AWWA REUSE52075

The reclaimed water system of the City of Tucson, Arizona currently serves 250 customers with a total 1999 annual demand of 9,300 acre-feet. The reclaimed water distribution system, with 85 miles of pipeline, serves an area of approximately 400 square miles. Reclaimed water is used for turf and landscape irrigation at golf courses, schools, parks, street medians, limited agricultural uses, common areas of commercial and multi-family residential complexes, and some single family homes. This paper discusses how a Geographical Information System (GIS) database was developed and utilized to efficiently identify and prioritize potential reclaimed water customers. Initially, a comprehensive search of a 1,200 square-mile study area identified all potential customers. The search was accomplished by querying Pima County (the county in which Tucson is located) databases to locate land parcels with uses generally associated with turf irrigation, such as golf courses, parks, schools, agriculture, hotels/resorts, cemeteries, and uses with large common areas, such as commercial and multi-family residential. The search identified nearly 1,500 potential new customers with an estimated annual demand of 33,000 acre-feet. The GIS database was then used to assess the geographical distribution of demands and demand densities in order to prioritize areas for system improvements and service expansion. Finally, the database was utilized to prioritize areas for potential infill of the existing reclaimed distribution system. Information presented in this paper will be helpful to communities that wish to identify potential customers within a large planning area, and to establish a database that can be utilized to plan system expansions and to market their reclaimed water programs. Includes 3 references.