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ADEQ
Nonpoint Source Management
Five-Year Plan
The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) whose mission is "To protect and enhance public health and the environment in Arizona, is seeking public input on the draft 2025–2030 Nonpoint Source Management Five-Year Plan, which outlines the strategies for reducing pollution and improving water quality across the state.
This plan, required by the federal Clean Water Act, outlines ADEQ’s strategies to reduce nonpoint source pollution — the kind that comes from diffuse sources like water runoff over land and abandoned mines. ADEQ’s goal is to protect and enhance Arizona’s rivers, lakes, and streams for people, wildlife, and future generations.
The 30-day public comment period is now open, and ADEQ invites you to share your thoughts. Your feedback will help shape how ADEQ focuses resources and partnerships to make the biggest impact.
Click here to review a comment presented to ADEQ by Thomas Wiewandt, PhD. It is a powerful statement detailing shortcomings in our federal laws that are poorly suited to Arizona’s desert environments and, closer to home, the favorable state mining laws that allow Hudbay to move forward with their plans to create an open pit in and around the beautiful Santa Rita Mountains even before receiving official permit approval.
Su Libby, Co-leader for the Great Old Broads for the Wilderness states the Wiewandt's comments are "One of the best oppositional letters to ADEQ's weak and lax permitting practices which is putting all living creatures in the State of AZ at immanent RISK. A masterful breakdown of all that is put at RISK due to mining and water usage permitting practices which originated in 1872 when the country was a very different place"
Now is the time to be heard!
If you feel empowered to comment on this important topic, follow these tips when crafting your statement:
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Become familiar with the draft plan and Clean Water Act Section 319.
- Keep your comments as focused and specific as possible.
- Make suggestions and recommendations, providing resources as necessary.
Submit comments ONLINE or by mail to:
Arizona Department of Environmental Quality
Attn: Caitlin Burwell
Watershed Improvement Unit
1110 W. Washington St.
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Comments must be postmarked or received by ADEQ by close of business Wednesday, June 11, 2025.
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