What is Global Water?

Global Water is a water resource company. We provide water, wastewater and recycled water services.

Recycled water is what we produce when we treat and purify wastewater. We distribute recycled water throughout the communities we serve in its own, separate system of pipes. We use recycled water for a variety of outdoor uses.

We call our approach “Total Water Management,” or “TWM”. We manage the entire water cycle, conserving water by using the right water for the right use. TWM protects water supplies in places where growth threatens to use all available water.

Why is Global Water’s TWM approach so important?

Many people view water as a limitless resource. This is clearly not the case. Water is actually a very scarce resource in some of the fastest growing areas of the Nation, and especially so in Arizona. Apart from the air we breathe, water is probably the most vital and most urgent need that people have, but our public policy response to water doesn’t convey its importance.

In Arizona, managing water supplies is hard because of two factors: high growth rates and limited availability of water. Because of that, many believe that Arizona may run out of water in the future.

In addition to growth and limited water supplies, drought has been a problem. Arizona had severe drought conditions over the past few years.

Whether we have water in the future will depend on what actions we take today. We must preserve and protect our limited and increasingly valuable water resources.

What has Global done to preserve our water resources?

We plan for a ‘worst-case’ scenario – running low on groundwater. We joined with the Cities and Indian Communities to plan over 300 square miles. More than 500,000 homes will be in those cities someday. And to make sure they would have water, we made water conservation the number one priority.

We made water conservation possible by:

• Investing over $200 million in Maricopa,
• Building state-of-the-art water, wastewater and recycled water systems,
• Installing 25 miles of “purple pipe” to deliver recycled water,
• Using recycled water throughout our community to keep parks, school grounds, and green spaces healthy and usable.

Recycling is an important part of conservation. The bags we get at the grocery store contain recycled material. People understand that the paper bag has been recycled – and that we don’t have to cut down as many trees. At its core, total water management means using the right water for the right purpose. When we water grass with water we can drink, we are wasting resources and money.

Utilities and cities work together to plan for the water they will need. They cooperate and develop plans for very large areas. But the most important issue facing recycled water use is something else. It is the public’s attitude.

Global reaches out to customers and to regulatory agencies to explain recycled water use; we have worked on research projects with many partners, including, the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and the United States Department of Agriculture; and we have focused on public outreach with award-winning messages designed to educate and inform. All of our efforts are included in our award-winning 25,000 square foot operations center, which was built to the highest energy and water conservation standards; in fact we flush the toilets in that building with recycled water.

How much water has Global Water saved using its “total water management approach?”

Global Water has saved over one and a half billion gallons of water in the City of Maricopa. And we did that in just four years by using recycled water instead of groundwater for numerous outdoor uses. To put this into context, if you put that much water into a 12” pipe, it would stretch 1.25 times around the equator. It’s enough water to fill 100,000 pools.

What are the benefits of using recycled water? And what does it mean for water sustainability?

Global Water focuses on using recycled water. To make recycled water, we take wastewater from homes and treat it to the highest standards so that it can be used again for a variety of applications. We don’t put recycled water into drinking water systems. By using recycled water, we can reduce our fresh water use by 40% or more.

What are the benefits of using recycled water? And what does it mean for water sustainability?

Global Water focuses on using recycled water. To make recycled water, we take wastewater from homes and treat it to the highest standards so that it can be used again for a variety of applications. We don’t put recycled water into drinking water systems. By using recycled water, we can reduce our fresh water use by 40% or more.

To put this into perspective we need to do some math.

By 2030, 5.6 million more people will live in Arizona. Each person uses an average of 135 gallons of water a day.

5,600,000 new people * 135 gallons = 756,000,000 more gallons a day
756,000,000 gallons a day * 365 days = 275,940,000,000 more gallons a year

Recycling is the only water source that grows as our population does. More people means more water, but it also means more showers, more baths, and more laundry – so we will have more wastewater.

If we use Global Water’s recycling model, we could reduce that water use by 40%. That would save over 300 million gallons of fresh water per day – and over 110 billion gallons a year. Water recycling protects Arizona’s future.