WSP02047

• File Number: 8221.112.A
• Description: Central Arizona Project
• State: AZ
• Basin: Colorado Mainstem
• Date: 1/1/1991
• Title: Special Delivery to Tucson--A History and Overview of the CAP
• Water Supply Pro - Doc Type: Publication

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(continued)
The demands of the 20th century led
to a greatly expanded water system for
mcson with dozens, then hundreds of
wells, and modern turbine pumps. The
surface water in the Santa Cruz Valley had
virtually disappeared and mcson began
relying on groundwater alone, Water con.
servation became a necessity. In the
mid-1970s, meson Water began "Beat the
Peak," a water demand management pro-
gram that became one of the most suc-
cessful of its type in the United States,

An acre-foot of water would cover a
football field (without the end zones)
with 0 foot of water.

2

As fast as concerns about future
groundwater supplies grew, mcson's pop-
ulation and water usage grew even faster.
In 1980, the Arizona State Legislature
passed the Groundwater Management
Act, drafted to provide guidelines and
requirements for the management and
regulation of groundwater. Three of these
requirements were to significantly influ-
ence Tucson's future water use,
First, the Safe Yield portion of the Act
set the goal of creating a long-tenn bal-

ance between the amount of groundwater
withdrawn for use and the amount of
water recharged to the aquifer. The Act
also requires a 100-Year Assured Water
Supply. By the year 2001, mcson must be
able to confinn that there is enough water
of satisfactory quality to meet the needs
of existing and proposed development in
the area for 100 years, Finally, the Act
ordered progressively more demand-
ing conservation requirements for
groundwater.

(continued on page 4)

One Acre-Foot of Water

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