Cost Control Critical to Our Water Future

Implementing a strategic financial plan is essential to the future of Tucson Water and a sustainable community. As a City enterprise fund, the utility must generate revenue – primarily through customer services and fees – and manage costs to continue to operate and make capital improvements. Here are 10 ways that Tucson Water is working to proactively control costs:

Pursuing federal and state grants to support the utility’s investments in water quality and reliability.

Conducting preventative maintenance on key infrastructure saves money: corrective repairs are five times as expensive as proactive repairs.

Keeping overall staffing numbers low and offering remote and hybrid schedules to increase productivity and decrease overhead expenses. Over the past 10 years, the utility has maintained the number of staff while adding nearly 15,000 customer accounts.

Coordinating pipe repairs and replacement with other construction projects to reduce costs and minimize disturbance.

Deploying technology upgrades to work more efficiently and improve customer service, asset management, construction, and maintenance.

Using cutting-edge technology to locate and repair water leaks.

Expanding use of locally available water resources, including rain and stormwater and recycled water.

Offering new conservation rebates and incentives to help all to use water more efficiently and keep water bills lower.

Managing energy costs using solar, bulk buying, efficient equipment upgrades, and partnerships with electric utilities.

Collaborating with partners like Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Town of Marana, Metro Water, University of Arizona, the Pascua Yaqui Tribe, among others -- to share costs while bolstering CAP water management, water quality monitoring, outreach, and research.

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