Before and After the Rain

Last night we celebrated the long awaited rain by taking a lot of pictures. 

There is always some preparation for monsoon season: clearing debris from the gutters to the cistern, adding more mulch to basins, and  making sure that nothing is obstructing the earthwork channels that direct water to the Mexican Honeysuckle. 

But this year we have had to deal with the effect of extreme heat followed by flooding on our landscape. A couple weeks ago, a "Tree Stress" alert was issued. We were encouraged to deep water all our trees to survive the excessive heat. Dan was shocked by how much water we used. 

That was followed by a "Flash Flood" warning. And down it came with a fury!

One thing I learned was that I could have held off on deep watering my native trees. I also learned that every drop of water is precious! 

Luckily Dan had already installed a small cistern to harvest the water from our generous neighbor's roof. Thanks, Dave!  . 

It was a delight to see it working well.

Dan tried to get in another cistern before last night's storm. But he only managed to get in the gutters before the downpour started. 

So he grabbed every bucket and pan he could find to catch the water rushing from the downspout. 

This was quite the gully washer! Our new cistern and the blue water barrels filled up.  It completely filled up our greywater basin... Wow! 

Our right of way basin was quickly filling up...

Our jujube basin started overflowing...

No worry about mosquitoes... The water in all the basins sunk in beautifully (as planned) by morning! 

After seeing the effects of extreme heat on our plants, we learned that every drop of water counts.  I've gotten in the habit of checking the weather each morning to see if it is going to rain. I try to use up the water in our buckets before the next downpour. I don't want to leave water in the buckets long enough for mosquitos to lay their eggs in there anyway. 

But where to put the water?  

I used my favorite water bucket to deep water my garden and the jujubes (alternating between them so the water could have a chance to sink in and not cause erosion.) A few of the buckets had lids so I left them for later (in case it doesn't rain.) Dan is in the process of installing a bigger cisterns that won't need to be completely emptied before the next rain.  Thank heavens!  All this bucket schlepping is killing me! 

While I was out there, I also did a little damage control.  I made sure that the mulch was three inches away from the trunks of the trees so termites didn't get them. I was  careful not to disturb the white stuff (mycelium) that means that the soil is healthy.  I was also happy to see the little mushrooms around the big jujube (that also means that soil is good.) Wow! The soil sure loves all that rain! 

Checkout how these tiny "weeds" kept the mulch from washing out of the basin! The native grasses that lined our right of way basin also slowed down the storm water to prevent erosion!

The roots of the native grasses and other desert plants work with the wood chip mulch to create a sponge to hold the water longer.  These so-called weeds are a vital part of our earthworks! 

Now we're ready and looking forward to more rain! 

After more rain this happened. 

For the Love of Tucson: Creating a Desert Oasis to Combat Climate Change

When I first moved to Tucson, it rained most every day during monsoon season. I remember waiting for it to cool off in the evening so we could take the little ones to the pool. Inevitably we would wait in the car as a storm swept by. Then we would enjoy the most luminous sunsets as we swam - storm clouds catching the brilliant hues of the setting sun. That was the beginning of my love affair with this stunning desert. But it wasn’t until I witnessed the ravages of record heat and sparse rain on our own little monsoon garden that my heart became totally invested in fighting the effects of climate change on our desert town.

I've often pondered how climate change would affect Tucson.  Nobody knows exactly.  But, from what I've learned, climate change often seems to intensify the extreme weather of a particular area. In that case, Tucson would continue to experience rising temperatures, prolonged droughts and more severe floods. That means even more flood damage as storms further erode the banks of hard, dried river beds.

The desert will eventually return to its natural state with or without us. But if we don't stop savaging the earth for profit, Tucson could become a stark, barren desert. If we don't change our ways now, even our iconic saguaros won't be able to survive the scorching heat.

I sometimes wonder what will become of my little house after finally paying it off. If temperatures continue to rise, would my boys still want to live here? Would they even be able to sell the house if they decided to leave? That's one reason I'm dedicated to finding ways to lessen the impact of climate change on our town or at least find ways to live here comfortably.

Anyone who is paying attention knows we need to reduce our dependency on fossil fuels and curb our wasteful consumer lifestyle if we want to stave off climate change. But for Tucson to be more resilient, we need to learn to responsibly use the resources the desert has to offer: the power of the sun, native flora and fauna, and our seasonal rainwater.

