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00131': ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEMS IN GROUNDWATER PROGRAMS ODed M. Lassen State Land Commissioner of Arizona Presented at tne Western Resources Conference University of Colorado, Boulder, Colo. Augus t 24, I :;JbO Groundwater, as an administrative proolem, first came into tne picture in Arizolla WI "I passage of the Groundwater Act of 1945. This law required the registration of all irrigation wel Is and the fil ing of a Notice of Intention to Dri II a Well .by anyone proposing to dri II an irrigation wel I. Objective of the /lct was to accumulate data to be used as a source of information and as a guide in drafting additional legislation. Three years after the passage of this ~.ct, the Legislature enacted the Groundwater Code of 1948, under which the State Land Commissioner is empowered to designate critical groundwater areas, areas in which 010 irrigation well can be drilled without first obtaining a permit. A cri tical ground....'8ter area, according to this statuteJ is any groundwater basin, or designated subdivision thereof, net having sufficient groundwater to provide a reasonably safe supply for irrigation of cuI tivated !.snds in the basin at the then current rate of withdrawal. A proposal to create a critical groundwater area can be initiated by the Commissioner or by petition signed by not less than twenty-five users (or one fourth of the users) of groundwater within the exterior boundaries of the proposed basin or subdivision thereof. A hearing is required at which the proponents and opponents of the proposal may be heard, and notice of such hearing, together with a full disclos'Jre of the proposed critical area, must be publ ished for four consecutive wee~s preceding the hearing in a newspaper of general circulation in (he c.:.:un'cy involved. I' The first cri tical area in f--\rizonaJ consisting of eleven to~'m51-,ips in ~hE lo\.,er SCJ11"l2 Cruz '-/21 ley, was establ ished in April, 15451. In i951 three o~h~r critical areaS were designated, embracing the principal cultivated lands in the central valleys of southern Arizona. Today there are seven such areas, plus additions to some Of the early areas. No new critical areas have been set up since 1954, and the last addition to a critical area was in 1956.