Tucson Leads the Way
Tucson leads the way
In collaboration with city, county, and academic institutions can open new opportunities to secure new water resources. Green infrastructure is critical to reducing the demand on potable supplies, explain authors Susanna Eden at the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center and at the Pima County Regional Flood Control District.
Water harvesting has been used in the Tucson, Arizona region since prehistoric times and is now in resurgence. Within the past 30 years, Tucson has become a leader in desert rainwater and stormwater capture to build resilience and address growing concerns about water scarcity. Beginning with grassroots efforts focused on collective impacts of individual and neighborhood actions, a new attitude toward rainfall as a resource is flourishing. Local programs encourage citizen participation and support small-scale, distributed infrastructure, with an emphasis on retrofitting properties and roadways, while a large-scale stormwater harvesting project collects enough water to irrigate a regional sports park