We can start by implementing solar energy* to keep our air-conditioners running and planting native shade trees to cool our neighborhoods. But to be really sustainable we need to start living in harmony with the desert. No, I'm not talking about living off the land like the Hohokam before us. I'm not talking about giving up all of our modern conveniences. (Most of them can be adapted or retrofitted to be more environmentally sound.) I'm talking about restoring as much of the desert habitat as possible in an urban environment. I'm envisioning our neighborhoods as desert oases with edible forests of native plants and desert rain gardens with drought tolerant heritage crops. You've probably seen some lush desert landscaping or cool community gardens popping up around town. That's what inspired Dan and I to plant our own edible forest irrigated with rainwater and greywater and to start experimenting with drought tolerant crops. We are working towards food security.

How do we transition Tucson into an urban desert oasis? The first step is embracing the nature of the desert we inhabit. Stop trying to force it into something it's not. Stop bulldozing it and paving it over for perpetual development. Shut off the sprinklers that water those little patches of grass in front of businesses. Sorry, manicured lawns don't belong in the desert - native plants do. We need to rethink our perception of tidy xeriscape landscaping and stop suffocating our native vegetation with plastic and mounds of gravel. Why on earth are we raking up all that great organic matter that could be nourishing our soil and allowing the rainwater to sink in? And all those weeds we "Roundup" can help prevent erosion.

Noooo!

One of the biggest concerns of living in the desert is having a reliable source of water.  Right now Tucson depends on CAP water. A whole coal-powered generating plant was built to run the pumps that push our water 336 miles uphill from the Colorado River. Unfortunately, that source isn't sustainable. As droughts continue, there will be more competition for that diminishing water supply. The river supplies over 40 million people in Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Wyoming and Mexico as well as a $5 billion-a-year agricultural industry.

The good news is that there is enough annual rainfall to supply every Tucsonan's water needs - if we harvest the storm water. While the city and county work on their own green infrastructure improvements, we can incorporate rainwater harvesting features that keep the water in our yards to irrigate our native landscapes, edible forests and drought tolerant gardens.

Diverting roof water to wood chip mulch covered catchment basins conserves water which helps to restore our aquifers. Those near a river or wash can even help infiltrate water to the aquifer. If you wanna see how it's done, you can tour Watershed Management Group's Living Lab and Learning Center. Using a combination of cisterns and earthworks, WMG harvests enough rainwater (during a regular monsoon season) to meet all of their needs - including irrigating some fruit trees! But more important are their efforts to restore Tucson's aquifers and get our rivers flowing again.

Underground cistern at WMG's living lab

By returning our yards to a more natural state that allows rainwater to sink in, our hope is that it will replenish the Tucson basin and get the rivers flowing year around.

But here is an even greater vision!

 

If we could get everyone on board, we might even be able restore the riparian habitats by the rivers. We could transition to green infrastructure throughout the city. We could all use earthworks to sink in more of the storm water in our yards, schools, churches, business properties, and empty lots. That would slow down the rush of water before it gets to the rivers and washes. That native vegetation would act as a sponge allowing flood waters to sink in! There would be less flood damage. (Extreme weather costs Tucson and Pima Country $9,449,667 a year.)

Restoring the riparian habitat would attract more birds and other wildlife to Tucson. Arizona is already a bird lovers' paradise with ecotourism contributing to our $21.2 billion tourist industry. Imagine Tucson becoming the hub of ecotourism!

     
What is your vision for Tucson?  Would you like to ride your bike along a flowing river surrounded by twisty mesquite? Pick a fig from the orchard in the park? Enjoy the sight of  hummingbirds, butterflies and other pollinators fluttering around desert shrubs in a traffic median? Snack on some yummy edible weeds without worrying about pesticides? Stop by a neighborhood garden stand for some freshly harvested salad fixin's? Wouldn't it be cool if a local farmer grew drought tolerant heritage white wheat and amaranth by the Santa Cruz river to be milled right here in Tucson and baked into healthy bread in Tucson's own native grains bakery?

That's me holding a bag of freshly milled mesquite flour.

 I have a dream. I believe Tucson can thrive in the future if we reduce our dependency on fossil fuels, cut down on waste, restore our desert flora and fauna, and use the desert's resources responsibly.  Instead of polluting our water by mining coal, we can use one of the desert's most abundant resources - the sun! Why not power our vehicles, homes and businesses with solar? We can retrofit our older houses and business buildings to conserve energy and water. We can have neighborhood micro food parks with safe bike and walking paths. We can make Tucson THE ecotourism destination by attracting more birds and wildlife to our urban desert. And all those desert trees sequester carbon!

