SUMMERHAVEN, Ariz. — A wet August and September, capped by a heavy storm early this week, has pulled the Mount Lemmon community of Summerhaven out of Stage III water restrictions. Creek water is moving through town again. Residents who spent the last couple of years measuring showers and laundry loads say the change is welcome — and temporary if winter stays dry.
Grey Carpenter, who lives on the mountain, owns the general store, and sits on the Mount Lemmon Water District board, told KOLD the monsoon dropped roughly 20 inches of rain on the peak. He described the mountain as a sponge that can hold that volume for a stretch, and he said the sight of water in the creek is the first of its kind in a while.
The relief is real because the restrictions have been on-and-off. Carpenter said the community was limited last year, eased into a voluntary Stage II, then slid back into Stage III. Stage III meant cutting everyday use: dishes, laundry, showers. Getting out of that tier, he said, is a chance to stop treating every gallon like an emergency.
It is not a guarantee through winter. Carpenter was blunt with the station: if snow does not arrive and the mountain has another dry winter, Summerhaven will be back under tight limits next year. The community depends on precipitation arriving in sequence, not on a single wet month.
University of Arizona hydrology professor Victor Baker explained why rain and snow are not interchangeable here. Much of a hard rain runs off the surface. The rock holds water only where it is fractured, so only a fraction soaks in. Snow melts more slowly, giving water time to move into the ground instead of racing downhill.
That distinction matters for a small mountain system that does not have the backup supplies available to Tucson or Phoenix. Summerhaven’s drinking water comes from what the Catalinas can store locally. A good monsoon can refill the near-term account. A thin snowpack spends it.
The timing also sits against a larger Arizona water year. Colorado River operating rules changed this month, and Valley cities are still sorting how shortages will be shared. Mount Lemmon’s problem is smaller and more immediate: a few hundred people and visitors at the top of a sky island whose supply rises and falls with the next storm cycle.
For now, the creek is running and the strictest limits are off. District leaders are treating that as a pause, not a solved problem, until they see whether winter puts snow on the mountain.