"This is the Santa Cruz River in 1904, seen from what we now know as A Mountain. Zoom in. Take a close look. It had year-round flow and was surrounded by a mesquite bosque (forest) and cottonwood groves. There are people alive today who grew up swimming in the Santa Cruz River. I spoke with one of them just a few months ago.
Excessive groundwater pumping & bad development decisions (thanks, Sam Hughes and your giant ditch) dropped the water table below the tree roots and the forest died. What we know as “normal” now is NOT normal for our desert. It’s devastation.
We are already in the emergency—exacerbated by long-term drought. Our average temp has gone up by 11 degrees over the past 100 years. 6 degrees of that is global. But 5 is local—our lost tree canopy, our dried-out rivers, our bare concrete and asphalt.
But there are glimmers of hope: rebounds in our water table over the past 20 years, areas of our rivers that are thriving on recharge using precious reclaimed water, amazing efforts by Tucson Water and by Tucsonans of all stripes to conserve our water and move toward sustainable choices.
We can have a future of cooling ribbons of restored rivers running through the city, urban forests, a healthy watershed. But we have to choose it. We have to choose to prioritize our rivers, our people, our plants, and our animals when we allocate our reclaimed water.
We need to cool Tucson, not data."
Join WMG for an online informational & advocacy event to stop Project Blue
Join Watershed Management Group for an advocacy and informational session about the water impacts of the Project Blue data centers proposed for southeast Tucson. We will share information on the water impacts of this proposed data center project, what "water positivity" means, the history of our rivers and aquifer, and our 50-Year Vision to restore our heritage of flowing creeks and rivers and cool Tucson and ensure long-term water resiliency for Southern Arizona.
You can pick up postcards to send to Mayor & Council at the WMG Welcome Center starting on Friday, July 25th between 9:30 and 5.
Note: The link to join the online session will be sent out closer to the event date.
Register for the event here:
https://watershedmg.org/event/virtual-learning-session-and-advocacy-event-resist-project-blue