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<br />'OU1297 <br /> <br />6 <br /> <br />Approximate current annual water requirement for municipal and industrial <br />uses in Arizona is 350,000 acre-feet. If present per capita rates of use for these <br />purposes remains about the same, reasonable projections indicate a municipal <br />and industrial water requirement of about 750,000 acre-feet annually by the year <br />1980, and well over 1,000,000 acre-feet by the year 2000. <br /> <br />THOSE SWIMMING POOLS <br /> <br />Contrary to a popular tourist impression, Arizona's 20,000 outdoor swim- <br />ming pools do not consume large quantities of water. The average pool contains <br />17,000 gallons, and the water is recirculated through filters. They are emptied <br />and refilled only once every five years, under normal conditions. <br /> <br />Swimming pools provide healthful family recreation at home for nearly 12 <br />months of the year in the Southwest, and their cost is low enough to appeal to <br />average income families. Pools are concentrated in cities where water is metered. <br /> <br />PLANNING FOR MORE REUSE <br /> <br />Sound management of municipal water includes control, treatment and <br />disposal of return flow to conserve the resource to the fullest extent that is economi- <br />cally and socially feasible. Normally about 50%. of the water delivered by a muni- <br />cipal system is discharged as sewage. <br /> <br />Although about 25,000,000 gallons of treated sewage outflow per day from <br />the Tucson and Phoenix metropolitan areas are used for irrigation of non-food farm <br />crops, and a considerable amount in addition helps recharge ground water, much <br />remains to be done to conserve municipal outflow in Arizona. Since total municipal <br />and industrial use of water in the State is 350,000 acre-feet per year, there is a <br />theoretical outflow of nearly 175,000 acre-feet to be reclaimed for reuse. Of this <br />theoretical amount only about 30,000 acre-feet annually are currently directly reused. <br />HoWever, whether by design or otherwise, the major portion of the sewage not <br />directly reused finds its way to the ground water and constitutes a significant <br />portion of the present recharge. <br /> <br />Since ground water is the source of most all municipal supplies in Arizona, <br />the use of sewage, even though treated, for ground water recharge by injection <br />through wells directly into aquifers must be approached with extreme caution. <br />However, extensive research related to salvage and reuse of treated sewage is <br />being conducted by the State's universities, the cities of Tucson and Phoenix, <br />the Salt River Project, the State Department of Health, and other agencies. <br /> <br />This source of water for reuse in Arizona is expected to be about 500,000 <br />acre-feet annually by the year 2000, and the Central Arizona Project includes <br />planning for full utilization of the resource. This assumes, of course, that the <br />problem of eliminating the hazard of viruses in treated sewage can be resolved. <br />This source of water would be the cheapest additional supply available in Central <br />Arizona, which assures its economic use as soon as possible. <br />