Get rid of ornamental grass. Recycle more wastewater. Make indoor and outdoor watering more efficient. Limit outdoor watering to a few days a week. Create water rate structures that encourage conservation. Minimize business use of thirsty swamp cooling. Crack down on water leaks.
A group of 30 cities and water districts, including Tucson, committed to carrying out these water conservation measures in an agreement signed last week. The measures, described by the agency officials as unprecedented, are aimed at reducing water demand by cities across the West to make the region less reliant on dwindling Colorado River supplies.
They’re not required for all the signers, who are urged to pick measures appropriate for individual communities.
Nine Arizona cities and water districts signed the Nov. 15 memo, including the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, which runs the 336-mile-long Central Arizona Project canal bringing drinking water from the river to Phoenix and Tucson. The other Arizona signers were Phoenix-area municipalities, including Phoenix, Mesa, Tempe and Scottsdale.
But how Tucson will carry out the agreement’s terms is highly uncertain at this time.
A spokesman for Mayor Regina Romero, who signed the memorandum for Tucson, referred questions about implementation to the Tucson Water utility.
In a statement, Tucson Water noted this city already has been engaged in many of the measures listed in the new memorandum, adding, “We’re always interested in opportunities to promote conservation in the community and will continue to work with our Mayor and Council to move forward on determining appropriate actions and timing for those measures.”
Only two of six City Council members, Kevin Dahl and Steve Kozachik, responded with specifics to the Star’s questions about implementing the agreement. Their responses were very detailed in favor of taking more aggressive conservation measures.
Goal on grass use is most specific
Slashing the amount of ornamental turf on existing properties by 30% is the most specific measure called for in the memo. Such a ban should be accompanied by “maintaining vital urban landscapes and tree canopies that benefit our communities, wildlife, and the environment,” the memorandum said.
Efforts to ban such turf are already underway in some communities including Tucson.
Las Vegas-area water districts already banned the planting of such “non-functional” grass since the early 2000s, and this year banned all new lawns other than in parks, schools and cemeteries. All such grass must also be removed from all non-single family properties by the end of 2026.
The Tucson City Council has directed Tucson Water to come up by February 2023 with a proposal to ban ornamental turf from all new commercial and apartment development and to produce a plan to start removing existing grass from such projects as well.
This year, the California Water Resources Control Board has issued a similar ban and the six-county Metropolitan Water District in Southern California has recommended that all municipalities it serves institute such a ban.
“You’ve got to start somewhere, and a commitment to replace 30% of non-functional turf is doable,” said Warren Tenney, director of the Arizona Municipal Water Users Association, which represents 10 Phoenix-area cities.
“Dealing with non-functional turf — a lot of it is making people understand: is this grass really needed? Or is it just ornamental?” Tenney added. “The more people think about ‘Hey, is this a place where I would want to play catch with my child, or frisbee with my dog or have a picnic and sit down’,” and if it isn’t, “then people start recognizing this is just here for ornamental purposes.”
Other goals
The memo also calls on cities and water districts to:
Increase water reuse and recycling programs where feasible, depending on the security of existing Colorado River supplies needed to support them.
Use turf limits and mandatory watering schedules, including “compliance enforcement,” for “transforming our outdoor landscapes and urban environments in a manner that improves climate resilience and promotes an ethic of wise water use.”
Expand programs to increase indoor and outdoor water use efficiency.
Minimize the use of swamp cooling by businesses and industries as a way of “employing best practices” for conserving water.
The memo comes as concern about declining river flows is more acute than ever.
Cuts in river water
The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation in June directed the seven river basin states, including Arizona, to shave their total take from the river by up to 28% in the next few years. Those cuts would come on top of any conservation measures already agreed upon in the 2019 drought contingency plan that was approved by all seven states.
The bureau and outside water experts are concerned what unless major steps are taken quickly to stem the declines of Lake Powell and Lake Mead, they could fall in a few years to “dead pool” levels, at which no water could be extracted from them.
The basin states have been unable to reach agreement on any specific cuts. The bureau hasn’t yet ordered specific cuts in river water deliveries to individual states, and the states remain locked in difficult negotiations over which ones will bear the brunt of the river’s water shortfall.
The bureau has proposed a series of measures that include compensating water users up to $400 an acre-foot for leaving water in the river.
Conservation efforts paying off
In their memorandum, the various agencies noted that for more than 20 years, they’ve adapted to “persistent and intensifying drought” by realizing significant water use efficiencies through various conservation programs.
