ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥

The council is expected to vote during Tuesday’s regular night session on a proposal to require all new businesses using at least 7.48 million gallons a month to submit a water conservation plan to the city. The plan would show how the business would reduce its water use, water losses and waste, and improve the efficiency of its water use.

The ordinance would also require new, large water users to use specified percentages of reclaimed water, often at least 30% depending on how close they are to reclaimed water delivery lines.

Although the vote will come shortly after the council killed the Project Blue data-center complexes, council members told the Star the ordinance isn’t targeting any specific kind of businesses.

Also, city officials say no current business in Tucson uses that much water. Existing water customers, including those whose use did meet the city’s threshold for being covered, would fall under the ordinance if they sought to get the size of their water meter increased to accommodate that much use.

The 7.48 million gallons a month totals nearly 90 million gallons, or 275 acre-feet yearly. An acre-foot of water is enough to serve four Tucson ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ for a year. So the smallest water user that would fall under the ordinance would use enough water to serve about 1,100 ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ for a year.

The ordinance will be discussed nearly two weeks after the City Council voted 7-0 to kill Project Blue, a proposed set of two large data-center complexes in the city. It would have used around 6% of Tucson’s reclaimed water supply and 1% of its total water supply to cool the centers as they operated.

The project would have used drinkable water for its first two years, then was slated to switch to using reclaimed water after paying the city to build an 18-mile pipeline to deliver such water to its first complex on the far southeast side.

Tucson Mayor Regina Romero and several council members said they want to pass these regulations now, to insure the city is prepared when and if another proposed large water-using business comes to city officials seeking approval of its development.

Now, “by setting clear expectations for the largest water users before they begin operations, the City of Tucson is choosing to be prepared, not reactive. We’re making sure that as new businesses and industries arrive, they join us in being good stewards of the resource that we all depend on,� Romero wrote in her weekly newsletter Friday.

Chip factory discussed

The council’s move to pass the ordinance also comes as the Star learned from a knowledgeable source this past week that Garry Brav, a developer and longtime Tucson construction company CEO, has talked with Tucson, Pima County and state officials about possibly locating a new chipmaking factory in this area, on the northwest side.

City and county officials have already signed a non-disclosure agreement forbidding people on their staffs and elected officials from discussing the proposal, the source said, who added, “This was not the only site the (manufacturing) company was looking at. It was on a tour� when it had officials come to Tucson.

City Manager Tim Thomure told the Star Friday Brav is “actively marketing� a site he owns at Prince Road and Interstate 10, “and we are aware of several site visits.� Brav has a grading permit for the southern portion of the site and is seeking a final plat to build on its northern portion, said Thomure, adding he doesn’t know the specifics of Brav’s development plans.

In a text message late Friday afternoon, Thomure also couldn’t immediately confirm if there’s a non-disclosure agreement the city government has signed for that site, saying he would try to see if one exists.

Brav didn’t return a phone call Friday from a Star reporter seeking information about his plans. A former longtime construction company CEO in Tucson, Brav has for some time been working on developing 110 acres near Prince between I-10 and the Santa Cruz River for a project called Prince 10.

Prince 10 features 12 development areas with the potential to accommodate high-tech industry and office buildings, said a spring 2024 article on the project in ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Contractor and Community Magazine, a trade publication. Supplemental land uses may include hospitality, restaurants, other commercial uses, and multifamily housing, the article said.

Tucson and Pima County economic development officials didn’t return calls from the Star seeking information about this project. A spokesman for the ÃÛÁÄÖ±²¥ Commerce Authority said the authority doesn’t disclose details of any potential or pending projects.

Chip factories typically create more jobs than data centers. But, like data centers, they typically use a lot of water, particularly for rinsing residue from silicon chips during the fabrication process, said a June 2024 article about water use and silicon chip manufacturing in the World Economic Review.

That article estimated a chip factory can use 10 million gallons of water daily, while other estimates peg the use at 5 million gallons daily. At 5 million gallons a day, a chipmaking plant would use about 5,600 acre-feet of water a year. That’s nearly three times as much water as the two data-center complexes in Project Blue were going to use annually once they went online.

Chipmaking companies have, however, come under a lot of pressure to recycle more of their water. In Phoenix, the giant TSMC chipmaking facility now under construction has said it intends to reuse about 65% of the water is uses for its manufacturing.

Council wants to get ahead of the process

Tucson City Council members told the Star they were motivated to push for quick passage of the large water-user ordinance to make sure the city has effective measures to weigh the water use of any prospective manufacturer that wants to locate here.

