TUCSON CITIZEN: Weds., Nov. 29, 2006
City's water seen adequate until 2025
Tucson will go a few years longer before having to scrounge up additional water supplies, if a new Tucson Water analysis holds true.
This year, the water department applied new population, water supply and service area projections to its long-range plan, which maps out Tucson's potential water future through 2050.
Under the original 1999 plan, the city's combined groundwater, Colorado River water and treated wastewater would have run out in about 2017.
"That need for a new supply has now been pushed out beyond 2025 almost to 2030," Tim Thomure, the lead hydrologist for Tucson Water planning and engineering, told the City Council during a water plan update Tuesday. After that, the city would have to seek water from leases or other deals.
Three changes earned the extra years: Tucson Water is expected to have 1.1 million customers by 2030, instead of 1.2 million; the city will get more than 8,000 acre-feet of Colorado River water per year (enough for about 24,000 Tucson families) after 2009 from a 2005 agreement with Indian tribes; and Tucson Water removed some land from its expected service area, Thomure said.