Saudi Firm Leaving Arizona Valley Over Excessive Water Use

Arizona officials said a Saudi-owned company they targeted over its use of groundwater to grow forage crops is moving its farming operation out of a valley in the Southwestern state’s rural west, as reported by Anita Snow for the Associated Press (AP).

Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Arizona State Land Department announced that Fondomonte Arizona is officially no longer pumping water in the Butler Valley groundwater basin.

Gov. Katie Hobbs and the Arizona State Land Department announced that Fondomonte Arizona is officially no longer pumping water in the Butler Valley groundwater basin. Some residents of La Paz County had complained that the company’s pumping was threatening their wells.

Fondomonte, a subsidiary of Saudi dairy giant Almarai Co., held four separate lease agreements in the Butler Valley Basin to grow alfalfa that feeds livestock in the Gulf kingdom.

In October, Arizona’s State Land Department notified Fondomonte that three of its four leases in the Butler Valley Basin would not be renewed. Fondomonte was simultaneously notified that the fourth lease would be canceled as well.

The Arizona governor’s office said the State Land Department decided not to renew the leases the company had in Butler Valley due to the “excessive amounts of water being pumped from the land — free of charge.”

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