Community Water of Green Valley officials have been quietly looking for ways to bring Colorado River water from the Central Arizona Project water to the Santa Cruz Valley for years and they think have found the opportunity in a deal with a company that wants to start an open pit copper mine in the Santa Rita Mountains − and it’s no longer quiet.

More than 400 people crowded into an auditorium in Green Valley July 25 to hear Community Water President Arturo Gabaldon explain the agreement with Augusta Resource Corp. Few of those who spoke shared Gabaldon’s enthusiasm for the deal.

Most of the opposition centered on Augusta’s plans to open the Rosemont Copper Mine on 4,200 acres on the east side of the Santa Rita Mountains, about 30 miles southeast of Tucson.

"What does Augusta get out of this?" asked Neville Ford, a resident of Green Valley.

Augusta has agreed to foot $9 million to $15 million to build the seven-mine water pipeline from the CAP’s current terminus southwest of Tucson.

In response to Ford’s question, Gabaldon said to ask Augusta. But nobody from the firm was in attendance at the forum.

According to a preliminary agreement between Augusta and the 1,500-member utility, the pipeline project would proceed regardless of what happens to the mine. Further, the money would have to be paid in advance.

"Augusta must pay us all the money up front before we move a speck of dirt," Gabaldon said.

For those in attendance at the forum, it was a difficult concept to swallow: that a mining company under no real legal obligation to replace the projected 100,000 acre-feet of water it projects to take out of the Santa Cruz sub-basin over the next 15 years would willingly shell out millions of dollars to build a pipeline.

That pipeline would then be used to pump Community Water’s approximately 3,000 acre-feet per year allocation of CAP water, along with excess water purchased by Augusta. The water would be pumped into the aquifer, replacing the groundwater used by both the utility and the mine.

Without the pipeline, the Rosemont Copper Mine would still use groundwater from the Santa Cruz sub-basin but would recharge water at a facility in Marana. Community Water would continue to pay for but not use its CAP allocation.

Community Water has an allocation of about 3,000 acre-feet of water per year from the CAP. (An acre foot is 325,851 gallons, which is about the amount a family of four uses in a year.)

"This is our first major step toward building a sustainable water supply," said Gabaldon, who has been warning residents for years the local aquifer can’t keep up with the area’s growth. He is also concerned over the ongoing drought issues and water quality related to a sulfate plume seeping from Phelps Dodge’s Sierrita Mine tailing impoundments west of Green Valley.

"We respectfully disagree that there is no relationship with the mine (being approved) and this deal," said Nan Walden, owner of Farmer’s Investment Company, which operates a pecan-growing operation in Sahuarita, which, along with the Sierrita Mine, is one of the Santa Cruz Valley’s largest water users. "Without the mine there would be no deal."

But both Gabaldon and Jaime Sturgess, vice president for projects and the environment for Augusta Resource, insist there is no quid pro quo built into the agreement. Sturgess said prior to the meeting his company sees the pipeline as a good deal for all.

In its plan for operations, Augusta has promised to replace 5 percent more water than it will use at the Rosemont Copper Mine. The company announced earlier this month it has already recharged two years’ worth of CAP water into the aquifer and will have three years’ worth by the end of this year. Even though that water is being recharged near Marana and not near the mine’s site, it is within the local management area.

Supervisor Ray Carroll, who has spearheaded Pima County’s opposition to the Rosemont mine, has said he was surprised and disappointed by Community Water’s agreement with Augusta. He said he remains opposed to using groundwater for mining, even if it is replaced with CAP water.

Tim Hull is a freelance writer.