PHOENIX — The Arizona Supreme Court won’t force Gov. Katie Hobbs to direct her Department of Water Resources to look at the question of whether there needs to be greater state oversight of water use along the upper San Pedro River.
In a brief order, the justices rejected arguments by two environmental groups that state law mandates that the agency was ignoring a legal requirement that it regularly determine whether the depletion of groundwater requires the state to form an “active management area” that could impose limits on pumping. They also said Hobbs, as governor, was required to order the study.
The justices did not give a reason.
