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The legislature will also not provide for any noteworthy measures for the extraction of groundwater in the majority of the state that lies outside of its five active management areas. Legislators, Democratic and Republican, submit bills every year, but they are seldom heard. We cannot even require the legislature to measure the groundwater flow, let alone restrict pumping when the water level drops.
Today, groundwater in Tucson is a secondary source of water compared to our supply from the Central Arizona Project. Still, 5 to 6% of the utility’s water has come from groundwater in recent years.
When Tucson Water announced that it would shut down the TARP water treatment plant on the south side, it meant that most of its 60,000 customers will now be supplied with mostly CAP water.
The city has assured us that the water supply will not be compromised, which is of course good. However, there were no noteworthy demands from customers for more environmental protection, which I consider a missed opportunity.
Last year, 2020, was the first year in this century that Tucson Water’s residential customers used significantly more water than the year before. In 2020 we used 7.5% more water per capita than in 2019.
There have been two more years of slight increases in this century, but nothing of the kind. It shows that we seem to have reached a climatic limit in conservation ethics that Tucson has adopted over decades.
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/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/GDDMT4MQXNAFJDM4L7QAD64T7A.jpg "Tucson Unified teacher on administrative leave after using N-word in classroom")
/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/gray/XGU6SM7T4ND6XMX5IQROUZBVFY.jpg "Tucson Veterans Day Parade canceled due to downtown construction")
