By Summer Hom | AZPM
A major subdivision that would have added a max of nearly 7,000 homes in the Sierra Vista area will no longer be built.
The decision made by developer Castle and Cooke comes shortly after the San Pedro River was assigned some federal water rights as part of the more than 40-year-old Gila Adjudication.
Those federal water rights were assigned by a judge in August and will be monitored through four stream gauges to measure surface water as well as through nine wells to measure groundwater across the National Conservation Area.
Sarah Porter, The Director of Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University Sarah Porter said that the change to the river’s water rights enables the Bureau of Land Management to enforce its water rights.
“If the Bureau concludes that groundwater pumping for a new development will mean that the stream gauges have run at a lower rate or that the groundwater table is going to decline, then it can go into court and try to put a stop to new groundwater use,” said Porter.
