The title is catchy, even warmly satisfying, prompting ready agreement and a nod of approval. Small is beautiful. That title again came to mind when reading a guest comment piece by Cornelius Steelink, professor emeritus of chemistry at the University of Arizona, printed in The Arizona Daily Star. Tucson Water officials per Proposition 200 cannot deliver CAP water for drinking unless treated to ensure its quality is equal to or better than present groundwater.
City officials seek The Big Solution to The Big Problem.
Big Solutions include recharging CAP water. Steelink offers a suggestion. He asks readers to consider other figures. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average citizen of the Southwest consumes 1.3 quarts of tap water per day for drinking and cooking. This means that Tucson's service area population of 600,000 consumes about 70 million gallons annually of drinking and cooking water.