Editorial: As the monsoon arrives, it's a good time to think about conserving water

As we waited motionless, like an indrawn breath, this week for the monsoon to begin, it’s been a good time to think about water, the life-giver, and what we must do to conserve it.

The state, determining that there is not enough groundwater to support some proposed developments in Phoenix, is beginning to limit some new subdivisions. That’s not happening here, for a variety of reasons, and that’s very good news.

It’s a fact that we have for the past century used less and conserved more than our neighbor to the north. That has never been more important. And Tucson Water has taken the lead in reshaping a water system that increases the resilience and sustainability of this city.

But we have neither the time nor the luxury of feeling too self-satisfied.

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Look at the larger picture: As the Arizona Daily Star’s Tony Davis reported so well in his “Colorado River Reckoning” series last year, push is indeed coming to shove in the seven-state region that depends at least in part on water from the great Colorado system. A great snow year has provided only a respite, not a reversal of the drying, heating trend that climate change has brought to the West. Recently agreed-upon usage cuts also will buy the region some time, not solve the problem. Meanwhile, as desert cities like ours continue to grow, we still must come to grips with our drying future and the already-here reality of climate change.

In Sunday’s Arizona Daily Star, Davis will write about multiple proposals for what to do about groundwater management in the greater Phoenix area.

We should feel good about our conservation heritage and our current efforts here in Tucson. But now’s no time to rest on our laurels. There’s still plenty of hard work to do. It will take tough policy decisions and it will also take a redoubling of dedicated individual efforts across this gorgeous southern Arizona landscape to make a difference.

Many Tucsonans in recent years have removed turf, replacing it with desert landscaping. Others have installed rainwater-capture systems, flow-monitoring devices, and other such steps. (For water conservation suggestions, we highly recommend Tucson Water’s Responsible Desert Dweller Guide.)

Conserving water is something Tucsonans have been good at for many years. Let’s keep up the pace. And meanwhile, we urge both the Legislature and the executive branch of state government to hold Arizona’s other cities to the stringent standards we have adopted here.