More Water Conservation Help is Here for Commercial & Multifamily Customers!
Tucson Water has had a robust conservation program for residential customers since the late 1990s, offering free water conservation kits; high-efficiency toilet, clothes washer, gray water, and rainwater harvesting rebates and, in some cases, free toilet replacements and emergency repairs for qualifying customers!
Commercial and multifamily customers have also had access to high-efficiency toilet and urinal rebates for the past years and now have access to more funding to help them save water both indoors and outdoors.
Grass Removal and Landscape Replacement Rebate
This new grass removal rebate offers commercial and multifamily customers up to $100,000 for the removal of ornamental grass (as defined by City of Tucson). Customers can receive funding to remove up to 20,000 square feet of grass ($5 per square foot) and replace it with a landscape that uses water wisely.
Some of the requirements for the new landscape include selecting plants from the Arizona Department of Water Resources, Tucson Active Management Area Low Water Use Plants list and at a minimum, having 50% tree canopy or vegetative groundcover at maturity. This rebate is for owners and property managers of businesses or multifamily complexes that want to significantly reduce water consumption outdoors and begin to adapt their landscape to be more desert friendly, especially as temperatures rise!
Additional incentives are available to complement this rebate. Treebates of $100 per tree are available for trees on the qualifying plant list that are a minimum of 15 gallons in size. A property can also receive up to a $5,000 incentive ($1 per gallon of basin capacity) for installing rainwater harvesting basins.
Check out the first successful turf transformation through our rebate. The property removed nearly 15,000 square feet of turf from courtyard, and the contractor designed basins that can collect nearly 500,000 gallons of water runoff!
Free Upgrades for Indoor Water Efficient Technologies
Tucson Water customers that are property owners and managers of a multifamily property can receive up to $170,000 to upgrade units in their properties to help reduce indoor water consumption, lower water utility bills, and improve residents’ comfort. This new program provides funding for upgrading units with water efficient fixtures such as toilets, showerheads, bathtub diverters, lavatory and kitchen faucets, dishwashers, and clothes washers. Funding covers the cost of labor and the cost of the fixtures. Properties must be active multifamily Tucson Water customers, and must be located in a high-priority to moderate-high priority area on the Tucson Equity Priority Economic Sub-index Map.
Click here to learn more and apply. These rebates are available for a limited time on a first-come, first-served basis, with funding support from the Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona.
Are you a caring resident?
Forward this to your property manager and let them know about these opportunities! If you are interested in rebates for your home, visit https://www.tucsonaz.gov/Departments/Water/Conservation/Residential-Customer-Rebates to learn more about rebates available to residential customers.
Valeria Galindo is a Water Conservation Specialist for the City of Tucson – Tucson Water, one of twenty-one Water – Use It Wisely partners to offer water-saving advice and programs.