The Arizona Legislature established ADEQ as the state’s environmental regulatory agency under the Environmental Quality Act of 1986. Its mission is to protect and enhance public health and the environment in Arizona. The department achieves this mission by administering our state’s environmental laws and delegated federal programs to prevent pollution of our air, water and land, and to clean up such pollution when it occurs. The department’s organizational structure is composed of four programmatic divisions that fulfill our environmental protection mission in the areas of air quality, water quality, waste programs, and tank programs.

The Upper Hassayampa groundwater basin covers approximately 787 square miles within Maricopa and Yavapai counties and is located about 60 miles northwest of Phoenix. The basin is characterized by mid-elevation mountains and had an estimated population of 10,479 in 2000. The largest population center is the Town of Wickenburg. Other communities include Congress and Groom Creek. Low-intensity livestock grazing is the predominant land use and most ranches have limited acreages of irrigated pasture to raise additional animal feed. There are no surface water diversions or impoundments besides small stock ponds within the basin. Groundwater is the only source for public water supply, domestic, irrigation and industrial purposes. Public water supply uses the most groundwater in the basin.

The Aravaipa Canyon groundwater basin covers approximately 517 square miles in southeastern Arizona within Graham and Pinal counties. Largely undeveloped, the remote basin has an estimated 135 residents and includes the community of Klondyke. Low-intensity livestock grazing is the predominant land use although there are some irrigated fields and orchards along Aravaipa Creek. Historic mining activity resulted in the creation of the Klondyke Tailings Water Quality Assurance Revolving Fund site in 1998. Groundwater is used for all domestic purposes within the basin as well as most irrigation and stock water supplies. Irrigation uses the most groundwater in the basin.

Chronicles how the intention to conserve a relic population of Gila topminnow under current resource conditions is generally insufficient. We have let the resource base degrade too far to expect project and site specific responses to stem losses, much less lead to recovery. The Gila topminnow was considered to be among the most common of fishes in the Santa Cruz River system in the early 1940s. Three decades later is was considered endangered; and in another three decades time, its recovery is not foreseeable, given the piecemeal approach to protection efforts.