About Us
Tucson Water — General Description
Tucson Water
— Facts and Figures —
(July 2008)
Number of Metered Customers:
~ 225,000 (93% Residential)
Population Served:
~ 775,000
2008 Annual Budget / System Value:
~ $125,000,000 / ~ $1 Billion
2007 Potable Water Deliveries:
~ 109,000 Acre-Feet
Total Gallons per Capita Daily:
~ 151
Residential GPCD:
~ 99
2007 Reclaimed Water Deliveries:
~ 15,000 Acre-Feet
(1 Acre-Foot = 325,851 gallons)
Tucson Water is a department of the City of Tucson, Arizona and operates as a Public Water Utility serving residential, commercial and industrial customers both within and outside of the City's boundaries. Tucson Water's authority and responsibility is derived from the City Charter and ordinances and resolutions of the Mayor and Council. Tucson Water has been the City's municipal water utility since 1900.
Tucson Water is an enterprise fund of the City of Tucson. The utility operates in a manner similar to a private business, covering all costs of doing business with revenues from operations and other water-related funding sources (bonds, property sales, etc). Tucson Water's Fiscal Year (FY) 2008 annual budget was $125 million.
The utility provides water service to nearly 225,000 customer connections representing approximately 775,000 people (around 80% of the greater Tucson metropolitan area's total population) within a 350 square-mile service area. About one-third (1/3) of the utility's customers reside outside the City limits. Residential accounts (single family, multi-family and duplex/triplex) make up close to 93% of all potable metered connections.
Tucson Water's potable system is composed of more than 200 active production wells, 4,300 miles of delivery pipelines, 124 boosters to move water around the delivery area, and 65 storage facilities capable of storing nearly 280 million gallons. The system represents a customer investment of more than $1 billion.
In 2007, Tucson Water delivered approximately 109,000 acre-feet (AF) of potable water. Average daily deliveries were nearly 98 million gallons/day. Roughly 75% of all potable water deliveries went to residential customers. Residential per capita usage for FY08 was 99 Gallons Per Capita Daily (GPCD). Total GPCD for all potable customers was approximately 151.
In 2007, approximately 50% of the potable water delivered by Tucson Water came from the Clearwater Renewable Resource Facility. At this facility, Colorado River water from the Central Arizona Project (CAP water) is delivered to constructed basins on City-owned property in Avra Valley. The water is recharged (allowed to sink into the ground) and mixes with the native groundwater beneath the facility. Production wells recover the blended water, which is delivered to customers in Tucson Water's main system.
In 2007, Tucson Water recharged approximately 65,000 AF of CAP water at Clearwater and other recharge facilities. As of April 2008, Tucson Water had recharged more than 350,000 AF of CAP water since recharge activities began in 1996. An additional 70,000 AF has been recharged on Tucson's behalf by the Arizona Water Banking Authority in order to ensure Tucson's ability to access CAP water in times of canal shutdown or Colorado River shortages. In FY09, Tucson Water will, for the first time, recharge its entire CAP allocation of 144,000 AF.
Since the mid-1980s, Tucson Water has also operated a separate Reclaimed Water production, storage and delivery system. Reclaimed water is wastewater that has been initially treated by Pima County and is further filtered and disinfected by Tucson Water to provide water of sufficient quality to use for irrigation and other non-potable applications. The reclaimed system consists of more than 160 miles of mains and five major reservoirs, and serves more than 900 sites, including: 18 golf courses; 47 parks; 61 schools (the University of Arizona and Pima Community College included); and more than 700 single family homes. In FY08, Tucson Water delivered approximately 15,000 AF of reclaimed water (approximately 12% of all water deliveries).
As a public water provider, Tucson Water is regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act, and all drinking water must meet standards set by the U. S. EPA, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, and local ordinance.
