Santa Cruz River Lives Again

11/04/20 • 35 min

Urban expansion and mismanagement of the Santa Cruz River in southern Arizona had led to a dry river bed for much of the year. Using effluent (treated wastewater), the City of Tucson Water Department brought perennial flow back to a portion of the river, just South of downtown Tucson. The returned water recharges groundwater to the local aquifer, while restoring vegetation and wildlife to this stretch of the river. James McAdam from Tucson Water, and Michael Bogan and Drew Eppehimer from the University of Arizona, describe the Santa Cruz River Project (https://tucsonaz.gov/water/Heritage), including its benefits to the ecosystem and local community, as well as challenges they experienced along the way. Episode photo by Michael Bogan.
For more info on the project:
https://sonoraninstitute.org/resource/living-river-report-2019/
https://peerj.com/articles/9856/
Related webinar series by our partners at the Desert Laboratory at Tumamoc Hill: https://tumamoc.arizona.edu/past-present-and-future-santa-cruz-river-heritage-reach.

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USDA Southwest Climate Hub: https://www.climatehubs.usda.gov/hubs/southwest
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Come Rain or Shine - Santa Cruz River Lives Again

Transcript

Santa Cruz River Lives Again

Emile Elias: [00:00:00] Welcome to come rain or shine podcast of the USDA Southwest Climate Hub

Sarah LeRoy: [00:00:06] and the department of Interior Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center or Southwest CASC. I'm Sarah Leroy science communications coordinator for the Southwest CASC

Emile Elias: [00:00:17] and I'm Emile Elias, director of the USDA Southwest Climate Hub.