UA uses 'expertise' to aid Tucson water crisis
Arizona Summer Wildcat
The University of Arizona threw its hat in the ring of local politics Monday, releasing a study of Tucson's water problems that urged city officials to act fast and save the city's ground water supply.
During a press conference Monday, UA President Peter Likins was quick to point out the university was not taking sides on the contentious issue, but was willing to act as an impartial source of information.
"We're trying, with this example, to find a way for the university's extraordinary expertise...to be available to the community," Likins said.
This is the first study commissioned by the UA administration to tackle a local issue. Likins said some in the community might object to the university's involvement in a city government issue.
"We won't make decisions that are properly yours, not ours," he said.
The study, more than 150 pages of tables, graphs, photos and text, gives a detailed look into how Tucson is handling its water needs.
The amount of water used by Tucson and its surrounding area is 114 billion gallons a year. City dwellers and farmers use the majority, while a smaller amount is taken by local mines. Golf courses account for slightly more than 5 percent of the total water use.
Most of this water comes from natural aquifers under the city. Other sources include recycled sewer water and supplies from the Central Arizona Project.
The pumping of groundwater has led to several problems. The aquifers are draining at nearly three times the rate that they are being recharged through natural processes.
Over the years, the city has had to dig deeper wells, costing money and delving into the bottom of the aquifers where the water contains more minerals and other particles.
The study revealed that central Tucson is sinking at the rate of an eighth of an inch a year.
Local rivers are also drying up. The Santa Cruz, used by Native Americans and early pioneers for fishing and irrigation, now stands empty most of the year.
"Tucsonans face very hard choices if they want to achieve a sustainable water supply," said study co-author Gary Woodard, associate research scientist of soil, water and environment at the UA's Water Resource Research Center. "We live in a very arid place and we need to be thinking of our water supply."
He added that there will be hard choices about who will have to bear the burden of water efficiency.
The Central Arizona Project, which imports water from the Colorado River, was hailed as the solution to Tucson's supply problems when it was completed in 1990. But high costs kept most mines and farms from using the project.
In 1992, CAP water was delivered to municipal pipes. Customers complained of murky water that corroded pipes, damaged swimming pools and killed their pet fish.
Complaints poured in, and by 1995, the city had paid more than $1 million in damages. Voters passed a ballot to halt the use of CAP water for the city the same year.
Recycled wastewater has had more success. The majority is released into the Santa Cruz River channel, where it trickles into the aquifer and is used for irrigation, parks, and golf courses.
At the moment, the majority of water used for those purposes is potable ground water. Two-thirds of the water sprayed onto golf courses is treated drinking water.
Pollution is another problem. Runoff from rain introduces pollutants from the surface into the aquifers. Contamination from Hughes Aircraft, now owned by Raytheon, led to high levels of Trichloroethylene, which is suspected of causing cancer and liver problems.
The contaminated water is currently being treated and then mixed with the municipal water supply.
While the study did not make any specific recommendations, it did conclude with an observation and a warning.
It noted that the problem is "fiendishly complex," - if concessions are given to one group of consumers, others will suffer.
But the authors of the study urged that the problem not to be put off.
"Groundwater overdraft is the sort of problem that it is easy to ignore," they wrote. "As tempting and politically expedient as it may be, inaction is itself a form of decision-making, but one rarely based on sound analysis or the expressed preferences of citizens."
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