Journalism Narrates Water Tales.

Newspaper stories provide a running account of water concerns in Tucson around the turn of the century. Some stories could have been written yesterday; for example, the need to conserve water. Other stories now strike us as coming from a more innocent era when water use and regulation were a far less complex business than they are today. Dates and brief summaries of stories are provided below.

11/15/81 City Council grants former mayor Robert W. Leatherwood the privilege of introducing water into the city.

9/1/82 Tucson Water Company delivers first water to the City of Tucson via gravity pipe system.

10/26/82 We have water in abundance and there should be no excuse for dusty streets. Now we have plenty of water, and it is time to beautify the city.

6/5/84 No one thing has done more to advance the permanent stability of Tucson than the introduction of water. It moved the people to beautify home surroundings by planting trees, shrubbery, lawns and flower spots.

3/3/87 At the next meeting of the City Council the price of water will be up for discussion. In compliance with the instructions the city clerk had previously received he had sent letters to other western cities to ascertain the annual amount paid for water for public purposes. Replies have been received and will be presented to the mayor and Council.

11/13/92 Tucson is recognized as the headquarters for Arizona, and the completion of the irrigating system in this valley will make it ahead of the most favored portions of California.

1/9/93 Mr. Shortridge says that 5,000 gallows of water per day is put on the streets to keep the dust down. He states that some individuals request more to be put down in front of their homes and businesses but this causes mud and creates more dust later. In the summer months he reports using 10,000 gallons per day.

6/9/06 Charles Haffield, the rainmaker, is to come to Arizona next month to conduct some more of his experiments with a view to drawing the reluctant moisture from the heavens. He will make his headquarters in Tucson. Although Haffield has been branded as a faker, the government has become interested in this experiments and he is to be assisted in his work here by the Department of Agriculture.

6/24/06 Owing to the consumption of water at present being far in excess of all attention to ordinance No. 143, which says that all irrigating shall be done between the hours of 5 and 8 o'clock PM and that under supervision of some person on the premises. Persons allowing faucets to run during other hours, than those specified in this section, upon conviction shall be subject to a fine not exceeding $50. All leaky plumbing fixtures must at once be repaired, and if found still leaking by inspectors, after proper notice, ordinance will be enforced.

Flawed Flappers Fuel Low-Flush Flap

Water conservation professionals are in the awkward position of publicly defending ultra-low-flush (ULF) toilets as effective water conservation devices even as they quietly debate growing evidence that some ULF models become water wasters as they age. Congressman Knollenberg (R-MI) once again is trying to repeal the water use efficiency standards for plumbing fixtures contained in the Federal Energy Policy Act. Low consumption plumbing fixtures, including ULF toilets using 1.6 gallons or less, were required in new construction on a national basis as of 1994.

Some early ULF toilets needed frequent double flushes or had other serious design flaws, but most models now work well when new. The issue is durability over time. Many models of ULF toilets contain proprietary parts, such as early-close flapper valves, that wear out and cannot be readily found in hardware or plumbing supply stores. Even home improvement stores that sell ULF toilets often do not stock spare parts, leaving the homeowner to decide whether to live with a leaky toilet or replace the proprietary part with a generic flapper, which may greatly increase water use. In many cases, the homeowner is not even aware that the replacement part differs from the original, or that installing it will increase water use.

The problem is significant for the many water and wastewater utilities that spent hundreds of millions of dollars on rebates and other programs to replace existing toilets with ULFs, which were expected to reduce water demand and wastewater flows for decades. Hillsborough County, Florida, which spent $7 million over six years on 58,000 toilet rebates, reports its customers installed over 190 different ULF models. Now this wide variety of ULF models and lack of standardized parts are causing the initial water savings to erode. New federal drinking water regulations leading to higher disinfection levels in many communities, may further shorten the useful lives of flappers and other rubber parts.

What to do about the problem is not clear. Some conservation professionals advocate limiting rebates to ULF models with standard parts, such as some pressure-assist toilets. A short-term strategy calls for compiling a catalog of all ULF toilet makes and models, listing sources for those parts that wear out over time. The catalog would be available at major home improvement and plumbing outlets, as well as on the internet.

Longer-term strategies include more research on which ULF models rely on proprietary parts, and how quickly the parts deteriorate. This information could then be used to urge major toilet suppliers and municipalities offering rebates to avoid the more problematic models. One study by the Water Resources Research Center and the City of Phoenix Water Department is looking at the water use of some 200 toilets installed through City of Tucson rebates eight years ago.

The consensus among conservation professionals is that concerted action on the part of large municipal water and wastewater utilities is needed to get the toilet industry to act. Otherwise they fear Congress may reject the entire ULF fixture because of faulty parts. This would be like throwing out the baby with the bath water because the tub leaks.