Technical, Economic and Legal Aspects Involved in the Exchange of Sewage Effluent for Irrigation Water for Municipal Use, Case Study - City of Tucson

Abstract

Introduction: In many communities, irrigated agricultural areas exist within a few miles of the wastewater treatment plant of a large municipality. At such locations a dual transfer of water may be effected, in which the treated wastewater would be used for irrigation and the high quality irrigation water supply would in turn be shifted to the municipal system for domestic use. An investigation of the technical, economic, and legal aspects of such an exchange system has been completed recently, with the Tucson region as a case study. The research was done at the University of Arizona under an allotment grant from the Office of Water Resources Research, U.S. Department of the Interior.