TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — The City has just announced it will leave around 20% of Tucson’s allocated water in the Colorado River. Tucson has a long history of giving back to Lake Mead to keep water levels stable.
Linda Rey has been conserving water ever since she moved to Southern Arizona. She has a water harvesting tank in her backyard that can hold 900 gallons of water.
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“Everything from my roof flows down into these gutters in through that pipe through a screen to keep the leaves out, underground and it comes up in here,” Rey said.
Rey also keeps a bucket in her sink to catch water while she cleans dishes. She has one in her shower too. Rey is one of many Tucsonans who made it possible for the City to leave water in Lake Mead next year.
“Tucsonans for the last several decades have been very strong in the conservation ethic, so we’ve been saving a lot of water,” said John Kmiec, Director of Tucson Water.
The Director of Tucson Water says this year, residents only used around 80% of their allocated water from lake mead. Usually, the City would store that extra water for future use, but leaders decided to leave around 30,000 acre-feet in the Lake.
“That Lake does provide electricity for most of the southwestern United States," Kmiec said. "So keeping the health of Lake Mead is important not only for a water standpoint but an energy standpoint.”
The federal government will compensate Tucson for the extra water. The City expects to receive more than six million dollars.
“It’ll be used most likely for other infrastructure projects, or purchasing other water resources in the future.”
Since this is excess water, leaving it in Lake Mead won't impact Tucsonans in the short term. But leaders say we need to keep up our conservation efforts to continue giving back to the lake that has given us so much.
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Perla Shaheen is a reporter for KGUN 9. Perla graduated in May 2020 from the University of California, Berkeley, where she majored in Political Science. Share your story ideas and important issues with Perla by emailing perla.shaheen@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
