Arizona sues Saudi-owned company over groundwater use

DAILY Bites

• Arizona’s lawsuit claims that excessive groundwater pumping threatens La Paz County.

• Saudi-owned Fondomonte Arizona extracted 31,000 acre-feet of water in 2023 for Saudi alfalfa exports.

• Arizona seeks to halt pumping and establish an abatement fund.

DAILY Discussion

Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes has filed a lawsuit against Fondomonte Arizona, LLC, a Saudi-owned company that had leased the state’s farmland to grow alfalfa in La Paz County.

The lawsuit alleges the company’s excessive groundwater pumping in La Paz violates Arizona’s public nuisance law by threatening communities’ public health, safety, and infrastructure in the Ranegras Plain Basin in La Paz County.

The complaint, filed in Maricopa County Superior Court, also alleges that Fondomonte’s actions have had widespread effects, including declining groundwater levels and escalating land subsidence — harming everyone reliant on the Basin for water.

According to Mayes, these actions constitute a public nuisance under Arizona Revised Statutes § 13-2917, defined as any activity that injures health, obstructs property use, or interferes with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property by a community.

“Fondomonte’s unsustainable groundwater pumping has caused devastating consequences for the Ranegras Plain Basin, putting the health and future of the residents of La Paz County at risk,” said Mayes. “Arizona law is clear: No company has the right to endanger an entire community’s health and safety for its own gain.”

The lawsuit alleges that since 2014, Fondomonte has extracted extraordinary amounts of groundwater — approximately 31,196 acre-feet in 2023 alone — to grow alfalfa for export to Saudi Arabia.

For comparison, one-acre foot can supply water to three single-family homes for an entire year. Mayes says that this excessive pumping has significantly accelerated the depletion of the Basin’s aquifer.

The state of Arizona is seeking a court order to declare Fondomonte’s activities a public nuisance, enjoin the company from further excessive groundwater pumping, and require the establishment of an abatement fund.

After Saudi Arabia dried up its own aquifers, Fondomonte purchased 10,000 acres near Vicksburg, Arizona, and an additional 2,000 acres around Blythe, California. 

Arizona’s governor, Katie Hobbs, announced her intent to terminate the leases with Fondomonte in October 2023.  Then, on March 7, 2024, it was noted that the state terminated the company’s leases and stopped the groundwater pumping in the Butler Valley.

Although the company lost its leases from the state, Fondomonte applied for and received approval for a new well on its dairy last summer.

Arizona’s alfalfa yields are some of the highest in the world — the state produces an average of 8.3 tons of alfalfa per acre compared to the national average of 3.2 tons. State 48’s climate means they can produce eight to 10 cuttings per year, but while Arizona has plenty of sunshine days (generally around 300), water is a precious commodity.

Fondomonte had used the leases to grow alfalfa and then exported it to feed dairy cattle in Saudi Arabia — 8,100 miles away. The country has moved a large portion of its alfalfa production to the United States in response to limited aquifers and a growing dairy sector.