8009 ‎(2)‎

• UCREFRP Catalog Number: 8009
• Author: Natural Resources Law Center.
• Title: Restoring the Waters.
• USFW Year: 1997.
• USFW - Doc Type: Boulder, CO.
• Copyright Material: YES

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Primary tools for meeting
Tucson AMA goals
^ Prohibition on irrigation of new
agricultural land
^ Mandatory conservation for all
water-use sectors
^ Incentive-based augmentation
program
^ Conservation assistance program
for water users
^ Assured Water Supply program
"Constructed recharge
facilities" include
injection wells and
spreading basins.
"Managed facilities"
include streambeds for
passive recharge.
Effluent Reuse and Recharge, Tucson, Arizona
By passing the Groundwater Management
Act of 1980 (GWMA), Arizona took a
major step toward managing water
resources to reduce its overdraft (mining)
of ground water. Pursuant to the Act, five
active management areas (AMAs) have
been established and plans prepared to
move the three urban AMAs toward the
goal of "safe-yield" by 2025. The goal of
safe-yield is to be met through mandatory
and incentive-based conservation programs
and increased utilization of renewable
water supplies in lieu of ground water.
The Assured Water Supply Program, one
of the most innovative aspects of the
GWMA, will help meet the safe-yield
goals. This program, implemented through
rules in 1995, requires that new subdivi-
sions use renewable supplies such as
Central Arizona Project (CAP) water -
part of Arizona's share of the Colorado
River water - or effluent for the majority
of their needs. Subdivisions can use the
renewable supplies directly or replenish the
ground water used anywhere in the AMA
through aquifer storage and recovery.
But achieving safe-yield will not be easy.
The Tucson AMA currently depends on
overdrafted ground water for about 50%
of its supplies. Overdraft in the Tucson
Wastewater Water
Treatment Reclam
Plant
i Plant
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Wetlands lRecharge Basins • Extraction Well
46
AMA was about 160,000 acre-feet in
1995, over four times what had been
predicted. The large discrepancy was
primarily due to less-than-expected use of
CAP water. The Tucson AMA plans to
reduce its overdraft of ground water, in
part, with use of sewage treatment plant
effluent -another renewable water source
- by recycling it and using it to recharge
the aquifer.
Effluent Production and Reuse
As of 1995, about 65,000 acre-feet of
effluent was produced annually at Tucson
area wastewater treatment plants. Based
on population and effluent flow projec-
tions, area effluent production is predicted
to increase to about 90,000 acre-feet by
the year 2010.
Tucson has one of the country's earliest
and largest effluent reuse programs. Close
to 19%~ of its current effluent production is
being reused as reclaimed water on turf
(golf courses, playgrounds and parks) or
delivered to agricultural users.
Tucson's Sweetwater Reclamation Plant
began distributing reclaimed water in
1984. Today, more than 80 private and
public facilities are customers. Treated
wastewater effluent is pumped from the
adjacent wastewater treatment plant to the
water reclamation plant. There it is
filtered, disinfected and tested to ensure
quality control. The treated effluent is then
gravity fed to a 3-million gallon reservoir
for distribution. The distribution system
has grown to an 80-mile network of
transmission lines.
Aquifer Recharge
Currently, the remaining 81 % of the
effluent is discharged into the Santa Cruz
River where it supports riparian habitat
and percolates into the water table. The