Though this white paper is written at the request of the City and County’s Water Infrastructure, Supply & Planning Study, it speaks to the entire region.

1. Chart a path to full utilization of indirect potable reuse. Continuing

to ignore wastewater as a future source of supply could cost our

community hundreds of millions of dollars. And, because the

Groundwater Code enables local water utilities to engage in the indirect

recharge of wastewater, and recover that recharge under the same

rules that apply to CAP recharge, there is simply no alternative,

regardless of expense, that is as remotely reliable for balancing our

supply and demand. On top of everything else, this is one of the least

expensive alternatives available to our watershed.

“From a technical and chemical perspective, public health

and safety aren’t issues. Even so, convincing the public

and politicians that the end product of a water

reclamation facility can meet drinking water standards

requires extensive public relations efforts.”

AWWA Opflow, February 2009

2. Develop a plan to achieve the elimination of potable water for

outdoor use in a five to ten year time frame. This means all outdoor

water use must be from harvested rainwater, graywater reuse or

reclaimed water.

3. Institute retrofit upon resale ordinances as an equitable method

to bring existing properties up to the water efficiency standards of new

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construction. Target among other things, toilets, hot water heaters,

and irrigation systems.

4. Establish water efficiency messaging and media campaigns on a

regional basis. We are all in the same media market and coordinated

efforts create consistency throughout the region and increase the

impact of our efforts.

5. Strive for rate adjustments and ordinance development every

year. Just as rate increases should be regular, adoption of increasingly

stringent water use restrictions, coupled with incentives, should be

done regularly (every year something should come forward in every

municipality and utility) and in increments that are meaningful to

customers but not so burdensome that a backlash is created.

Additionally, a long-range plan for these additional requirements or

restrictions should be implemented comprehensively, not piecemeal,

and laid out for a certain time frame so the general public and the

business community know what is coming and when.

6. Embrace a requirement that by a certain date, all toilets sold

and installed in this county be High Efficiency models rated 500 gramsper-

flush or higher by MaP testing.

7. Incorporate the concepts of STRUCTURED PLUMBING including

trunk, branch and twig piping systems, and pipe insulation into the

plumbing code.

8. Fully enforce all the conservation requirements and ordinances

already in place.

9. Establish a method to implement consistent conservation and

water related ordinances throughout the region.

10. Institute addition training and certification requirements for the

entire range of practitoners in water using fields. This includes all

facets of the landscape industry, plumbing industry, water auditors,

managers, etc. as well as field service and customer service staff in our

water utilities.

11. Analyze the outcomes of existing and previous efforts as a way

to inform our next generation of efforts. Has the expected decrease in

water use been realized, have the desired changes in water use

patterns occurred, has the maximum water savings relative to dollars

savings been achieved?

12. In this region we have done all the cheap and easy things to

save water and extend their supplies so everything done from here on

out must be justifiable fiscally, environmentally, and socially (triple

bottom line) and must be weighed against any and all other engineered

or acquisition solutions to water supply issues.

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13. Use each and every one of the tools discussed in this paper.

Decide, how and when and to what extent each tool can most

effectively be used.

14. Target areas of actual high inefficiency rather than just overall

high water use.

As long as it is cheaper in dollars, environmental and social terms to do increased

conservation than to find the next source of water, we have more work to do. The

difficulty rests with the public will. How do we want to be identified? Will we rise as

the Solarcon Valley? Will we be the absolute leader in water use efficiency for this

nation?

And, regionally we need to make a conscious shift from a growth-based economy to

one that is more sustainable: we have entered the uncharted waters of limits and

drastically changing priorities. So, we better pay attention and get busy.

The Arizona Department of Water Resources has issued its Demand & Supply Assessment and, as reported in this newspaper, we are not on track as a region to achieve the 2025 goal of “safe yield” – using no more groundwater than is naturally and artificially recharged – which is the objective of the 1980 Groundwater Management Code.

While we have made great progress toward the goal over the past 30 years, the assessment is an important tool, telling us where we are in 2010, and giving us likely scenarios for how far short of the goal we are likely to be over the next 15 years. But it is just a starting point. This region, meaning each of us individually and collectively, will need to decide if, and how, we want to reach and (maybe more importantly) sustain the safe-yield goal.

