WMG’s work is shaping a new water culture in Tucson and beyond. This new culture values water as a life force to be stewarded instead of a resource to be consumed.
That is why we organized a public education and advocacy campaign to say no to Project Blue, a data center complex being proposed for the Tucson area. When the project was announced in June, our team mobilized to share our perspective and vision, promoting a hydro-local water future that restores our rivers, protects our local aquifers, and helps cool our cities.
If you support our water education and advocacy efforts, please make a gift and help us reach our goal of raising $100,000 for our summer fundraising campaign.
With your gift, we can expand our programs and share our vision with thousands of new people, to address the challenge facing many communities right now – how to respond to data centers moving into watersheds across the U.S. We’re thrilled that our collective advocacy led to Mayor and Council unanimously voting no on Project Blue!
Yes to a Hydro-Local Future, No to Water-Consumptive Industries
We teach hydro-local living every day, valuing and stewarding our local water resources instead of depleting distant aquifers and rivers. We are working towards a future that does not depend on importing expensive water from the Colorado River, depleting that river and the life it supports.
Large-scale data centers like Project Blue use both potable water and reclaimed water to cool data, much of which is a consumptive use. The water evaporates in the cooling process and cannot be returned to the watershed. To achieve a hydro-local future, we have asked our elected officials to create policies that protect against water-intensive industries in the desert.
One of the ways we’re supporting proactive policies is by leading a drought planning initiative with partners through the Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative. This drought planning is the first of its kind in the region, coordinating efforts between the city and county and developing drought triggers and responses that consider the health of local aquifers and rivers.
Cool Our City, Not Data
WMG took a stand against Project Blue because it was projected to use 622 million gallons per year at full build, and 6% of Tucson’s reclaimed water supply. Imagine if instead of cooling data, we used the reclaimed water to expand our urban forests and riparian forests, cooling our city and the people and animals who live here. Tucson is 7 degrees warmer due to the urban heat island, and that could be reversed if we designed our city differently, prioritizing restoring our rivers and forests. We’re helping people make these changes through our Cool Tucson workshops, including free cooling kits with native trees and shrubs.
Prioritize Reclaimed Water For Our Rivers
WMG has been educating community members and policy makers for a decade on the importance of recharging our shallow aquifers to restore river flows. We’ve been challenging the region’s practice of building expensive groundwater recharge facilities that have no benefit for our rivers, and we’ve been advocating to maximize the recharge of groundwater in our rivers, where recharge is free and supports the ecological and community benefit of a flowing river.
In Tucson, much of the reclaimed water released in our rivers is considered temporary by our water managers, until a commercial customer comes along that will pay for it. We’re questioning this consumptive framework through our River Run Network program, advocating every drop of water in the river is valuable, supporting a precious water ecosystem giving life to all.
Your donations to our summer campaign fuels our advocacy, education, and watershed restoration work. Our message about valuing our local waters is resonating with the groundswell of people who spoke up about Project Blue, including the hundreds of you who stopped by our Welcome Center and picked up WMG’s advocacy postcards with the message, “Protect our Water Future. Not a Drop for Data Centers.”
With your help, we can share our expertise and leadership with desert cities working to create proactive policies, for drought planning, protecting against future data centers, and valuing our rivers. We appreciate your generous support and for joining us in protecting our water future!
