Tucson council lowers water-use trigger for big users in 4-3 vote, orders tougher rules in 120 days

Tucson council lowers water-use trigger for big users in 4-3 vote, orders tougher rules in 120 days

TUCSON, Ariz. — The Tucson City Council voted 4-3 on Tuesday, Sept. 22, to lower the point at which the city's large quantity water user ordinance applies, from 10,000 to 8,500 hundred cubic feet (CCF) of water per month. The council also directed staff to return in 120 days with a plan to require water conservation plans from users of 5,000 CCF or more per month. The three council members in the minority argued the changes did not go far enough.

Council Member Nikki Lee offered the measure as a substitute motion. It approves the revisions recommended by staff and a stakeholder ad hoc committee, Ordinance No. 12272. It also directs staff to come back with conforming language on conservation plans and a requirement that the mayor and council be notified when a large user exceeds its threshold. The report is to include thresholds used by comparable cities, expected water use by type of development and recommended thresholds.

City Manager Timothy Thomure confirmed the council's intent before the vote. Under the motion, the staff-recommended modifications take effect with the 8,500 CCF threshold replacing 10,000.

Lee, Council Member Selina Barajas, Vice Mayor Lane Santa Cruz and Mayor Regina Romero voted yes. Council Members Kevin Dahl, Paul Cunningham and Miranda Schubert voted no. The same 4-3 split decided an earlier procedural vote to take up Lee's substitute in place of Dahl's original motion. Santa Cruz took part remotely through Microsoft Teams.

Competing motions

Dahl's original motion would have lowered the threshold to 5,000 CCF. It also would have directed the city attorney to draft an amendment sending violations to the mayor and council. Dahl said the ordinance, passed last year after the Project Blue data center controversy, had gone untested for a year. He said few users would fall under a 10,000 CCF trigger. He opposed the substitute, saying it would delay action for three months, and said he would not object to a threshold as low as 2,500.

Cunningham said he did not care how low the threshold went, as long as the director and council kept discretion for users such as hospitals. He said the ordinance's 120% cap carries no automatic consequence, and he wanted the director to have "that teeth." He also noted that a proposed data center near Sahuarita known as Project Gravel had filed to build, and that the Pima County Board of Supervisors was taking up its own 120-day moratorium the same evening. The board passed it 3-2 about an hour later.

Lee said Tucson was the only city among its peers to lose jobs last year. She said Phoenix's threshold is 20,000 CCF.

Romero said data centers use 32,000 CCF per month, so the 10,000 CCF threshold "would never allow a data center to go through the cracks." She added that land-use codes the council passed in August provide further protection. The council "said no to Project Blue," she said, while "some on the Board of Supervisors didn't," and the water for that project "is coming from our aquifer." She cited city poverty rates of 24% when she joined the council in 2007 and 18% now, and said the city must find industries it can "say yes to." Romero said Tucson has more than 50 years' worth of water banked. She said she had formally requested informational town halls on the city's water resources.

Chris Avery, an assistant city attorney who helped draft the original ordinance, described how the motion would work. Plans from users between 5,000 and 8,500 CCF would go to the Tucson Water director for approval. Applications above 8,500 CCF would go to the mayor and council. Avery said that mirrors Phoenix's approach, and that 8,500 CCF roughly matches Phoenix's lower threshold and the thresholds in Tempe and Mesa. The Tucson Water director told the council that users in the lower range could include schools, hospitals, health care facilities and city parks.

Schubert spoke after casting her vote. She said the revised ordinance is stronger than last year's version in several ways:

• It closes a loophole that let users split service across multiple meters to stay under the threshold.
• It allows a water-restricting device to be installed at the second violation rather than the fourth.
• It makes the director's notice of noncompliance a public record.

Schubert said 10,000 CCF a month exceeds what an average Tucson single-family home uses in 114 years, and she backed a 2,500 CCF threshold. "I support business, and I want more businesses to come to Tucson," she said. She added that she wanted employers "willing to make a conservation plan, stand behind it, and aren't afraid to show it to Tucson residents."

Public hearing

Eight people spoke during the public hearing, and most urged stronger rules. A Watershed Management Group representative asked for three changes:

• a 2-to-1 offset for consumptive water use
• a 2,500 CCF monthly threshold, or 72 acre-feet a year
• a pause on new large users during drought

She said 56 existing users are at or above 2,500 CCF a month, 15 exceed 10,000, and the city received no applications at the 10,000 level in the past year. A representative of the Coalition for Sonoran Desert Protection raised concerns about protecting Santa Cruz River flows. Several residents called for a moratorium on data centers.

City email on Prop 421 draws mayor's rebuke

During call to the audience, several residents opposed Proposition 421, the proposed 25-year Tucson Electric Power franchise on the November ballot, and urged the city to pursue public power. One speaker criticized an email to city employees that linked to TEP's website.

The city attorney said staff had placed a link to a page with the franchise agreement and a related energy agreement. The page later came to include more information, but the link was never intended to advocate for or against the measure. The attorney said the office found no legal violation. Out of an abundance of caution, the link was taken down and now points to the documents.

Romero pushed back. She told the city manager and city attorney to avoid "even the perception" of the city encouraging a vote on any initiative.

JD Wallace, a retained speaker for TEP, said storms the previous Monday knocked out power to up to 26,000 customers. He said the storms broke eight poles on Broadway Boulevard between Pantano and Prudence roads. He also said the statewide Power AZ bill-relief fund has reached its limit for the year after 1,875 TEP customers received $1,018,671.35.

Consent agenda

The council approved its consent agenda 7-0. The items included:

• an intergovernmental agreement with the Pima County Recorder for election services through 2028
• two agreements with the Regional Transportation Authority of Pima County covering transit and non-transit plan elements
• an amendment to a U.S. Geological Survey agreement to monitor stream flows and subsidence
• a notice of intent to enter a site-specific sales tax incentive agreement with Tucson Inn LLC for a vacant site at 75 E. Broadway Blvd.
• retroactive approval of involuntary court-ordered tort judgments from fiscal 2026 for the primary property tax levy

Also discussed:

• The council forwarded all liquor license and special event applications to the state liquor board with a recommendation of approval on a voice vote. The clerk said all applicants complied with city requirements. The published agenda had listed Frog & Firkin, 874 E. University Blvd., as not in compliance with Planning and Development Services pending building plan approval and a certificate of occupancy.
• Schubert reported a Sept. 20 crash that killed a 71-year-old bicyclist, the fifth bicycle death this year compared with two at this point last year. Santa Cruz said the Department of Transportation and Mobility had just installed a protected bike lane leading to that intersection.
• A mobile home park resident said she received a water bill of about $2,000 for 31 days after paying $50 to $60 a month. Romero said the bill came from the park, not Tucson Water, and that her office would connect the resident with the Arizona Attorney General's Office.
• A resident whose son was fatally shot near the entrance of the new Mission Manor aquatic center asked the council to name the facility after him and said she had received no response to her March proposal.
• A city sanitation worker raised pay compression among operators. Romero said the council gave direction on the issue during study session.
• Romero said Oct. 5 is the last day to register to vote in the general election, and early voting begins Oct. 7.
• The next regular meeting is Tuesday, Oct. 6.

This report was drafted by Claude Opus 5.5 from a live transcript produced by Deepgram Nova-2, then reviewed and edited by Nicholas De Leon with Claude Fable 5.1, and published at 9:08 PM MST on September 22, 2026. Read more about how this is made.