They’ve reduced their total water use by more than 1 million acre-feet — equivalent to the amount delivered this year by the Central Arizona Project canal system — since 2000. That’s despite a total population increase in that time of more than 5 million in those cities.
Tucson has reduced its per-person water use since 2000 by 27%. The other cities and water districts said in letters accompanying the memo that they’ve shaved per-person use in that time by at least 14%. Many said they have reduced it by more than 40% since 2000, and the Albuquerque area’s water authority has cut its per person use in half since the 1990s.
“Yet, climate change and the resulting hydrological shifts we are experiencing require all water users in the basin to redouble our efforts to conserve our water resources,” the memo said. “Much of this savings has been achieved through indoor and outdoor water use efficiencies. Recognizing that a clean, reliable water supply is critical to our communities, we can and must do more to reduce water consumption and increase reuse and recycling within our service areas. We pledge to be part of the solution.”
Arizona State University water researcher Sarah Porter termed the agreement a positive step. She added it’s hard to know if these measures will be enough to really help the river because most, except for the turf cutback plan, don’t have specific numerical goals.
“The cities can’t save enough water to save the Colorado River, but they can do something to motivate others to save water,” said Porter, director of ASU’s Kyl Center for Water Policy. “Cities are going to have to show they are taking strong measures to motivate especially agricultural water users to sacrifice water use.”
Recycled water
Regarding water recycling, Tucson Water officials have long said this community doesn’t need to treat wastewater for drinking because it has plenty of other available supplies.
But in August, the Tucson City Council approved an application to the state for a $70 million grant to upgrade the quality of its sewage effluent, in part by removing potentially carcinogenic PFAS-based compounds from it. While these improvements wouldn’t treat the effluent to drinking water standards, it would improve its quality enough that it can be recharged for some future uses, said Deputy City Attorney Chris Avery.
“The higher your quality, the wider your opportunities” for reusing the water, Avery said. If the effluent quality were improved, it could be used to water food crops, whereas now the effluent is only good enough to water forage crops such as feed grain, he said.
Dahl, however, said that while the use of reclaimed water and “toilet to tap” treatment of effluent for drinking are needed, they are extremely energy intensive measures that aren’t good for reducing the city’s carbon footprint.
“I do not oppose increased use of recycled water, but I want to do everything in our power to reduce demand first,” Dahl said.
Targeting older homes, high-use businesses
For increasing water use efficiency, his first priority would be to target water use of older houses, many of whose owners have low incomes and can’t afford to buy more efficient plumbing fixtures and other appliances. He favors giving free water audits to residential customers using more water than average users, and providing low-income residents financial help to repair leaks and install water-efficient fixtures.
“We need to look at older houses and start with those residents who do not have the financial means to reduce their water use without impacting their quality of life,” he said.
Kozachik said he’s “completely supportive” of the most aggressive water conservation policies the city is now considering, including establishing higher rates for business users who use larger amounts of water and a nonfunctional turf ban for new development.
But he said the city needs to be careful to “not treat hospitals the same as apartment complexes,” because of the public health services provided by hospitals.
He has also asked Tucson Water officials to look into how Las Vegas is restricting outdoor watering at different times of day, including limits on individual car washing and emptying swimming pools unless the pool water is sent into the storm sewer system.
As for treating wastewater to drink, Kozachik said, “Everybody in the Southwest is going to have to do that and get over the yuck factor. Every source of water we have has got to be considered. Years ago, the city tried to have that conversation. I think the messaging was poor then, but it’s a new day. People will understand that every drop of water we have has gotta be on the table for use in our homes.”
Outdoor watering
Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Denver have adopted some restrictions on days or times for outdoor watering.
Dahl said, however, if ornamental grass planting is eliminated or significantly reduced, he sees no need for limiting water use at various times or on specific days.
“Tucsonans in general have a very good water conservation ethic. Watering limits would be hard to enforce and would only produce minimal gain,” he said.
Rather than mandatory conservation, “Arizona has taken what I like to call a tortoise approach,” said Tenney of the Phoenix-area utility group. “You just keep working steadily to improve water use and how people look at the use of water.”
Evidence that this approach has worked comes out of Phoenix, where due to a “cultural shift in landscape preference,” the percentage of single-family home properties with grass lawns has fallen from 80% in the 1970s to 9% today, Tenney said.
“If we can instill a culture of conservation, that will be more effective than ‘we’re saying you have to do this or you’re mandated to do that’,” he said. “When you mandate something people always want to know when it’s going to end.”
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