Let’s assume there is community-wide consensus that we want to achieve the goal of safe yield, since I have not heard anyone willing to say publicly, ‘heck no, who cares.’ So, how do we get there and stay there? I would encourage everyone interested in our sustainable water future, to consider how we can most equitably and economically make full use of the supplies we have at hand. Three areas are of great interest to me: full use of our effluent, additional conservation and natural recharge.

First, as is discussed in the assessment, is the importance of full utilization of our effluent. This is a constant and increasing water source that we must make full use of as a path to safe yield. How do we get this water source to places and use it in ways that mitigate the pumping of groundwater? The majority of this water supply is controlled by the City of Tucson and the Bureau of Reclamation so influencing their policy decisions seems a fitting effort.

Second, there is still a huge amount of saving to be had through demand management efforts in all sectors (municipal, agricultural and industrial). In most cases it is still cheaper to save water than to use it. I encourage the scrutiny of additional conservation efforts to triple bottom line analysis and feel they will hold their own compared to many more costly, complicated solutions. Not using as much water saves us money three ways: on our water bill, our sewer bill and our energy bill. Hard to beat that trifecta!

Third, we have largely ignored a key item on the water balance sheet. That item is natural recharge. We have yet to make the connection between the passion this community has for rainwater harvesting and the ability to affect natural storm water recharge in this basin. Every single gesture to slow storm runoff, to allow for increased infiltration, has the potential to increase the static number used in the water models for natural recharge. Let’s scale up our active and passive water harvesting efforts. We look to the environmental community to take this up as a winning strategy.

What change, effort or compromise are we willing to make to guarantee the economic, environmental, and social viability of our community? We’ve got a short 15 years to sink or swim. No life raft is likely to come from our regulatory agencies, or our state government or our elected officials. It will come from us – each of us – all of us. Failure is not an economic, social or environmental option.

Stepping up the use of treated sewage effluent is one path for the Tucson region to meet a 2025 deadline to stop overpumping its aquifer, a new state report says.

But Tucsonans need not drink treated sewage effluent for the region to meet that goal, a state official said Monday.

We can use effluent to at least temporarily reach “safe yield” by balancing the amount of water people pump from the ground with what is replenished, the Arizona Department of Water Resources report says.

Enough other uses exist for the effluent, such as putting it on golf courses and parks, and using it at power plants so the area doesn’t have to resort to treating it for drinking – called “toilet to tap,” said Laura Grignano, a water-resources specialist for the department.

Still, it may be difficult to put additional effluent to use because “everybody who owns it wants it for their own use,” said John Mawhinney, chairman of the state Groundwater Users Advisory Council, which heard details of the report in Tucson Monday. “The feds own part of it, and they want it for Indian obligations. The city wants it. Marana wants it. The farmers want it.”

Also, it may prove that treating effluent for drinking is a better value than building pipelines to extend treated sewage to more golf courses and parks, said Val Little, director of the Water Conservation Alliance of Southern Arizona.

Some details:
HOW WE’RE DOING: The Tucson area is making progress toward safe yield. The region’s overdraft – the amount of pumping exceeding groundwater recharge – was 86,000 acre-feet in 1985, rose to 156,000 by 1995, but dropped to 50,000 by 2006 after the city of Tucson got renewable Central Arizona Project water. An acre-foot will serve three to four families for a year.

THE OUTLOOK: It’s not good without another water source or more conservation. The overdraft will be about 112,900 acre-feet by 2025. It was nearly 23,000 acre-feet in 2006. The forecasts stem from three possible scenarios for regional water demand based on factors including population growth, the continuation of agriculture and the future of the area’s copper mines.

IF CAP RUNS SHORT. If the water project has shortages during eight of the next 15 years, the groundwater overdraft would rise by 4 percent to 27 percent.

WITH MORE EFFLUENT. If the region can boost effluent use by 59 percent, the overdraft drops – to zero – by 2016 before rising slightly over the next few years. By 2025, it would be very small. This scenario does not consider the possibility of CAP shortages or the potential of using 28,000 acre-feet of effluent set aside for the Tohono O’odham Nation.

