2021 was a wild year for Tucson’s creeks and rivers, with historically high flows from the 3rd wettest monsoon on record in Tucson! All year long, our Flow365 community scientists were on the scene, capturing flow data for specific streams throughout the Tucson basin. This community science operation is led by a subset of our River Run Network— a group of people working together to restore Tucson's heritage of flowing creeks and rivers.
While county agencies have flow gauges at some points across Tucson to be able to alert the public about flooding, the data our Flow365 volunteers have been collecting since 2016 fills a gap in data by recording gentler flows, capturing how flow starts and stops at different times of year, and helping us understand the unique nature of our desert rivers and how they respond to changes in precipitation and groundwater levels. Our Flow365 monitors are in the field collecting flow data on a regular basis, at least once a month, but often weekly or even daily during periods of changing flow. Over time, this data also helps us determine the impact of collective conservation actions on creek flow, as we strive towards our long-term goal of restoring Tucson’s heritage of flowing creeks and rivers.
This year’s data tells us we had record flows across the watershed during the monsoon season, including in areas where flow was slow and consistent enough to recharge groundwater aquifers. Our data correlates the flows in our creeks and rivers with rain & snowfall, tracks groundwater levels through a handful of accessible wells, and paints a more complete picture of flow in Tucson’s creeks and rivers. This big picture perspective will help us adapt to climate change, as well as a growing population that places ever higher demands on our regional and local water sources. In both the near and distant future, Flow365 data will help the people of Tucson protect our water, riparian habitats, and the people, plants and animals of the Sonoran Desert.
We’re pleased to publicly share highlights from the data our Flow365 monitors have collected for the 2021 water year, which starts October 1st, 2020 and ends September 30th, 2021. Looking at the water year is a better way to analyze river flow than the calendar year, because it takes into account how the seasonal fluctuations of our winter precipitation and summer monsoons impact flow.
