Tucson, like many Western communities, historically over pumped our
groundwater supplies and dried up our rivers. Yet in the last few decades some creek flow has returned in the Sabino and Tanque Verde Creeks, and some groundwater areas have stabilized thanks to conservation, restoration, and reclaimed water projects. WMG’s 50-year vision is to restore our heritage of flowing creeks and rivers in the Sonoran Desert, continuing to restore groundwater levels that support seasonal and perennial flows, and we have long known that we will need to restore our rivers while getting less Colorado River water.
So now is a critical time to protect and build on the gains we’ve seen with groundwater and river flow, in light of Colorado River shortages. Less Colorado River water will result in more local groundwater pumping by our water utilities, including increased pumping in shallow groundwater areas that support our riparian areas, like in the Sabino, Tanque Verde, and Rillito watersheds. In addition, there are many people on wells and small water utilities in the area, that don't have access to conservation programs like those served by Tucson Water.
So what can we do? Simply put, we need to ramp up conservation, increase groundwater recharge, and value our local water resources. WMG is engaging communities in this hydro-local approach, instead of increasing unsustainable practices of over-pumping groundwater, drying up our creeks, and relying on imported water. Donations fund WMG’s innovative groundwater conservation work, and this spring we need to raise $125,000 to continue this work. With just $19,000 to reach our goal, will you donate today to ensure we have the funds we need to continue our groundwater conservation work?
WMG was one of three winners of the Colorado River Basin Water Scarcity Challenge, offered by The Gates and Walton Family Foundations. As challenge winners, a team of consultants from Quantified Ventures (QV) is working with WMG pro bono, to develop and scale-up groundwater conservation and river restoration solutions for the Sabino, Tanque Verde, and Rillito watersheds.
The QV team came to Tucson last week, and we met with many stakeholders to build a collaborative approach to protecting and restoring our precious shallow groundwater areas and continue the work to restore flow to our creeks. City and county staff, city council members, and homeowners associations were all receptive to the message and interested in continuing to build the partnership. We will be pursuing a variety of funding opportunities, starting this month, to pull down large state and federal dollars to scale up this work.
While we are over the moon to win the Water Scarcity Challenge, this grant does not cover any of WMG’s staff time. So we’re counting on you as one of our supporters to donate to our spring campaign, to ensure we can innovate, scale-up, and continue the groundwater conservation work.
Water conservation and groundwater recharge strategies are proven to work in the greater Tucson area, however there is a real need to develop innovative funding and finance solutions at scale in sensitive groundwater areas, especially for people without access to conservation programs, like those on wells or with small water utilities.
Thank you for being part of our hydro-local movement. We greatly appreciate your investment by making a gift today, or joining us a monthly donor, to help us reach our $125,000 fundraising goal.
