Tucson is set to begin imposing conservation rules to protect the cityβs water supply from being guzzled down by βlarge quantityβ commercial customers.
The ordinance was rushed to the City Council over the past few weeks and follows public outcry over a proposed data center land deal in which critics cited extreme water use as a top concern. The proposal was eventually shelved, at least for property within the city limits.
The new water-use rules on heavy users were unanimously approved Tuesday night.
Tucson will now require all new businesses using at least one million cubic feet of water per month β about 7.48 million gallons β to submit a water conservation plan to Tucson Water. Annually, thatβs about 275 acre-feet of water, or about 90 million gallons.
An acre-foot of water is enough to serve four Tucson homes for a year. So the smallest water user to have to follow the ordinance would use enough water to serve about 1,100 homes for a year. No current business in Tucson uses that much water.
Those commercial customers are required to use specified percentages of reclaimed water, often at least 30%, depending on the companyβs proximity to reclaimed water delivery lines.
An application program is also included in the ordinance, which takes effect immediately. It requires major water users to submit their conservation plan to Tucson Water as part of a βwater service application.β The final step in that process is getting the councilβs approval.
Mayor Regina Romero says new commercial water-use rules are needed for the city along with land-use and zoning changes for future proposals that could involve businesses that need access to a lot of water.
City Manager Tim Thomure said in a memo a few golf courses connected to the utilityβs reclaimed system use as much water in a year than the amount the new ordinance would cover each month.
Existing water customers, including those whose use did meet the cityβs threshold for the new rules, would fall under the ordinance if they try to get the size of their water meter increased to accommodate using so much more water that theyβd qualify for the new rules, the Star previously reported.
The water-use ordinance passed less than two weeks after the City Council unanimously voted to kill Project Blue, a proposed set of two large data-center complexes in the city. But council members have said the ordinance isnβt targeting any specific kind of businesses. Instead, the council says it wanted to pass these regulations now to ensure the city is prepared for future proposals from businesses requiring access to a lot of water.
As part of the motion to establish the ordinance, the council directed staff to begin an outreach campaign over the next six months so the public and other stakeholders can make recommendations to the cityβs approved program.
Mayor Regina Romero said the ordinance is a starting point while both public outreach occurs and the cityβs planning and zoning commission begins work on land-use and zoning changes.
βWe need to make sure that weβre acting immediately to lift the guard rails to protect our community,β Romero said.
βWeβre kind of like flying and building a plane at the same time, and hopefully making sure that we continue putting together the ordinances and and use codes and all of the changes we need to do to protect Tucsonans and our resources from any future data center or any other water gobbling industry in our community,β she said.
βThis particular ordinance (needed) to be passed immediately ... while we work for longer-term changes that will protect all of us. Not just from water overuse, but power and energy, and so many other things,β Romero said.
