Tucson, AZ slips in ranking of sustainability because of water supply, use issues

Tucson got a little less environmentally sustainable during the past two years compared with other major metro areas, a new national survey has concluded.

In part, that’s because the national SustainLane rankings of the 50 largest cities added a new category this year — water supply — in which this and most other arid Southwestern cities ranked poorly.

The drop in the SustainLane rating of Tucson from 20th to 22nd on the new survey wasn’t a total knock at this city, however, since Tucson still ranks in the top half of the 50 cities in the survey. Tucson scored better than average in 10 of the 16 categories surveyed, including air quality, green building practices, environmental innovations and use of local food and agriculture. Portland, Ore., ranked first overall for sustainability among the 50 cities, according to the report. Phoenix ranked lower than Tucson overall at 32nd.

But on water, Tucson ranked 47th worst out of 50 cities. It ranked low for being too far from its principal long-term water source, for not being as aggressive as many other cities in its water-conservation policies and for its rapid growth in an arid environment.

“Your originating source of much of your water is the Colorado River . . . one of the farthest away of any of the cities ranked from their water supply,” said James Elsen, SustainLane’s CEO. “It’s dependent on snowpack, which is declining. That puts you at great risk. You are like at the end of the pipe.”

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Source: Arizona Daily Star

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