TUCSON, Ariz. — Tucson water wants people to know you don't need to worry about hoarding bottled water because of the coronavirus pandemic. Officials say your tap water is safe to drink and has been treated to prevent infection from viruses or bacteria. The supply of drinking water will also continue to flow reliably to your home.
Water from the Colorado River is first filtered by the soil and then pumped out to be treated.
"When we pump it out and then we actually treat it again with chlorine," said Tucson Water Director Tim Thomure.
Thomure says they've been protecting the water supply from viruses long before the novel coronavirus pandemic.
"That is a normal practice for drinking water utility we’ve been doing it for dozens of years along with peer utilities do to keep your water safe."
He says the water supply is reliable even during unsteady times.
"It's called coop, its our continuity of operations plan."
The utility is prepared to continue operation even if the workforce is at a minimum because of social distancing or people home sick.
"We have a highly reliable water supply and a highly resilient workforce making sure the water will continue to flow towards your taps as it always has."
The supply chain is also solid.
"For the chemicals we need to keep our system running its domestic and we have many many weeks on hand and no interruption to that supply chain."
Thomure says water service shutoffs have also been suspended this month so people who can't pay their water bill will continue to get service.