WHAT’S NEXT: Mawhinney said he will form a group to study the idea of using more effluent along with other solutions

(September 3, 2009): A recent headline in a water-industry publication caught my eye. It read: “Ontario says no to new water supplies.” Yes, a province in Canada has made a conscious decision that its search for “new” water will start with saving water and the collective efforts to realize the full potential of efficiency.

Titled “H2Ontario: A Blueprint for Comprehensive Water Conservation and Efficiency,” this strategy is, to my knowledge, a first. Clearly Ontario will not be the last entity to take this approach. As early as 2003, the Pacific Institute concluded that “it is much cheaper to conserve water and encourage efficiency than to build new water supplies or even, in some cases, expand existing ones…and that the savings can be had without the many social, environmental and economic consequences that any major water project will bring.”

We are seeing a shift toward increased water-use efficiency as a viable alternative to the search for, the legal wrangling to acquire, and the costs (not only in dollars but to the environment and society) to buy, transport, treat and deliver that next bucket of water.

For too long conservation has been viewed by many as a feel-good or soft effort without regard to actual water savings and the attendant cost to save that water. I believe these days are on the wane and we are beginning to view conservation as a way to reduce demands on our potable water supply and to integrate demand management efforts into our overall water management strategies.

Early Arizona leaders worked for at least half a century to bring us our last bucket of water. We have to be equally diligent in looking that far out for our next source. And yet, clearly the era of big water projects has passed its prime and we are facing the particular challenge of living within limits. There are limits on our resources, our finances, our spaces and our ability to solve the problems largely created by our own shortsightedness.

The term “sustainability” is much bandied about, but is ill-defined. There are, however, several concrete things that can be done, and I encourage the region to consider the following suggestions as we set about incurring the financial, social and environmental costs of new water supplies:

• Set a goal and a timeline for achievement of no potable water use outdoors. We can readily decide that outdoor water use in this region will be with reclaimed water, harvested rainwater or the reuse of our graywater. Pouring potable water on the ground makes no sense.
• When sold, existing homes should be retrofitted to 100 percent of new-home standards. The potential for water savings in our existing housing stock and landscapes is beyond huge.
• Fiscally, environmentally, and socially (triple bottom line) analyze our additional conservation efforts and weigh them against engineered or acquisition solutions.

TUCSON, AZ (October 20th, 2008) Thousands of Southern Arizonans had the opportunity to learn about water conservation and to try their luck in a water-wise raffle last weekend at the Water CASA Conservation Showcase, held during the SAHBA Home Show at the Tucson Convention Center. By the end, thirty-eight native plants donated by Mountain States Wholesale Nursery had been presented to raffle prize winners from all over Southern Arizona, and a High Efficiency Toilet (HET) donated by Benjamin Supply was awarded to Ms. Janice Davila, a resident of Tucson. Additionally, Showcase exhibitors Oasis Rainwater Harvesting and EcoBlue / Aquatain were selected as two of the five Most Innovative Product Nominees in the Home Show, with Oasis’ Decorative Rain Barrels ultimately chosen as a Judge’s pick for the hottest new product.

Home Show visitors perused the wide assortment of educational brochures, products, and prizes offered by Water CASA and the other Showcase exhibitors over the three-day event. Water CASA’s booth drew in a notable number of passersby thanks to eye-catching decor including turf carpeting provided by Turf-Tek, the HET on display for raffle, and the array of plants to be given away, which filled the booth space with flowers and foliage. Volunteers from The Nature Conservancy and the University of Arizona Master Gardeners, working alongside Water CASA members, were available to answer questions about plants and water use on Saturday and Sunday.

Click here to open the printable press release.

TUCSON, AZ (September 30th, 2008) A showerhead that tells you when the water is hot, tanks that collect rainwater and beautify your landscape, and an earth-friendly magic potion that can cut evaporation from your pool in half, will be on display at the “Water CASA Conservation Showcase” at the October 10-12 SAHBA Home Show.