Brad Lancaster shows how a curb cut lets in street water to irrigate mesquite trees.

We already have a great community working to make Tucson more sustainable: Sustainable Tucson, Feeding Tucson, Community Water Coalition, Sonora Environmental Research Institute, Sonoran Institute, Watershed Management Group, Tucson Water, the 2030 District, Local First, Zero Waste Tucson, UA Compost Cats,  Desert Harvesters, Iskashitaa Refugee Network, Arizona Master Naturalists, The Sierra Club, Tucson Audubon Society, Pima County Master Gardeners, Mission Garden, Community Gardens of Tucson, Trees for Tucson, Native Seeds/SEARCH, the Pima County Seed Library, Living Streets Alliance, the U of A, the Desert Museum, and the Community Food Bank's Community Gardens. Several schools like Manzo Elementary and Changemaker High have gardens.

The Pima County Department of Environmental Quality has a manual on green infrastructure. The City of Tucson and Pima County have pledged to fight climate change and even implemented a Green Infrastructure fee. Check out the Mayor's Million Tree Program. 

Let's work together for a sustainable future for Tucson!

MORE ABOUT GREEN INFRASTRUCTURE IN TUCSON

https://www.sustainablelivingtucson.com/2019/09/support-tucsons-green-stormwater.html

MORE THINGS YOU CAN DO...

What Kind of Climate Champion Are You? 

Exploring food forests in Tucson

Brad Lancaster's Documentary:

Water Harvester: An Invitation to Abundance - Arizona Public Media

Rain in Tucson! A Reason to Celebrate?

Streets flooding, cars submerged in underpasses, drain pipes spouting...

Stone underpass photo by Alfonso Sahagun Casaus

This is what we call "flood control" in Tucson.

Our infrastructure was designed so rainwater is directed into the streets where it creates hazardous driving conditions until it evaporates in the hot desert sun. This makes me crazy!

A catchment basin

The other day, while waiting for my friend at a neighborhood restaurant, I noticed that water was flowing out of their parking lot and into the street. I figured they had left the hose on so I went to investigate. I followed the stream of water up the side of the parking lot where it made a hard right turn then went along until the end of the pavement, then under a cute pedestrian bridge and to a WASH. So the water collected in the wash was being directed out into the street! Arghhh!  While Dan and I couldn't wait to earn enough co-op hours to get our own catchment basin to "plant the water," precious agua was being directed into the street to evaporate!

This is Tucson recently posted the article, "Here's why those same Tucson streets flood every time it rains."  According to the article, the reason we have flooding is because it would cost $100 million to fix the 47 projects that flood every year. The attitude of the state officials is "Why bother? Just leave the water in the street and it will evaporate." But that is just the point. We need an infrastructure that directs the rain so it sinks into our depleted aquifer instead of just letting it evaporate. There is actually enough rainfall to supply water for every person in Tucson! That doesn't seem to be our representatives priority - even with Tucson suffering from a 20 year drought.

Curb cuts get rainwater off of city streets to water native plants and our aquifer.

Watershed Management Group has come up with a solution to our water woes! And the solution is in our own backyard! And front yard! They are encouraging people to irrigate desert landscaping with our abundant rainwater! By working together to "plant the rain" with cisterns, road cuts, and rainwater harvesting we can restore our ground water and get the rivers flowing again! How amazing is that!? The idea is to keep water in your yard instead of running off into the street - directing rainwater to irrigate native plants, fruit trees, and gardens while sinking it into the ground.

A while ago we made some minor adjustments in our yard to make use of the runoff to water our Mexican Honeysuckle.

You might recall me frantically hacking at the bricks that were trapping the water on our patio. (It wasn't a pretty sight!) Dan had suggested that if I used the right tool for the job, I could get that brick out lickety-split (actually that's my mom's word) with the brick intact.

Turns out Dan was r-r-right. Using his new pick, Dan got a row of bricks by the cactus garden out in 10 minutes. He was mostly done before I managed to get the cell phone. (But, to be fair, the bricks weren't even half as deep as mine!)

Yesterday's monsoon was the perfect time to test how well they drained.... After three hours of raining, our "wading pool" drained in a few minutes! And I have to admit, Dan's drained better!

We can use a similar technique to get water off of our city streets! By putting in curb cuts, rainwater is directed to roadside catchment basins to irrigate native trees and restore our aquifer!

Success! 

By working together we can take advantage of our abundant rainfall to make our city greener, save city water, and get rainwater out of our city streets! Making use of all that glorious rain is a great reason to celebrate!