They said they were unaware of any specific large water-using projects that might be coming here soon, but said they wanted to get ahead of the process. During the Project Blue debate, city officials were considering whether to approve the data centers but had no water-use regulations in place specifically targeting such facilities.

The council first discussed passing such an ordinance at its June 17 meeting. At the time, members decided to have one introduced in time for discussion and approval in September or October.

At the Aug. 6 meeting, however, the council unanimously voted to have the ordinance brought to it by Tuesday, Aug. 19, for formal discussion and final approval. That’s much faster than it usually takes to approve a complex water ordinance or regulation such as this one.

“We need to do to it right now,� Councilwoman Karin Uhlich said Friday. “These companies have their eyes set on our valley; so we have to move and act quickly. Once the ordinance is adopted, the city needs to come back in a year to review it, getting advice from the general public and its Citizens Water Advisory Committee, said Uhlich, “but we can’t wait a year� to adopt it.

Councilwoman Nikki Lee said she was first inspired to start pushing for the ordinance last spring not just because of Project Blue but because an out-of-state bottling firm at the time was interested in locating a facility in Tucson that would have used water here to make some kind of drink and export its product out of state.

While the company ultimately decided to locate in another state, the combination of it and Project Blue made Lee wonder, “how is it possible we can’t prevent that?�

“Our economic initiatives team said the company was looking at a parcel in Ward 4, and I was told I really can’t do anything about it,� she said.

In a May 30 memo to the mayor and City Clerk Suzanne Mesich, Lee wrote, “As climate change continues to intensify and water resources grow more limited across the Southwest, Tucson must continue taking proactive steps to protect its long-term water future. At the same time, we must continue to foster economic development and remain competitive in attracting high-quality employers and investments. Striking the right balance between water sustainability and economic growth is vital.�

Modeled after Phoenix law

The proposed Tucson ordinance is modeled after a very similar ordinance the Phoenix City Council adopted governing new large water users in March 2024. That ordinance requires a water conservation plan from any new business that would use 250,000 gallons a month, which is very close to the threshold being considered by the Tucson council. It would require new businesses using 500,000 or more gallons monthly to get 30% of their supplies from reclaimed water.

The Tucson ordinance would require a large new business water user to use reclaimed water “to offset at least 30 percent of its water use or such other percentage as the (Tucson Water) Director determines is the maximum use of reclaimed water that is warranted, given the facility’s proximity to the reclaimed water system.�

The ordinance also would require a large user’s water conservation plan to be a public record — including the user’s expected annual water use. The user’s expected peak daily water demand would also be disclosed. That would be a distinct change from the city’s current policy that forbids release of an individual user’s water consumption from the Tucson Water system.

That part of the new ordinance represents “lessons learned� from the Project Blue debate, said Chris Avery, an assistant city attorney who regularly handles water issues for that office.

“I think one of the concerns the public had was that water use with Project Blue was not disclosed until very late in the process,� Avery said. “The large water user ordinance requires this be disclosed and disseminated to the public very early on.�

Conservation group seeks stronger law

The Watershed Management Group, a conservation organization that promoted water sustainability and protection of riverfront riparian habitat, welcomes the new ordinance but would like to see it delayed three to six months to get more public input and to have it strengthened, said Lisa Shipek, the group’s director.

The group recommended the following changes to broaden the ordinance’s scope:

— The ordinance should include measures to protect existing riparian areas and the region’s aquifer. It called for protections to insure riparian areas that have had restoration work done, including the Santa Cruz River and Tanque Verde Creek, remain healthy.

— The large businesses’ potable and reclaimed water use should have at least 100% of that use offset with other “wet water� conservation strategies applied in the Tucson Basin watershed.

— Any new groundwater recharge projects the city institutes in connection with water consumption by large water users should be carried out in rivers and streams, not in “off-channel� recharge facilities such as those the city now uses at the Sweetwater Recharge Facility and the Southeast Houghton Area Recharge Project.

Asked about the group’s recommendations, Mayor Romero told the Star in an email that she’s talked with community organizations such as the Watershed Management Group about strengthening the ordinance and that she’s open to doing that later but still wants to pass the current version now.

“I am amenable to reviewing the ordinance in six months to a year, but we need to pass it immediately. I am not going to delay this ordinance. This is a stopgap measure that we are putting together to protect our water resources,� Romero said.