World’s wells are in or adjacent to the state designated Green Valley Subsidence Feature.
“It’s very alarming that Tucson’s landmark country club would cut a deal with Copper World that intends to deplete massive amounts of groundwater from wells in an area where the groundwater is steadily declining and causing ground subsidence,” Save the Scenic Santa Ritas Executive Director John Dougherty said.
“The Tucson Country Club, whose members include regional business and civic leaders, should be advancing groundwater conservation rather than helping a foreign-based mining company further deplete a stressed aquifer and destroy a mountain watershed that provides renewable drinking water supplies for Tucson,” Dougherty said.
The TCC lease agreement expires on Dec. 31, 2027. Copper World’s 20-year, 6,000 AF ADWR groundwater withdrawal permit expires the next month. It’s unclear why Hudbay needs the additional 75 acre-feet from TCC when it hasn’t tapped into its ADWR permit.
“The TCC short-term lease could be just the first step in Copper World’s plan to secure additional long-term groundwater supplies from the Tucson Country Club,” Dougherty said.
Copper World is expected request an increase from its current 6,000 AF when it applies for a new permit sometime next year. The TCC appears to have substantial additional groundwater it could lease to Copper World.
The club has a grandfathered groundwater permit for 908 AF annually. The TCC reported using 457 AF of reclaimed sewer water and groundwater in 2023. It’s unknown how much of this was groundwater versus reclaimed water. An acre-foot (325,581 gallons) is enough water to meet the annual demand of three households.
Copper World, which is owned by Toronto-based Hudbay Minerals, states it intends to use TCC’s groundwater rights for construction purposes. Hudbay has not formally approved construction of the sprawling project that would blast at least four open pits along the east and west flanks of the Santa Rita Mountains.
A 2022 Copper World report indicates the mine will need far more water than the 6,000 AF permit allows. A table in the technical study indicates the mine will need between 9,400 and 13,000 AF per year, depending on the production rate.
Earlier this month, Pima County requested ADWR not to renew the permit because of serious water supply constraints in Sahuarita and Green Valley, which rely entirely on groundwater.
The aquifer “faces significant challenges due to historical and ongoing groundwater extraction,” Arturo Gabaldon, Community Water Company of Green Valley’s general manager, stated in 2024 testimony before the Arizona Corporation Commission in connection with a rate hike request.
“Groundwater pumping has resulted in a significant decline in groundwater levels,” Gabaldon stated. “Historical data from our oldest well, drilled in 1965, indicates the static water levels have decreased 187 feet, averaging 3.2 feet per year.”
Copper World ignores state groundwater law and flaunts Sahuarita contract
Meanwhile, Copper World has failed to file legally-required aquifer impact reports for four new production wells drilled and operated in 2024 and 2025. The reports, called pump installation completion reports, are required by state law to be filed within 30 days of installing the pumps. SSSR requested in an Aug. 27 letter to ADWR that it immediately requires Copper World to submit the delinquent reports.
Separately, Copper World is required under a 2013 contract with Sahuarita to recharge 105% of the groundwater withdrawn from the Sanrita West and Sanrita South well fields.
The contract requires Copper World to use Central Arizona Project water diverted from the Colorado River to recharge the aquifer in a defined area south of Pima Mine Road. The agreement requires Copper World to disclose annual groundwater pumping and recharge.
In return, the town granted Copper World a Right-of-Way to install a water pipeline from the Sanrita West well field along the town-owned section of the Santa Rita Road.(For more information see: https://scenicsantaritas.org/sahuarita-pipeline/)
SSSR notified Sahuarita last April that Copper World withdrew 33 AF from the well fields in 2025 after the company failed to disclose the pumping. Copper World has not recharged the groundwater with CAP water.
Last week, SSSR’s attorneys requested the town to initiate default proceedings against Copper World. SSSR asked the town to not issue permits needed install the Santa Rita Road pipeline until the company recharges 105% of the water it withdrew in 2025.
Copper World’s promise to construct Project Renews goes unfulfilled
Copper World has pledged for years that it would meet Sahuarita’s 105% recharge requirement by constructing a separate water pipeline from the terminus of the CAP at Pima Mine Road west of Interstate 19 to recharge ponds in south Sahuarita. The company claims it will use about 47,810 AF of CAP water it has stored at two state recharge facilities to meet the 105% recharge contract with Sahuarita.
Copper World has an agreement with Community Water Company to construct the 10-mile CAP connector pipeline and recharge project called Project Renews. The recharge ponds are designed to initially replenish up to 3,000 AF into the groundwater. The recharge capacity could be increased to 7,000 AF annually.
Copper World states the project is only 20% percent complete. The cost of Project Renews has risen to an estimated $53 million.
Gabaldon told SSSR last April that he did not know when Project Renews will be completed.
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