Clifton N. Cherry, Et Ux. v. Wesley E. Steiner

Various Arizona landowners appeal an order of the district court granting summa ry judgment for defendants in a suit challenging the constitutionality of the Arizona Groundwater Management Act of 1980 (the Act), Ariz.Rev.Stat.Ann. §§ 45-401 to 45-637 (West Supp.1982). Plaintiffs’ central contention is that prior to the enactment of the Act, they owned the groundwater beneath their property and that the Act’s imposition of conditions upon the use and enjoyment of that groundwater is constitutionally infirm. We have jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C. § 1291 (1976) and affirm.

I

Plaintiffs are several married couples, two corporations, and a private water company. All own land in the State of Arizona within the Upper Aqua Fria Subbasin of the Prescott Initial Active Management Area. They allege that there are substantial quantities of groundwater beneath their several properties and that the Act has diminished the value of the land by taking their ownership in the water without compensation. They further allege that the Act establishes arbitrary classifications which are not rationally related to the goals of the legislation, that the law contains impermissible irrebuttable presumptions,…