TUCSON — There are no lush green lawns among the rows of single-family homes that line a quiet boulevard a mile west of the University of Arizona campus. Instead, small lizards scurry across gravel to the shade of cacti, shrubs and trees native to the Southwestern desert, as cicadas drone and backyard chickens cluck in the triple-digit heat now common here in July.
In the middle of the road, the curbs of a roundabout have been cut to allow water from the summer monsoons to flow into the public landscaping in the roundabout’s center circle and soak the soil, replenish native plants and trickle underground.
This city in the Sonoran Desert, which relies heavily on Colorado River water, will depend more and more on robust water reuse — including from stormwater — as climate change worsens.
Tucson’s 4-year-old Storm to Shade program builds urban infrastructure to divert stormwater from parking lots, streets and rooftops, then captures it to grow trees and native vegetation in public parks, traffic circles and other public spaces, creating shade and natural habitats and allowing the 11 inches of annual rainwater to seep back into the ground.
All new commercial developments in the city must install mechanisms to capture stormwater from their roofs and parking lots for part of their landscaping. The city also offers rebates for existing commercial properties to add stormwater capture.
Tucson has been working on sustainable water solutions for more than three decades, well before the current controversy over how to allocate water from the shrinking Colorado River, said John Kmiec, director of city utility Tucson Water. The city uses virtually the same amount of water as it did in the mid-1980s with 40% more population; there are around 546,000 residents.
“It’s an ethic of understanding what it is to be an important desert-dweller and being responsible for our water supply,” Kmiec said. “Rainwater and stormwater are an important part of the urban water cycle.”
Western states have agreed on how they will share Colorado River water over the next three years, cushioned by a wet winter that staved off any difficult decisions over drastic cuts. But for communities in states such as Arizona, the work doesn’t stop. They understand that one good water year doesn’t lessen long-term concerns for water supplies, especially from the Colorado River.
Cities around Arizona already have begun collaborating on water treatment plants and sharing data to better allocate water resources in the region. There is no single solution or source that will solve the region’s long-term water security, local officials say. But a coordinated effort is underway to better adapt to a future with less Colorado River water.
The Colorado River is in crisis, as the region suffers from two decades of drought — the worst megadrought in 1,200 years. Climate change will only exacerbate these conditions over time, delivering less and less water to the 40 million residents of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Still, it was a very positive winter for the region, said Patrick Dent, the assistant general manager for water policy at the Central Arizona Project, which delivers Colorado River water to 6 million residents in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties. Arizona gets 36% of its water from the Colorado River.
There was a 10% increase in freshwater storage in major reservoirs along the Colorado River from last July, increasing from 20 million acre-feet to 26 million acre-feet — an acre-foot equaling around 326,000 gallons.
But, he cautioned, the state remains in a difficult water supply situation.
“One good year on the watershed of the Colorado is not enough to offset 20 years of consistent drought,” Dent said. “There still remain a number of challenges in front of us.”
Dent spoke at a conference early last month at the University of Arizona, where 300 water officials, tribal leaders and environmental experts representing 30 Arizona communities and nine states sought wide-ranging solutions to the West’s depleting resource, from experimental agriculture technologies to databases for locating safe wells on tribal reservations.
Because of the heavy rain and snow in the region this winter, Arizona and other Colorado River states have a bit of a reprieve in making heavy cuts before new federal rules go into effect after 2026.
TUCSON — There are no lush green lawns among the rows of single-family homes that line a quiet boulevard a mile west of the University of Arizona campus. Instead, small lizards scurry across gravel to the shade of cacti, shrubs and trees native to the Southwestern desert, as cicadas drone and backyard chickens cluck in the triple-digit heat now common here in July.
In the middle of the road, the curbs of a roundabout have been cut to allow water from the summer monsoons to flow into the public landscaping in the roundabout’s center circle and soak the soil, replenish native plants and trickle underground.
This city in the Sonoran Desert, which relies heavily on Colorado River water, will depend more and more on robust water reuse — including from stormwater — as climate change worsens.
Tucson’s 4-year-old Storm to Shade program builds urban infrastructure to divert stormwater from parking lots, streets and rooftops, then captures it to grow trees and native vegetation in public parks, traffic circles and other public spaces, creating shade and natural habitats and allowing the 11 inches of annual rainwater to seep back into the ground.
All new commercial developments in the city must install mechanisms to capture stormwater from their roofs and parking lots for part of their landscaping. The city also offers rebates for existing commercial properties to add stormwater capture.
Tucson has been working on sustainable water solutions for more than three decades, well before the current controversy over how to allocate water from the shrinking Colorado River, said John Kmiec, director of city utility Tucson Water. The city uses virtually the same amount of water as it did in the mid-1980s with 40% more population; there are around 546,000 residents.
“It’s an ethic of understanding what it is to be an important desert-dweller and being responsible for our water supply,” Kmiec said. “Rainwater and stormwater are an important part of the urban water cycle.”
Western states have agreed on how they will share Colorado River water over the next three years, cushioned by a wet winter that staved off any difficult decisions over drastic cuts. But for communities in states such as Arizona, the work doesn’t stop. They understand that one good water year doesn’t lessen long-term concerns for water supplies, especially from the Colorado River.
Cities around Arizona already have begun collaborating on water treatment plants and sharing data to better allocate water resources in the region. There is no single solution or source that will solve the region’s long-term water security, local officials say. But a coordinated effort is underway to better adapt to a future with less Colorado River water.
The Colorado River is in crisis, as the region suffers from two decades of drought — the worst megadrought in 1,200 years. Climate change will only exacerbate these conditions over time, delivering less and less water to the 40 million residents of Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming.
Still, it was a very positive winter for the region, said Patrick Dent, the assistant general manager for water policy at the Central Arizona Project, which delivers Colorado River water to 6 million residents in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties. Arizona gets 36% of its water from the Colorado River.
There was a 10% increase in freshwater storage in major reservoirs along the Colorado River from last July, increasing from 20 million acre-feet to 26 million acre-feet — an acre-foot equaling around 326,000 gallons.
But, he cautioned, the state remains in a difficult water supply situation.
“One good year on the watershed of the Colorado is not enough to offset 20 years of consistent drought,” Dent said. “There still remain a number of challenges in front of us.”
Dent spoke at a conference early last month at the University of Arizona, where 300 water officials, tribal leaders and environmental experts representing 30 Arizona communities and nine states sought wide-ranging solutions to the West’s depleting resource, from experimental agriculture technologies to databases for locating safe wells on tribal reservations.
Because of the heavy rain and snow in the region this winter, Arizona and other Colorado River states have a bit of a reprieve in making heavy cuts before new federal rules go into effect after 2026.