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Investments in water projects are improving Arizona’s ability to prepare for and adapt to climate shifts and extremes, including rising temperatures, increased drying, and variability in precipitation.
These investments are critical to helping improve Arizona’s water resilience by stretching its existing water supplies as we deal with a shrinking Colorado River and localized drought impacts.
To see how water resilience strategies are being implemented on the ground, Audubon and partners recently hosted a tour in the Tucson area. U.S. Representative Juan Ciscomani (Congressional District 6), staff from U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego’s office, members of the media, and other interested parties joined to learn more.
The tour featured water projects led by Tucson Water, Marana Water, Metro Water District, Watershed Management Group, and the Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative.
The projects are supported by a variety of funding sources:
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Federal (such as from the American Rescue Plan Act, Infrastructure Investments and Jobs Act, and Inflation Reduction Act)
Philanthropic and corporate funding sources are additional ways that water resilience projects can be funded. These various funding sources help Arizona water users stretch and protect existing water supplies in the face of ongoing drought.
On the tour, participants learned about Tucson Water’s efforts to remove non-functional grass (grassy areas that are not used for playing, walking, pets, or sports activities) at city parks and replace it with desert-friendly landscaping. Tucson Water also described their new rebate program for homeowner associations, commercial, and multifamily water customers to remove non-functional grass.
Marana Water discussed their innovative Advanced Metering Infrastructure project where they are replacing old, inaccurate meters with new, digital meters. The project will also allow customers to view their water consumption on a user-friendly portal on their computer or phone and detect leaks in near real-time. This technology can help people identify where they could reduce their water use by seeing patterns, like excessive outdoor landscape watering.
Metro Water District showcased the water quality enhancement technologies and techniques they apply to their local groundwater supplies before it enters their water distribution system: Granular Activated Carbon (think: carbon filters you can buy for your home water filtration, but giant) and Advanced Oxidation Process (a procedure that removes potentially harmful contaminants from water at a molecular level). These tools allow the Metro Water District to utilize their local groundwater supply—a supply that will likely become increasingly relied upon as they, and other water providers, face reductions in their Colorado River water resources.
Audubon appreciates Representative Ciscomani’s support and championing of the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation’s Cooperative Watershed Management Program. On the tour, participants heard how the Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative is deploying their Cooperative Watershed Management Program grant to improve local drought response—helping desert rivers and their associated riparian habitat that depend on shallow groundwater, like the Rillito River that flows into the Santa Cruz River.
These are examples of how investments from local, state, federal, philanthropic, and corporate sources are improving water resilience in Arizona. Funding water projects that help communities use water as wisely as possible is essential as we grapple with how to share a smaller Colorado River and deal with localized drought impacts.
