Tucson Sips Wisely, Sets Water Example

A water revolution is underway in south central Arizona and the good guys are winning. As a result, said Tucson lawyer Hugh A. Holub: “We are drought-proof here.”

Once Tucson begins receiving its share of Colorado River water from the $3.5-billion Central Arizona Project--in 1991 or 1992--this thriving city on the Sonoran Desert need never fear for a lack of water.

Tucson can absorb all of its anticipated growth, from a population of 600,000 now to 1 million by the year 2000 and 1.6 million by 2025. The stability of Tucson’s water future is an attraction for industry. And local residents have developed fierce pride in their demonstrated ability to get along with less per-capita water use than any other major western city.

The Central Arizona Project water is just one factor in Tucson’s becoming drought-proof. By the turn of the century, the region will receive less than 100,000 acre-feet a year of the 1.2 million acre-feet drawn from the Colorado River. (One acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, the amount needed for an average family’s use in one year). The Tucson region’s total projected water needs by 2000 will be 500,000 acre-feet a year.

The Tucson example is a facing up to reality: of never having as much water as everyone would want and of making the difficult political decisions for a remarkable conservation program.

Another factor was the state’s decision to adopt one of the nation’s strictest laws governing the pumping of underground water. Wells currently provide the Tucson area with almost 100% of its water. Looking to the future, the city is moving aggressively toward the reclamation and reuse of sewage and other waste water. Within 15 years, city officials expect that reclaimed waste water will total 132,000 acre-feet annually, the second largest source of municipal supplies.

These sorts of initiatives are being talked about, guardedly, now in Southern California as the region seeks new water supplies to meet its own growth demands and offset losses of Colorado River water to the Arizona project.

But issues like the selling of water rights, mandatory conservation, the phasing out of agriculture and the use of reclaimed sewage spark instant controversy in California and face a wall of legal, traditional and institutional barriers.

Tucson residents debate other subjects virtually taboo in California, such as controlling new growth. There will be no additional water for farmers from the Central Arizona Project, unlike the usual situation when water arrives from a new federally financed reclamation venture. Farming is in decline, in part because the city of Tucson is buying up farmland to obtain the water rights. Holub and others expect little agriculture to be left in Pima County 15 years from now.

“The farmers complain a lot,” added Holub, a former city adviser on water issues and longtime activist in Arizona water affairs, “but they line up to sell their farms to the cities.”

Historically, virtually all Tucson’s water came from wells. With a growth boom following World War II, the city began pumping more well water each year than was naturally restored to the underground aquifers. In 1980, this overdraft was five times the replenishment amount. Water tables declined sharply, increasing the costs of pumping. While some critics of the Central Arizona Project argue that the state can continue to deplete this underground supply for decades, Holub said, “It is madness to assume that you can mine a water source away without paying attention to its replacement.”

State officials agree. The Arizona ground water management law mandates full natural replenishment--no more overdraft--by the year 2025.

Tucson really began to take its water situation seriously on a particularly hot summer day back in the 1970s when consumption reached record levels. “We flat ran out of water,” Holub said. “We were sitting there looking at the reservoirs and were ready to shut down parts of the town. We got a rainstorm that afternoon that saved us.”

But it was obvious something had to be done. The city had neither the time nor the money to build new water supply facilities that would avert future shortages or accommodate growth. There was no choice other than a dramatic conservation program. The City Council started by steeply inverting rates so that the more water a customer used, the more its price increased dramatically. There was such an uproar that Tucson residents voted to recall the council and elect a new one.

But the new council saw that conservation was the only option. It proposed even higher water rates and--something the old council neglected--coupled them with a vigorous public program to convince citizens of the need to conserve. Rates have increased about 10% a year and are likely to double again in the next decade. The highest rate, for heavy water users, is about four times the basic water charge. The second effort succeeded.

Since 1977, average per-capita water use in Tucson has declined from 205 gallons a day to 150 (the Los Angeles average is 178 and Phoenix is 280). “It’s just truly amazing, the public acceptance of the water realities in this town,” Holub said. Desert shrubbery is the residential vogue rather than a lawn of green grass that needs watering. Desert landscaping is required in new subdivisions. “It’s changed the appearance of the town completely,” Holub said. “You’re going to know you’re not in Iowa.”

This attitude has yet to catch on, however, in Phoenix, which long has enjoyed a relatively bountiful and cheap water supply from the Salt River Project. Tucson residents view their Phoenix cousins as profligate water users engaging in mindless Los Angeles-style sprawl. But the new state water law will stop Phoenix subdivisions built around artificial lakes and featuring ornate, water-wasting fountains. Conservation awareness is finally coming to Phoenix and new water distribution rules will inhibit growth outside of established communities.

Arizona Gov. Bruce Babbitt acknowledges that Phoenix is a growth-oriented region, but hopes to profit from past mistakes and “attempt to manage the issues as we go along.”

“Will it succeed?” the governor asked. “Come back in 25 or 30 years and see.”

In 1985, however, Tucson can already point to its success.