As the region's designated planning agency for water quality, PAG conducts and coordinates regional water quality management planning for the prevention of water pollution. PAG is required under the Clean Water Act (Section 208) to update the Areawide Water Quality Management Plan every five years or as needed to fulfill mandatory designated watershed planning responsibilities. The most recent plan was created in 2006. Since that time, changes have included amendments to the plan for new wastewater facilities and new designated management areas (DMAs). PAG plans to update, streamline and modernize the 208 Plan.

The guiding principles are to:

• Develop procedures for streamlining the PAG 208 Plan Amendment process.
• Verify and update obsolete information in the PAG 2006 AWQMP including new 208 Plan Amendment information.
• To save PAG, DMAs and private stakeholders time by easing navigation and increasing efficiency through the 208 Plan amendment process.
• To make clear the value of a regional planning process and municipal coordination which has steps to ensure stakeholder agreements are in place, reducing surprises or conflicts later.​

The designated management agencies of the Town of Marana, Town of Sahuarita and Pima County assisted PAG in reviewing the scope of work. Westland Resources is on contract, approved by Regional Council on Feb. 23, 2017, to assist with the update. The effort is anticipated to span through fiscal year 2017-2018 with a planning, engagement, review and approval process.

• Scope of Work
• PAG will be working with ADEQ and the other Designated Planning Agencies (DPA) in  the state for recommendations and lessons learned from their Plan updates.
  •  Statewide Water Quality Management Working Group Presentation – August 2017
  •  DPA Interview Questions
     

Interested parties may contact Mead Mier, Lead Watershed Planner, at MMier@PAGregion.com, to join an advisory team.  The Watershed Planning Subcommittee had its first meeting regarding the update at 2:30 p.m. on May 22, 2017, at PAG. Updated scopes of work will be posted as needed with the WPS meeting packet.

Through PAG’s public committees, regional stakeholders representing municipal, agricultural, environmental, industrial and tribal water providers, users and others will have an opportunity to weigh in on the Lower Santa Cruz River Basin Study. The Tucson metro area is one of only two regions which were selected by the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation for the three-year climate-model and scenario-planning study, based on strong local water planning efforts already in place to complement the project. Basin Studies are cost-shared, collaborative studies with the goal of identifying where physical water resources are needed to mitigate climate change impacts and improve water reliability for all sectors.

The study kicked off in March 2016 and PAG will be the lead agency for stakeholder involvement and the Environmental Sub-team. Annual Public meetings will be coordinated through PAG’s Watershed Planning Subcommittee or Environmental Planning Advisory Committee. WPS and EPAC members are also invited to become part of the Stakeholder Advisors Team.  To be added to the email list of interested stakeholders and be notified of public meetings, news releases, informational mailings, please contact Eve Halper at  ehalper@usbr.gov.

• SW Climate 10 Water Factsheet (pdf)
• SERDP ESTCP Webinar #30 RC 04-07-2016 V4 (pdf)
• Lower River Basin Study Public Meeting Summary and Comment Summary - Nov. 30, 2016
• Basin Study Public Meeting Legal Actions (pdf)
• Basin Study Annual Public Meeting
• Basin Study Fact Sheet  
• Lower Santa Cruz River Basin Study - U.S. Bureau of Reclamation