Community Gardens

Do you represent or belong to a community garden within the City of Tucson? Tucson Water has a three-year pilot program that offers a more affordable water rate to community gardens to support local, community agriculture.

Community gardens are defined in the City of Tucson Unified Development Code (Article 11.3.2.B) as “An area of land operated not-for-profit to grow and harvest food crops primarily for the use of its members who typically cultivate individual garden plots.”

Qualifying customers can apply to receive a garden water rate if they have a designated irrigation meter providing water to the garden only. For customers without an irrigation meter, this program will provide financing to install a dedicated irrigation meter and backflow device for garden watering. Once the irrigation meter is installed, the customer will be eligible to receive the garden water rate.

Download the Community Garden Pilot Program Application(PDF, 629KB)

Frequently Asked Questions about the Pilot Program(PDF, 203KB)

If you are interested in starting a community garden on a vacant lot, please check out the City of Tucson’s Brownfields Grant Program that provides environmental assessments to aid redevelopment.

For questions, and for cost and payback estimates, e-mail conservation@tucsonaz.gov or call the Conservation & Stormwater Resources Office at (520) 791-4331.