People in the Tucson region are good at rallying when there is crisis over water but in between those times, they’re fairly passive. The problem is the region needs a sustained effort to protect what water it has and to get more water.

That was a conclusion drawn from four experts who spoke at a forum put on by the Metropolitan Pima Alliance.

As an example of the point, Chris Monson, president of Rocking K Development, said that last fall, when there were efforts to curb development because of water issues, there was a water forum that attracted broad interest, with several hundred people showing up.

"After a crisis is over, we all go back to work and get back to normal," he said. "We can’t afford to let that happen."

Too often that means a small group of government officials can end up making decisions and painting the decisions as coming from "a broad-based coalition," he said.

"So far, no damage has been done," Monson said. "But water is very dicey. We have to include non-represented water users of the community."

Not only does the Tucson region need to capture its full allotment of Colorado River water coming through the Central Arizona Project (CAP), the area needs to look at maximizing ways to re-use wastewater.

"Why do we use ground water for golf courses?" Monson questioned. "We have to restore ground water and that’s not the right thing to do. We need to use wastewater, but right now we only use 10 to 15 percent of waste water because the pricey structure for wastewater discourages its use. We’ve got to reverse those things."

The November ballot will include a critical election for the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board that oversees the CAP. Of the board’s 15 members, 10 are from Maricopa County, four are from Pima County and one is from Pinal County.

Steve Lenihan, a land use attorney and also a speaker at the Metropolitan Pima Alliance forum, said the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, a division of the CAWCD, by law has to restore the ground water used by replenishing it with water from effluent or elsewhere. But the cost of that water has skyrocketed, he said, so decisions must be made about how to fund purchase of replacement water.

"We need to be sensitive to anything that looks like an impact fee," Lenihan said. "We could lose 10 to 20 percent of our home buyers if we have impact fees that are too high. We have to structure it with the least impact on home buyers."

Warren Tenney, assistant general manager for Metro Water District and a candidate for the CAP board, said the news media seem to focus on disagreements among those who manage Arizona’s water supply, but he said there is a great deal of cooperation among water providers. The Metro Water district serves about 45,000 people on the Tucson region’s northwest side.

"It’s very important that we protect and enhance our (CAP) allocation and make sure that southern Arizona gets its share of additional water," Tenney said. "We can do that if we work together."

Carol Zimmerman, of Zimmerman and Associates, a public relations and advertising agency and already a CAP board member, said additional water supply is the most important issue for her.

"Water has been used as a tool for stopping growth," Zimmerman said. "But the Central Arizona Project doesn’t determine what growth should occur. That’s the purview of local jurisdictions. We are a resource. We don’t control growth, but we have input. The community has to come together to make decisions."

CAP serves municipalities, agricultural lands and Indian communities. Monson said one bright spot is that Indian communities aren’t using all of their water allocations, so purchasing their water rights is an option for those customers who pursue it. But he said the City of Tucson hasn’t been as aggressive as Scottsdale and other cities in Maricopa County’s East Valley in pursuing this opportunity.

Central Arizona Project

 www.CentralArizonaProject.com

Is a 336-mile system of aqueducts, tunnels, pumping plants and pipelines that moves Colorado River water to 5 million residents in Maricopa, Pima and Pinal counties. The CAP cost $3.6 billion to construct and $1.65 billion must be repaid. CAP delivers an average of 1.5 million acre feet of water annually. It has nearly 450 employees and a publicly elected board of directors that oversees public policy decisions, rate structures and long-term financial management strategies.

Contact reporter Ed Egger at eegger@azbiz.com or (520) 295-4238.