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What other western cities know about living in arid climates

Posted by: Maven on June 23, 2009 at 7:53 am

From San Diego’s KPBS, a transcript of Doug Myrland’s interview with Jeff Biggs of the Tucson Water Department and Rick Holmes of the Southern Nevada Water Authority:

MYRLAND: Well, we appreciate both of you giving us some context about what’s going on in your own regions. And I want to start with Jeff mostly because according to our research, Tucson is one of the first places in the country that really started addressing these issues some years ago. And I wanted to just get a little context from you, Jeff, where does the water in Tucson mostly come from?

BIGGS: Yeah, up until 2001, we were reliant completely on ground water. And then in 2001, we began utilizing a Colorado River water allocation where we recharge Colorado River water and mix it with the native groundwater then recover that water and deliver that to our customers. So right now, we are, oh, utilizing between 65 and 70% of our Colorado River water compared to our groundwater usage.

MYRLAND: Now how much rain does Tucson get every year about?

BIGGS: Well, on the average, I’ve been told, eleven inches. I’ve been here since 2001 and we’ve never come close to that average. So we’ve…

MYRLAND: Well, whatever it is, you’re going to get it all here in the next six weeks, right?

BIGGS: Well…

MYRLAND: With the monsoon.

BIGGS: It would be nice. But it’s been a very unusual year so far for Tucson and Arizona in general, as far as the weather’s concerned.

Read the transcript of the interview or listen to the show by clicking here.

June 23, 2009 · Filed Under Uncategorized

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