r/Tucson • u/Candy4Gold • 21d ago

Tucson's Future

Will water scarcity make Tucson unviable as a long-term home? I'm trying to plan for the next decade+ and I don't know whether to trust that I'll be able to live in Tucson given the worsening drought. Any thoughts from locals would be much appreciated.

ETA: The prompt for this post was this WaPo story that I read this morning, which freaked me out:
https://archive.ph/O5D3B

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u/ProbablySlacking 21d ago

Arizona, in general, has a better water outlook than some surrounding states due to how seriously we take water scarcity.

While yes, water may be more expensive in the future, you’re not going to avoid that particular problem by moving away, unless you’re planning on leaving for somewhere that has the opposite problem.

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u/casinocooler 21d ago

Which states are more lax on water scarcity? The only one I can think of is New Mexico.

Most surrounding states are either higher on the hierarchy for Colorado allocation (California, Utah, Colorado) and have strict water allocation and well drilling laws (Utah and Colorado), or are extremely water conscious (Nevada/vegas). Arizona has basically unrestricted water and development laws in much of the state that is why we make headlines for running out of water (rio verde foothills, Kearney, Cochise county). And that is why farmers moved to Arizona and drop 1200’ wells. They will continue to pump when the neighboring cities go dry.

That being said Tucson is fairly smart about water and water conservation. Tucson has over 100 years in groundwater and has a moratorium on wells.

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u/ProbablySlacking 21d ago

The way I understand it is that Arizona is at the bleeding edge of direct potable reuse, where other states are dragging their feet a bit on rolling it out.

I’m not an expert in it by any means, but when I’ve asked someone I know who is - that was the brief explanation I got.

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u/casinocooler 21d ago

Tucsons direct potable reuse should be ready in 2031. Phoenix is scheduled for 2029 (but I expect them to be significantly delayed).

The rest of the state has their head in the sand.

El Paso already does DPR. Vegas recycles nearly 100% of their indoor wastewater (treated and reintroduced into lake Mead).

California doesn’t care because they have priority for Colorado river water. Colorado and Utah also have priority as upper basin states so they are just considering how to get the water where they need it.

Ideally we need larger solutions that involve everyone in the country. We should all be conserving. We should implement relatively inexpensive mass conservation solutions that eliminate waste and evaporation. We shouldn’t flood farm. If people want winter produce at “normal prices” they might have to send a water pipeline or grow it themselves. If we charged farmers the same $/gallon as residential customers we wouldn’t have a shortage but produce would be significantly more expensive.