A report in today's Arizona Daily Star, says Asarco's Mission mine will now buy 80% of its water needs from CAP water belonging to the the Tohono O'odham Nation, rather than using groundwater. It's part of a settlement of decades-long litigation over groundwater pumping.
The Mission mine is about 15 miles south of Tucson and mines copper and silver. The deal will reduce groundwater usage by 3.2 billion gallons a year, or 10,000 acre feet. [right, Mission complex, looking southwest. Credit, Asarco]