Sustainable Regional Water Resource Management By: Tucson Regional Water Coalition and Southern Arizona Leadership Council

MISSION STATEMENT “Seek to promote policies and actions to; (i) create the long-range planning for a sustainable water supply that will support the economic vitality, the current and future population and maintain the quality of life of the Tucson region (ii) identify and maximize the supply of water resources available within and to the Tucson region,, and (iii) implement best practices for the efficient use, conservation and management of water resources in the Tucson region by working in collaboration with all of the regional water and waste water providers, community leaders, community decision makers and the general public.”

Principles of Sustainable Regional Water Resource and Water Resource Management

Principle #1 Commitment to the Use of a Research, Fact-Based and Best Available Science Approach. Link current and evolving technology and information with formats which decision- makers can use to evaluate alternatives and make decisions in terms the general public understands.

Principle #2 Adopt an Adaptive Resource Management Approach. Create a repeatable decision-making process that includes long-term monitoring and reevaluation to address evolving conditions.

Principal #3 Acknowledge that Sound Water Resource Management Knows No Jurisdictional Boundaries. Basins or watersheds are the most appropriate geographic units for water management.

Principle #4 Acknowledge Water Resources are a Community Resource and Asset. All water resources in the region— groundwater, CAP, other surface water, and effluent—should be cooperatively used for the maximum economic, social, and environmental net benefit of the region.

Principle #5 Understand Water as an Economic Good. Establish a community dialogue understanding water has an economic value to all competing uses/users, and discuss tradeoffs between uses/users in monetized and/or quantifiable terms.

Principle #6 Maximize Use of Renewable Water Resources in Tucson AMA. Support shared uses of infrastructure through cost-effective wheeling agreements for delivery of effluent, surface water, and/or stored renewable supplies to achieve greater integration, reliability, flexibility and reliance on renewable supplies throughout the region.

Principle #7 Embrace Conjunctive Water Resource Management to Maximize Long-Term Flexibility and Reliability. Impacts of prolonged drought can be mitigated through regionally coordinated management of groundwater and surface water resources, maximizing storage of surface water in times of surplus to account for cyclical, decadal weather patterns.

Principle #8 Promote a Consensus on Community Values for Effluent Re-Use. Evaluate all alternative uses/users of available effluent as part of a community dialogue and allocate according to regional consensus regarding maximum economic, social, and environmental net benefit expressed in monetized and/or quantifiable terms.

Principle #9 Promote Community-Wide Conservation Goals and Standards. Establish policies that maximize gallons saved per community dollars spent, focusing finite economic resources on uses/users with the greatest conservation potential.

Principle #10 Acknowledge Conserved Water as a Reliable Supply. Evaluate proven conservation measures as an alternative to supply acquisition, justifying investment decisions on alternatives that yield the maximum economic, social, and environmental net benefit expressed in monetized and/or quantifiable terms.

Principle #11 Promote Growth Management. Establish an integrative process coordinating land use and water resources to ensure responsible management of these community assets, tempered by respect for fundamental community values such as self-determination, jurisdictional sovereignty, and private property rights protection to maximize the economic, social, and environmental net benefit for the region expressed in monetized and/or quantifiable terms.

Principle #12 Promote Partnerships and Collaborations with All Local Water and Wastewater Providers. Cooperative arrangements aid in conflict resolution, increase operational efficiencies and reliability, facilitate complementary and/or supplementary activities, and enhance the body of shared knowledge.

Principle #13 Establishment of a Sustainable Water Resource Management Plan, Budget and Implementation (Fiscal and Physical) Strategies for the Tucson Metropolitan Area. Move away from the “plan and pay as we go” approach and develop flexible long-range plans and funding mechanisms to avoid the potential for future crisis management situations.

Principle #14 Promote Comprehensive Inclusiveness and Transparency in Decision-Making and Public Participation Processes. Water management must be based on a participatory approach, involving a measured balance of technical expertise and expression of community values with an emphasis on consensus building between users, planners, and policy-makers at all levels within the region.