Tucson Wins National Mayor’s Challenge For Water Conservation

Press release from the City of Tucson:

June 23, 2021

The City of Tucson was announced as the winner of the Wyland National Mayor’s Challenge for Water Conservation for cities with populations between 300,000 and 599,999. The challenge is an annual campaign presented by the Wyland Foundation and Toyota, with support from the U.S EPA, National League of Cities, and other partners to promote environmental sustainability, and water and resource resiliency.

During the month of April, Mayor Regina Romero called on Tucson residents to pledge to conserve water and other resources. As a result, Tucson was one of the five cities in the nation with the highest percentage of pledges.

In addition to pledging to save over 50 million gallons of water, Tucsonans have committed to reducing over 115,000 single-use plastic water bottles; eliminating over 3,000 pounds of hazardous waste from entering watersheds; eliminating close to 1.4 million pounds of waste in landfills; savings over 180 million pounds of carbon dioxide and over 3 million kilowatt hours of electricity, resulting in over $365,000 in consumer cost savings.

“Tucsonans have always held a strong ethic of conservation when it comes to preserving our precious water resources and reducing waste,” said Mayor Romero. “The commitments Tucsonans have made will help us achieve our Climate Emergency Declaration goal of reducing waste by 50% by 2030, and zero waste by 2050. I am grateful for such tremendous community support to advance sustainability and climate resiliency in our beautiful desert city.”

As part of the next steps, residents from winning cities will be entered into a drawing for thousands of dollars in water-saving or eco-friendly prizes.

This press release was produced by the City of Tucson. The views expressed here are the author's own.