By Tony Davis | Tucson.com
Arizona’s water agency has given Tucson the green light for another 10 years of expected housing development by continuing the city’s designation of having a 100-year assured water supply.
In a decision handed down this week, the Arizona Department of Water Resources determined that Tucson water would have at least 166,000 acre-feet of water available for annual use over the next century.
That’s far more than the 130,000 acre-feet the state projects people living in Tucson Water’s service area will use by 2034, when the newly approved state designation expires. One acre-foot is enough to serve four typical Tucson households for a year.
But since the city’s assured supply partly consists of Central Arizona Project water, which could be cut back in the next few years due to dwindling Colorado River flows, an outside water expert, former ADWR chief Kathleen Ferris, warns that the state water agency may have to revisit Tucson’s designation before the 10-year period runs out.
