An important technological advance in the 1890s enabled wells to be drilled in various locations, powered with wood-burning steam engines and, later, gas or electricity. In 1891, a University of Arizona professor reported that water could be pumped from underground to irrigate the campus. About that time, the first farm in the area began to use pumped groundwater. From then on, groundwater pumping increased steadily. With the new technology, wells could be drilled to much greater depths. On the Canoa Ranch south of Tucson a well was drilled to 500 feet, hitting water at 300 feet. The new steam pump could produce a flow of 2,000 gallons per hour.

In 1892, Frank and Warren Allison built a new ditch for irrigation that was later extended to lands beyond St. Mary’s Hospital and constructed a reservoir near the old Warner Dam site. By 1895, they had built more ditches and acquired another source of water known as “Flowing Wells” near Sentinel Peak as well as the Tucson Farms Company south of town. This later developed into the Flowing Wells Irrigation District which stretched from far south of town all the way to Marana. That district continues to exist (although greatly reduced), supplying water for urban use on the northwest side of town through its wells.

In the 1890s, new legal systems of apportioning surface water were developed, with the first people to file water claims having the first rights to surface water. Water use increased to the extent that by 1910, all of the water flowing in the Santa Cruz River in the downtown area (other than during floods) was being diverted for agricultural or municipal purposes. With the growth of agriculture around Sentinel Peak new irrigation canals were soon insufficient, and water disputes arose.

ONGOING SEARCH FOR WATER QUALITY

Sewers and Wastewater Treatment

Before the 1890s, Tucsonans used outhouses for their sewage. In the 1890s, when water was first piped to houses, people drained their sewage into cesspools. In 1900, the city opened its new Water and Sewerage Department and laid the first public sewers along Main Avenue between 17thth Street and St. Mary’s Road. The untreated sewage was delivered by open ditch to a small farm where it was used for irrigation. In 1914, people were complaining of the odor.

When the farm had a sufficient supply of sewage, a new farm was opened along the Santa Cruz River at Roger Road, four and a half miles northwest of downtown, and a new pipeline was constructed to deliver sewage water to the farm. The city considered the farm a profitable business, but the arrangement met with increased complaints. In 1928, the first treatment plant was built which reduced the solids content of the sewage. After treatment the sewage was delivered to the farm. The facility was expanded and improved in the 1940s, with the sewage still used for irrigation.

As population increased, Tucson could no longer be responsible for the sewage needs all residents, so citizens formed a sanitary district to serve residents outside city limits. It was not until 1961 that the district built a new sewage lagoon near Ina Road and the Santa Cruz River. The Roger Road treatment plant was expanded in 1960 and again in 1968. The Sanitary District was dissolved in 1968, and Pima County took over wastewater management for the area outside Tucson. In 1975, Tucson opened a Wastewater Reclamation Facility at Randolph (Reid) Park which provided wastewater for the golf course, but the facility was closed in 1995. Pima County built a new advanced treatment plant at Ina Road in 1977.

By the 1970s, both city and county officials felt a need to combine their efforts, and they formed the Metropolitan Utilities Management (MUM) Agency for better basinwide management of wastewater facilities in the metropolitan area. Tucson and Pima County, however, continued to operate separate facilities. For the first time, however, they adopted basin-wide sewer connection fees and sewer user fees, charging the approximate cost of providing services. In 1976, elected officials dissolved MUM. Tucson and Pima County then signed an intergovernmental agreement in 1979, stipulating that Pima County would own and operate all the wastewater systems for both city and county, but that Tucson would retain rights to 90 percent of the wastewater coming from metropolitan area treatments plants. The city deeded to the county its Roger Road Treatment Plant and its other wastewater facilities. Between 1980 and 1984, the Roger Road Plant was expanded and upgraded in stages. The federal governmen t paid a large share of construction costs, sparing county taxpayers much of the expense of the expansions.

In 1985, Pima County began a project to export sludge from the wastewater process for agricultural use in the Marana area, thus lessening the burden on the nearby landfill. In 1987, a system for transferring sludge from Roger Road to Ina Road was completed. As a result, neither plant sends sludge to landfills.

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, both the Roger Road and Ina Road plants were expanded and modified and various smaller facilities were built, including the Catalina out-fall sewer and a facility in Avra Valley. Work to further expand the Roger Road facility was recently completed, and work is about to begin to expand the Ina Road plant. Pima County funded a University of Arizona wetlands research project to determine how effectively water hyacinths (and later other plants) could treat wastewater.

Recharging Reclaimed Water

In 1983, the City of Tucson constructed a tertiary treatment plant to further treat wastewater from Pima County’s Roger Road plant for use on golf courses and other turf. Over the years mains were installed to deliver water to various facilities on the far east side of town and in the central area. Today effluent is delivered to over 200 water consumers, including 13 golf facilities, 25 parks and 30 schools.