Imagine this Place

Imagine this place…

Where we live in harmony with nature

Landscaping reflecting the natural beauty of the Sonoran desert

Instead of gravel and cement; agave, mesquite, palo verde flourish

Rainwater washes down roof tops to nourish fruit trees and fill aquifers

When we no longer obstruct the flow but go with it

Rivers surrounded by cottonwood and oak

Flow

Imagine this place

Where we live in harmony with others

Nurturing, inspiring the individual gifts everyone has to share

Instead of TV and Youtube: family, neighbors, community connects

Supporting local farmers, artisans, craftsmen, passionate entrepreneurs

When we no longer obstruct the flow but go with it

Talents developed with encouragement and love

Flow

Imagine this place

Where we live in harmony with the dirt

Harvesting nourishing, heritage crops for everyone to share

Instead of teaching lack and fear, we teach love, justice, environmental respect

Restoring local rivers, aquifers with berms, water tanks, catchment basins

When we no longer obstruct the flow but go with it

Desert crops sprout in the dirt, roots reaching for the

Flow

Imagine all the time

Time to live in the present, fully alive

To soak in the brilliance of our sunsets during an evening stroll

To feel the wind in your face as you coast down a hill

Time to take in the fragrance of creosote after the rain

To toast the spectacle of monsoon storms with your love

Time to dig in the garden with your children

To settle back and watch things grow

Time to share your harvest at a neighborhood potluck

 To paint, to read, to bake, to sing, to dance, to play…

Imagine floating on your back, you are part of the flow

Imagine this place

Flow

Restore the Flow!

The water must flow.

Yet it so often does not.

The water must flow.

I'll admit...it's a pretty bad haiku. That was my entry in the poetry slam at the Watershed Management Group's Flow & Feast event held last night at a ranch that straddles Sabino Creek. I was inspired by the good fellowship, great food and drink, and by the number of enthusiastic people who joined together to share the dream of restoring Tucson's watershed.

Did you know that most of the now dry riverbeds in Tucson used to have running water in them nearly year-round? That Sabino Creek had running water for 200 days this year? We can increase that number by implementing common sense measures to reduce our impact on Tucson's aquifer. For much of Tucson's history, we were water self-sufficient, but over-development and unsustainable practices have made that impossible. So, we joined together on Saturday night, wearing our blue to symbolize flowing water, to envision a future where Sabino Creek flows nearly year round.

Restore the flow!

We can do this. It's really not that hard, it just requires being mindful of how we use water and where our water goes to and comes from. It's actually a lot of fun to observe the water flows in your own yard and imagine how you can redesign your landscape to make use of that totally free resource we all have available to us. When we think of the Sonoran desert, we think of Saguaro - and with good reason. But we should remember that these are also native to our desert:

We can restore our riparian areas. We can restore the flow.

Desert Landscaping: Going Native for Tucson's Rivers

There are some things that just drive me crazy! Like...why are there still patches of lawn in the Tucson desert? And those little rocks that get caught in your sandals – gravel!  I understand why people put gravel in their yards.  It conserves water, sure.  I don’t want to spend all weekend weeding either. But if you look at the sun cracked, gravel covered plastic we use to tame it, there are signs of life (weeds) breaking through. When some people think of the desert, they think of dirt. But our dirt is brimming with untamed life. 

When I first came to Tucson, I was amazed by all the green in our desert: our famous saguaros, prickly pears towering over roof tops, agaves with stalks resembling giant asparagus, and cholla cactuses lining the horizon like furry puppies glowing in the afternoon sun.  (Don’t try petting them though!) Twisted and gnarled Mesquite and Paloverde trees grow amok. This time of year wild flowers speckle the ground. The desert hums with bees pollinating brilliant cactus blooms. Our tough desert plants are adept at storing water for the long dry spells.

There are seasons when our desert has an overabundance of water. In the spring, icy water bounds down the Catalina Mountains into rushing rivers and streams. During Monsoon season, our washes rage and overflow. Not enough of this water sinks into our aquifer, because the caliche ground has turned hard from inconsistent rain. Instead our precious rain water is collected in city streets to be polluted with automobile oil. Lack of foresight and understanding have left us with no infrastructure to retain the water for our daily use. Miles and miles of cement aqueducts bring us water from the Colorado River. But we are beginning to see how vulnerable that supply is as poisonous tailings from long abandoned mines leak into Colorado’s rivers reaching as far as our own Lake Powell.

It wasn’t always like that. Tucson is one of the oldest settlements in the country.  Native Americans and Mexicans settled here for the abundant Santa Cruz river water. The Hohokam, expert desert farmers, created an elaborate irrigation system connected to the river. They captured rainwater with rock dams and storage tanks. The Tohono O'odham crafted earthen dams and brush weirs to divert water from washes to crops. There was a riparian habitat with abundant trees and animals. It wasn’t that long ago that our rivers and streams flowed year around. Old time Tucsonans still reminisce about playing in the river as children.

This was before bad management, over-pumping and drought depleted our ground water and turned those rivers into dry river beds. It was before cement and gravel covered the earth. 

Hope is budding around the desert like native wild flowers. Nestled in nearby neighborhoods are shady desert oases boasting colorful native flora and fauna.  Some are nourished with rainwater runoff from roofs or gray water from washing machines.  Water is diverted into the yards using berms and rocks to direct the flow to catchment basins where water soaks into the ground to nourish plants.

Tucson’s own Watershed Management Group is inspiring local homeowners and businesses to develop more sustainable landscaping. All this might seem overwhelming, but the WMG is here to help. They offer free classes on rainwater and greywater harvesting. You can learn more by taking their field studies courses. You can get started on creating your own desert oasis by joining their coop and working on other people’s yards. When you accumulate 19 hours, the volunteers will work on your yard for free (not including the cost of materials and consultation/supervisor.) Dan and I have started the process by taking classes and joining WMG's coop so we can transform our own yard using rainwater and greywater harvesting.

 Organic mulch and native grass in catchment basin allow water to seep into the ground.

One of the most incredible things we learned in Watershed Management Group’s classes is that we can all play a part in refurbishing our ground water so the Sabino and Tanque Verde Creeks will flow into the Santa Cruz River once again!

There are signs of positive change throughout the city. Tucson Water offers rebates for homeowners to install rainwater harvesting and graywater systems. The city is taking baby steps towards better water management. While there are still patches of grass by the Old Courthouse, there are also curb cuts to water native trees outside of the new County Public Service Center.  

emitters watering boulders

If we dig up all that boring gravel and enhance our rustic desert landscape with rainwater harvesting, we can play a part in replenishing Tucson’s groundwater so we can enjoy flowing rivers surrounded by flourishing Cottonwood and Willow trees.

UPDATE SEPT. 1, 2019: I am so excited about the City's Proposed Stormwater Management Program. Installing more Green Stormwater Infrastructure is one of the most impactful actions we can take to make Tucson water independent and secure in the future. As a citizen advocate, I have attended G.I. planning meetings at the Pima Department of Environmental Quality. I'm so impressed by the incredible the work that the city and county are doing to implement Green Stormwater infrastructure using guidelines by Watershed Management Group. To really be sustainable, we need these systems to be built all over town and to be maintained.

UPDATE MAY 1, 2020: Green Stormwater Infrastructure fee was included on utility service statements for residents and businesses within the City of Tucson to pay for maintenence of GSI.

UPDATE 2021: The City hired Blue Baldwin as Tucson Water's green stormwater infrastructure program manager. In November, Dan and I participated in a training to monitor GSI installations with city and county employees. In December, we also attended GSI maintenance training for landscapers and maintenance people working on the city's GSI features.