Arizona Town Says 'No' to Watering

You can't water outside. No grass - not even a small patch. No trees, no bushes, no shrubs. Nothing that needs more water than the rain brings.

And it's not just plants. No water use outside at all. Not even drip irrigation. Certainly not a swimming pool, but not even a Slip 'n Slide. No washing the car or even the dog.

It's this simple: Outside of rainwater, no water can be used outside.

And you'll be watched to make sure you're not cheating. The water delivered to your neighborhood will be measured, and the water that shows up in your neighborhood sewer will be measured. If too much water is missing, they'll know someone has been watering outside.

And they'll find out who.

Sound draconian? It's real, right here in Arizona. And it might be the future of water use in Tucson.

Those harsh water restrictions are going into effect in Chino Valley, a small, rapidly growing town near Prescott, north of Phoenix.

It illustrates that those of us in Tucson and Phoenix, who have the benefit of water from the Central Arizona Project, have no concept what some rural Arizona communities must do for water.
What they're doing in Chino Valley may be the most extreme.

The town is scattered across what Mark Holmes, Chino Valley water resource director, calls "65 square miles of virtually dry land."

Mix in astronomical growth: In 2000, there were 7,835 people. Today, there are 12,700, and growth is projected at 7 percent to 10 percent annually.

It's easy to see there is going to be a water supply problem.

To deal with it, Chino Valley contracted with a private developer for water. The developer bought a ranch north of town and halted farming to get rights to the water. The developer also will pay up to $15 million to build a pipeline to Chino Valley.

The developer will sell the town 1 acre-foot of water each year for 100 years, charging $45,000 over the course of the century. That gives the town an assured water supply.

That's expensive. It works out to $450 per acre-foot - more than four times what Tucson pays for the same amount of delivered CAP water.

It's not as if Chino Valley had a choice. "Are we backed into a corner? Yes," said Bill Pupo, the town manager.

And that expensive water comes at a price: None of it can be used outside.

As a practical matter, that means that every home, every business, every industrial building - everything built in Chino Valley from now on will not be allowed to use water outside, Pupo said.

This is how it will work: In each neighborhood, the town will know how much water is delivered. And it will know how much is returned through the sewer.

Officials figure 20 percent of the water used inside will not go into the sewer because it will be drunk, used for cooking and the like. If less than 80 percent of the water doesn't come back through the sewer, "there will be some kind of enforcement," Holmes said.

The town also will keep an eye on total water use in the summer versus the winter.

In nearby Prescott, summer water use is more than six times what is delivered in winter. If the same thing happens in new homes in Chino Valley, it will be a clear indication people are surreptitiously watering outside - and action will be taken.

Developers who want the water will have to commit to building some of the most energy- and water-efficient homes anywhere. Each home will probably have a rainwater collection system - the only water that can be used outside.

Pupo knows that some consider the town's actions extreme - but he said some thought the same when recycling was mandated. "Now it's a mortal sin not to separate your trash," he said.

Tucson could never require anything that strict - or could it?

"I really do think it's the wave of the future," Pupo said. "We may be a little ahead of out time, but in Tucson, it's probably time to at least start discussing it."