I Hope That Would Have Caught Your Attention Because We, As Citizens of the Tucson Community

I hope that would have caught your attention because we, as citizens of the Tucson community have major decisions to make about how we should be using our water supply. We need you to help come up with how we should be distributing this sacred resource. Here in Arizona we greatly depend on the Colorado River as one of the most important water sources. Unfortunately, as time progressed through the years the size of the

Colorado River has been decreasing. Thus, making our largest water source a major problem for the desert community and for the future families living here in Arizona. However, one of the things that we’ve already done was creation of the Water Plan: 2000-2050, in 2004 in order to expose the issues with water we have and all of the challenges that co-exist within them.

The objective that we had in mind while creating this water plan was to create a stable yet flexible plan that would always match up to the requirements for our future water needs. We are always going to be one step closer to the future and thus, making our water needs ever-changing. We have created some water recommendations to help us reach this goal of ours. Some of these proposals include obtaining additional water supplies, limiting how much groundwater is pumped and reducing water waste.

Decision #1:

Our main issue behind Decision 1 in the Long Range Water Plan 2000-2050 is the problem of having either mineral control or natural blending throughout the water. Water consumers pointed out that the amount of natural minerals they would like to have should be less than 450 milligrams per liter in the blended supply of water during a 1999 survey. In 2010, the mineral level blend will eventually surpass 450 mg/l, should we choose to increase our use of the Colorado River in our Clearwater program. Our customers must decide what they want for their water. They can either decide to keep the mineral level at 450mg/l or they can choose to boost the mineral level in which this case will cause the mixture to consist of 600 mg/l of minerals. The salt level is going up because the Clearwater blend will eventually mix in along with groundwater, which contains more salt in itself, as it flows through our water system. The mineral content in the water you will be getting has a higher concentration than what you have been obtaining in the past. However, if the community prefers the level to be kept at 450 mg/l, more money will be needed in order to build an additional treatment plant, thus keeping the mineral level about the same.

Decision #2:

Decision 2 is the question of whether or not Tucson should recharge its share of the Colorado River water or whether we should have it restored by the water treatment plant. How should the remaining water from the Colorado River allotment be used?

We have two options to choose from:

1) Expand the Clearwater

Project: Which would accept the remaining water from the river which would then be recharged and recovered.

2) Have the Hayden-Udall Water Treatment Facility put back into service, which would help to treat the water and have it placed into the water system. This water would first be mixed with the Clearwater before delivery to consumers.

Not only were we planning about what we are going to do now, we discussed how these issues will be addressed in the next 50 years. Even though the same issues remain, the time frames and our priorities have changed in quite a few ways. Keep reading to find out how!

Both the Water Plan and its Update plans show that Tucson Water has the capability of providing a long-term, sustainable and sufficient water supply. In order to accommodate future land-use decisions we came up with three general schemes in order to provide a safe and sustainable water supply.

Now it’s time to go over all of these aspects. First, it’s extremely important that we utilize the renewable water resources that the City of Tucson has available. Next, we definitely need to achieve more efficient water use through the expansion of conservation programming. Lastly, it is important to acquire additional water supplies in order to maximize reliability to meet future demand. Therefore, the difference between the original plan and the revised plan is that the projections were revised to develop population estimates for Tucson’s water Obligated area, and its potential area. The graph shows that the obligated area should increase from 638,936 in 2008, and just 30 years later this number will spring right on up to 990,000 and over 1.1 million in 2050! So now do you see why we need to get these decisions made as intelligently and effectively as possible?

Two issues came up since the original Water Plan: 2000-2050, which regards the extent of the City’s Water Service Area. It also measures the extent to which additional water demand-management, like water conservation, we’ll need to achieve this goal.

Now you see, there are four different scenarios in which our city has come up with. It was announced that a new interim policy under the City’s control would not agree to serve any new developments outside of the Obligated Area, until the Mayor & Council adopt a comprehensive policy regarding the City’s future water service area. If only the Mayor & Council would accept this, it could

drastically change the demand projections and how we decide to se our resources in a timely manner.

Scenario A could simply be noted for its smallest increase of demand-management in the obligated area. This scenario predicts that the Utility’s potable Gallons per Capita per day would gradually reduce by 10% by 2030. It assumes more aggressive demand-management strategies that can successfully be accomplished. In this case, the Utility’s Total Water would increase from 128,141 Acre-Feet in 2000 to about 180,000 Acre-feet in 2030 and 215,000 in 2050! The projected potable demand would exceed the sum of the city’s annual Central Arizona project allocation. But, Tucson Water still would have the balance of its renewable effluent resources not committed to the Utility’s reclaimed water system. Scenario A delays the need to develop or get more renewable supplies in the near future, and it is more flexible in certain mishaps that could occur in the future.

In contrast to Scenario A, Scenario D is the largest projected increase in demand. It’s a worst-case demand projection and it represents the most conservative portrayal of the Utility’s future water supply needs. This scenario assumes larger potential area-served solely by Tucson Water, and additional demand-management wouldn’t be necessary. Here, water demand increased to 200,000 Acre-feet per year in 2030, and in 2050 it sprang up to 255,000! This is also different from Scenario A because Tucson Water would serve the entire Potential Service Area, which is twice as big as the Obligated area. Therefore, no additional demand-management would be needed within this 50 year planning window.

Now since Scenarios B and C are left, and you’re probably wondering what they’re all about, well, let me tell you that they are both indistinguishable in the means of projected water demand. B and C represent a mid-range increase in water demand through 2050.

After looking through all of these we think that Scenario A seems the best. We think this because D can’t delay the need to have to develop more renewable supplies and there’s no flexibility in the planning, which seems like a disaster in itself.

The difference between the Original Water plan: 2000-2050 and the Updated Plan has to deal with something we cannot stop…time. The Original Water Plan said that four critical decisions were to be made at two key points in time, 2006 and 2014. In the Update however, the key decision points have changed. Now, the first decision point will occur this year, in 2008. And for the second decision point, well that all depends upon which of the four scenarios A, B, C or D is the most relevant to what we’re dealing with here.

In Water Plan: 2000-2050, the first two decisions had to do with the use of Colorado River water in 2006. The first decision regarded the long-term mineral content of the Clearwater blend of groundwater and recharged Colorado River water. The second decision focused on whether the Utility should consider bringing a direct water treatment plant into service. Recent reports have shown that if we continue to rely on recharge and recovery it gives Tucson water better performance and flexibility in planning for a cheaper price.

The decisions are all based on our rapidly changing environment, the next decision point has to deal with the development of additional renewable water supplies and which service area and demand-management options the Mayor & Council decide is the best.

So now if you’re still not convinced that making these decisions are extremely important in our future, know that our population will keep growing and you need to be a part of how we use this scare resource, especially living in the hot Desert in Tucson!

Bibliography

Water to Tucson’s Future; Long Range Water Plan 2000-2050- Water Decisions

Update to Water Plan: 2000-2050

Tucson Water: http://www.ci.tucson.az.us/water/

Photos:

http://picasaweb.google.com/deweysilveri/Coolers#5147692783535903154

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