The SAHBA Home Show is a biannual event at the Tucson Convention Center where the Water CASA “Showcase” will be featured this season. “The Water CASA Conservation Showcase brings together many of this Home Show’s most environmentally-focused exhibitors,” explains Water CASA Director, Val Little. “During a season in which much of the development industry is languishing, these merchants skirt that trend by offering products and practices that significantly cut homeowners’ costs while comforting their consciences.”

The majority of “Water CASA Conservation Showcase” exhibitors will be in the 1600 block of Exhibit Hall A during the show. These grouped exhibitors will include EcoBlue and Sunstate Sales, Evolve Showerheads, Ewing Irrigation and Irritrol, Oasis Rainwater Harvesting, Turf Tek, and Water CASA, sponsor of the Showcase (which is also funded by a grant from the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District.) Three more Showcase exhibitors—Patio Pools, the Solar Store, and Southern Arizona Rain Gutters— will be located elsewhere in the Convention Center, but will participate in Showcase activities.

Click here to open the printable press release.

WASHINGTON, DC (August 15th, 2008) Thanks in part to last fall’s testimony of Water Conservation Alliance of Southern Arizona Director Val L. Little, the House of Representatives has acted to prevent a national water-use crisis, and voted to use practical methods of water conservation, efficiency, and user education, in addition to technological innovation, as its tools.

On July 30th, 2008, the House passed H.R. 3957, and attached an appropriation of $20 million for its research and development, for each year beginning in 2009 and ending in 2013. The hearing at which Little testified on this bill, entitled the Water-Use Efficiency and Conservation Research Act of 2007, was held on October 30th, 2007.

During her testimony at the October hearing, Little stated, “The human behavior factor can easily trump any technical strategy with the inadequate monitoring, management and maintenance of technological tools.” She also emphasized “research efforts in the water conservation arena that are focused on actual, quantifiable water savings rather than projected or modeled assumptions.”

H.R. 3957 attaches appropriations to a research program implementing graywater, water harvesting, and other methods long touted by Water CASA as stepping stones on the path to greater water efficiency. “Many experts are starting to see water as ‘the new oil’ in terms of what a precious commodity it is,” Representative Jim Matheson (D-UT), who introduced the bill, said on July 30th. “The key to avoiding future scarcity is more efficient use, reuse and distribution. We need the best minds tackling this challenge and then we need to ensure the information is readily available to the public.”

Click here to open the printable press release.

TUCSON, AZ (September 18th, 2008) Thousands of Southern Arizonans will have the opportunity to check their toilets for leaks in the coming months, as part of a Water CASA program funded by the Bureau of Reclamation. Water CASA reported that it has distributed 61,000 Toilet Leak Detection Kits to member water providers over the past two months.

The kits were purchased with Bureau of Reclamation funds and assembled by Water CASA and University of Arizona students. The kits are designed to be included in water bills. Water CASA members receiving the kits include Community Water Company of Green Valley, the Town of Marana Water Department, Metropolitan Water District, Oro Valley Water Utility, Flowing Wells Irrigation District, and the Town of Sahuarita.

Toilets are the number one cause of household water leaks, and a silent leak can waste up to 500 gallons of water per day. The Toilet Leak Detection Kits provided by Water CASA include two small strips containing blue dye. The accompanying instructional insert recommends that one strip be dropped in the tank of the toilet and allowed to sit for 15 minutes without flushing. If blue shows up in the toilet bowl and no flushing has occurred, a leak has been detected. The insert also includes a diagram of a typical toilet tank and lists possible causes of leakage.

“Should you use these strips if you don’t suspect a leak? Absolutely,” said Water CASA Director Val Little. “These kits are extremely simple to use, and are designed to find those silent leaks you don’t suspect. This simple test can save water and money you didn’t know you were wasting.”

TUCSON (March 22, 2011) – On the occasion of WORLD WATER DAY, The Water Conservation Alliance of Southern Arizona (Water CASA) has responded to the continued drought and projections of worsening water shortages by releasing a Statement of Outdoor Water Use IDEALS.

In the IDEALS, Water CASA calls for Arizonans to plant natives wherever possible, and to maintain grass “only for physical, functional use”, as in play spaces, stressing “No Lawn Just for Looks”.

