Govind Tekale
A key monitoring well protecting federal water rights in southern Arizona’s San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area has run dry, triggering concerns about the future of this critical ecosystem. According to U.S. Geological Survey data, the Summers monitoring well recorded a reading of “D” for dry on June 30, 2025, indicating the water table has dropped below the well’s depth.
This marks a significant threshold violation of court-ordered water level requirements established to protect the last free-flowing desert river in the Southwest. The Summers well, located approximately 7 miles north of Fort Huachuca, isn’t the only monitoring point showing trouble. Two additional wells, Boquillas 1 and Boquillas 2, both situated about a mile from the Army base, also show declining water levels that violate court-ordered thresholds.
“Years of inaction and relentless over-pumping in Fort Huachuca and Sierra Vista are pushing the river and the extraordinary plants and animals it sustains to the brink,” said Robin Silver, co-founder of the Center for Biological Diversity.
The growing water crisis affects a critically important conservation area. When Congress established the 57,000-acre San Pedro Riparian National Conservation Area in 1988, it required federal water rights be reserved to protect the river’s biodiversity. Court rulings in 2023 and 2024 finally quantified those rights, requiring specific groundwater levels be maintained at nine monitoring wells.
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To date, seven of the 13 required water levels and stream flows have been violated, with two additional monitoring points trending downward and approaching threshold violations. The Center for Biological Diversity characterizes these shortfalls as “theft of water” from federally reserved rights.
The crisis follows decades of groundwater pumping in the region. According to records, cumulative groundwater extraction has reached approximately 2 million acre-feet, with Fort Huachuca alone accounting for about 400,000 acre-feet since 1940. Despite conservation efforts, these water withdrawals continue to outpace recharge.
Making matters worse, the 2025 monsoon season in southern Arizona has been below normal. While early forecasts predicted above-average rainfall, the Sierra Vista area has received significantly less precipitation than usual, recording only about 4.8 inches compared to a normal average of around 7.9 inches. Tucson has received roughly half its normal monsoon rainfall.
The San Pedro River supports extraordinary biodiversity, including endangered species like the Southwestern willow flycatcher, Huachuca water umbel, desert pupfish, yellow-billed cuckoo, and northern Mexican garter snake. The riparian corridor also serves as a crucial pathway for millions of migratory birds.
Environmental advocates are calling for immediate action from federal and state officials. Silver notes that Fort Huachuca has prepared downsizing plans that could reduce water consumption but hasn’t implemented them despite a federal appeals court ruling that sided with conservation groups over water credit issues.
The current crisis represents a critical juncture for the San Pedro River’s future, pitting ecological preservation against development pressures in an increasingly water-stressed region of the American Southwest.
