The city of Tucson will reduce water withdrawals from the Colorado River under a new agreement between city leaders and the Bureau of Reclamation.
Officials from the city, the Landfill Service, and the Central Arizona Project met Wednesday to sign the agreement. This will reduce Tucson’s water allocation by up to 110,000 acre-feet by 2025. According to the Arizona Department of Water Resources water usage estimates, this is enough to supply water to approximately 37,000 households.
“The Colorado River Basin faces serious challenges from the effects of persistent and pervasive drought, and it’s more important than ever that we come together in tackling this basin,” said Landfill’s Michael Michael. Blaine told reporters. He held a press conference in Tucson on Wednesday.
This agreement is called a “Conservation Implementation Agreement”. Blaine said the deal was signed in Tucson. 7 others We plan to save up to 393,000 acre feet of water on Lake Mead around Arizona.
Joel Olson, general manager of the Metro Water District, said the district is also part of the agency’s program. In Pima County he is the second largest water authority.
“In fact, we have a paid system maintenance contract with CAP since 2019,” he said. “We partnered with them to create the instruments for this compensation system, which was initially only about 25% of the quota, and under this agreement it has increased to 40% of the quota. .”
In exchange for this voluntary cut, Tucson will receive funding from the Control Inflation Act for water infrastructure projects.
Mayor Regina Romero said such plans have been underway in Tucson for several years, and Tucson was the first in Arizona to have such an agreement. The Gila River Indian community was the first tribe.
“What our agreement holds at this point is that we are voluntarily putting acre-feet on the table so that we as a city can protect ourselves. there is,” she said.
Romero said local agreements are a way to keep Tucson from being forced to cut water, especially as states like Arizona, California and Nevada finalize water reduction deals. The states reached an agreement earlier this week.