The Statement of Outdoor Water Use IDEALS also calls for local residents and businesses to refine their irrigation practices. The Statement favors manual rather than scheduled irrigation timers. One section, entitled “Rely on Mother Nature as the Primary Irrigator” states that irrigation should occur only to establish new plants, and would ideally cease within three years in all but the most extreme cases. Also called for by Water CASA’s IDEALS is the increased use of reclaimed water, graywater and harvested rainwater.

“Water CASA’s Board continues to focus its efforts on more efficient use of our resources, thinking in terms of IDEALS rather than requirements,” says Water CASA Director, Val Little of Water CASA’s decision to release the statement. “A set of ideals is something for the region to strive for.”

Click here to open a printable pdf of these ideals

University of Arizona researchers contributed to one of the most extensive examinations of climate impacts on U.S. ecosystems, which was released recently by the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.

“Synthesis and Assessment Product 4.3 (SAP 4.3): The Effects of Climate Change on Agriculture, Land Resources, Water Resources, and Biodiversity in the United States” integrated the federal research efforts of 13 agencies on climate and global change.

Steven Archer, UA professor in the School of Natural Resources, was the lead author on the Arid Lands section within the Land Resources chapter. Travis Huxman, associate professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and director of Biosphere 2, was a co-author on the Arid Lands chapter. David Breshears, UA professor of natural resources, was one of the reviewers of the report.

The report finds that climate change is already affecting U.S. water resources, land resources, agriculture and biodiversity, and will continue to do so.

“We are hoping this report reaches people in the land management agencies and policy makers, because they have to make decisions and planning projections for the next 30 to 50 years,” Archer said. “We also hope it is a good resource for educators who don’t have time to keep up with all of the literature.”

Specific findings include:

• Grain and oilseed crops will mature more rapidly, but increasing temperatures will increase the risk of crop failures, particularly if precipitation decreases or becomes more variable.
• Higher temperatures will negatively affect livestock. Warmer winters will reduce mortality but this will be more than offset by greater mortality in hotter summers. Hotter temperatures also will result in reduced productivity of livestock and dairy animals.
• Forests in the interior West, the Southwest and Alaska are already being affected by climate change with increases in the size and frequency of forest fires, insect outbreaks and tree mortality. These changes are expected to continue.
• Weeds grow more rapidly under elevated atmospheric carbob dioxide. Under projections reported in the assessment, weeds migrate northward and are less sensitive to herbicides.
• There is a trend toward reduced mountain snowpack and earlier spring snowmelt runoff in the western U.S.
• Horticultural crops (such as tomato, onion and fruit) are more sensitive to climate change than grains and oilseed crops.
• Young forests on fertile soils will achieve higher productivity from elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations. Nitrogen deposition and warmer temperatures will increase productivity in other types of forests where water is available.
• Invasion by exotic grass species into arid lands will be promoted by climate change, causing an increased fire frequency. Rivers and riparian systems in arid lands will be negatively impacted.
• A continuation of the trend toward increased water use efficiency could help mitigate the impacts of climate change on water resources.
• The growing season has increased by 10 to 14 days over the last 19 years across the temperate latitudes. Species’ distributions also have shifted.

Arid lands are most prevalent in the West and Southwest and Archer cited the potential impact of climate change on water and air quality and water abundance in arid areas.

“If climate changes in the ways predicted, then there are potential significant consequences,” Archer said. “These lands support a large ranching industry, they contain a diversity of unique plants and animals and major airsheds and watersheds.”

Among the potential impacts in arid lands, according to Archer, are changes to the cover of vegetation and an increase in erosion – which may increase the frequency of dust storms in the West and Southwest.

Other possible impacts include an increase in wildfires, more water stress and promotion of non-native grasses. Arid lands will become more sensitive to and slower to recover from disturbances associated with grazing, fire and off-road vehicle use.

“The report intentionally does not provide recommendations,” Archer said, “but rather is an objective summary of what has already been reported in scientific literature.”

The report was written by 38 authors from universities, national laboratories, nongovernmental organizations and federal service. The report underwent expert peer review by 14 scientists through a federal advisory committee formed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture and a 45-day period of open public review. The National Center for Atmospheric Research helped coordinate the production of the report.

Click here to open this article on the UANews website.