Tucson City Council approves new rules for large quantity water users

TUCSON, Ariz. (13 News) — The Tucson City Council passed new rules to establish an ordinance regarding the large quantity water user program.

It has to do with water service applications for exceptionally large quantity water users within the Tucson Water service area.

At this time, no single customer within Tucson Water uses enough water on a monthly basis to be considered a large quantity user.

Councilman Paul Cunningham of Ward 2 said they’re planning for future customers – such as data centers – whose water usage might significantly exceed average consumption levels.

“We’ll probably have to tweak it, and make some minor changes here and there down the road, or even some major changes, but right now, we need to make this happen, and we need to do it with urgency,” Cunningham said.

Any large quantity customers will be expected to submit a conservation plan to the Tucson Water director.

They would then give it to the mayor and council for approval.

Mayor Regina Romero also said the move is necessary, especially when it comes to data centers in Tucson, but that there will likely be many more guardrails following this move that go beyond water conservation.

“This is the first step, it’s an immediate guardrail and protection for our water resources,” Romero said. “Any land use, code changes and other ordinances, we will be working on with the community, to bring something that makes sense for Tucsonans.”

Romero said they will revisit the issue with the community in 6 months, which many members of the community, like Tucson resident Vivek Bharathan, voiced support for during the meeting.

“I also appreciate the urgency to bring about an immediate ordinance so that these corporations can consume however much power they can pay for,” Bharathan said.

Any business violating their water usage rules will face significant costs and could be shut off from Tucson’s Water supply.

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