Batten down the hatches: Willcox may be the first community in Arizona to be told what kind of water regulation it will have.

State law has long authorized the Arizona Department of Water Resources director to initiate an Active Management Area (AMA).

In fact, the wording says the director “shall” periodically review basins and recommend which meet the criteria defined in state law for this form of regulation.

But no director has ever dared to do so.

Until now.

The department has officially begun the process to designate the basin — one of the state’s most troubled — setting a hearing for Nov. 22, after which director Tom Buschatzke will make his final decision.

But the writing’s already on the wall: Willcox is almost certain to become the state’s next AMA.

The department has already completed and publicly presented the research it needs to justify the decision, noting “excessive groundwater mining,” dry wells and an aquifer that is irreparably compacting.

The wording in a technical memorandum suggests that the department knows it needs to do something:

“If left unaddressed,” its chief hydrologist wrote, “water level declines, land subsidence, and earth fissuring would continue to worsen at an accelerating........

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