Ambassador Neighborhoods Program Water Source

Where Did The Water Come From?

Tucson Water built a special water delivery system for volunteer neighborhoods and individuals. The water system was fully approved, certified, and permitted by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, the State agency that enforces the US Environmental Protection Agency Safe Drinking Water Regulations.

The new system included a well that withdrew recharged Colorado River water from Tucson Water's Central Avra Valley Storage and Recovery Project and a nearby well that withdrew Avra Valley groundwater.

Water from the two wells was delivered to a large storage tank located in Avra Valley, where the two water sources were blended together, stabilized to prevent corrosion, and disinfected.

A large tanker truck then took the water from the Avra Valley blending station and delivered the blend to the volunteer neighborhood, individual volunteers, and to Tucson Water's Plant 1 facility for use as a substitute for groundwater. Depending on customer demand, the tanker truck may have made multiple trips each day to a neighborhood to ensure there was plenty of water for the volunteers.

During the demonstration project period, the neighborhood system was switched off of groundwater and onto the temporary system. When the 90-day demonstration was completed, the neighborhood was returned to groundwater.