The water use efficiency goal set for farms to reach by the year 2000 is 85 percent efficiency. ADWR reports that many farms have already reached this goal, but other farming operations are not certain whether this goal is attainable. Irrigation made it possible to grow a great variety of crops in the desert. Installation of drip irrigation systems is generally considered too expensive for irrigation in the Tucson area. ADWR also is requiring farms to make their distribution systems more efficient.
Farms can save water by lining their water distribution canals with concrete or other materials.
Under ADWR's Second Management Plan, farms were required to either line all their canals or operate their delivery systems to keep lost or unaccounted water at less than ten percent. The agency reports that most of the largest irrigation districts in TAMA are meeting this requirement. One of the biggest factors in reducing agricultural water use in the Tucson area has been purchase of agricultural land for subdivision use, especially in the Marana area. As municipal development continues in the Tucson area, more farmland will likely be converted. Whether or not the new land use will ultimately consume more water depends on many factors.