TUCSON, Ariz. -- After two years of work, Tucson Water kicked off the Santa Cruz Heritage Project yesterday. The river has been dry since the 1940s when excessive groundwater pumping lowered the water table and depleted the river’s source, but that's all about to change.
Tucson Water held the official Santa Cruz River Heritage Project Release Party Monday afternoon in conjunction with the 22nd Annual El Día de San Juan Fiesta, an annual celebration of the coming monsoon rains and the feast day of St. John the Baptist, the patron saint of water and the biblical figure who baptized people in another desert river on the other side of the world.
"We are taking it from where we have been discharging it up near Marana and the Santa Cruz River, and we're moving some of it to discharge it further down stream closer to downtown," Public Information Officer with Tucson Water James McAdam said.
The Santa Cruz River Heritage Project will introduce a ribbon of flowing water to the Santa Cruz River south of downtown; offering bike riders, joggers, walkers, and equestrians along the downtown section of The Loop trail improved river conditions and flowing water to admire.
The project adds up to 2.8 million gallons of recycled water daily (3,150 acre feet a year) to the Santa Cruz River at a point south of downtown near the heart of the city. This added water will bring perennial flow to this portion of the river, fostering abundant native vegetation and wildlife along with new recreational and economic opportunities.
Re-use of treated wastewater is one of Tucson’s most significant water conservation tools. This treated wastewater is referred to as reclaimed water, and represents about 10 percent of our water resources. Currently about half of Tucson’s reclaimed water is not used by customers and is discharged into the Santa Cruz River further downstream, near the city’s northwestern edge. The location of this discharge causes Tucson Water to lose physical and legal control of this valuable resource.
The Heritage project uses existing infrastructure to bring recycled water to this location for in-channel aquifer recharge and riparian habitat expansion in the Santa Cruz River. A 980-foot pipeline, called an outfall, will bring water from the reclaimed system down into the river channel where it will create a perennial flow; a narrow stream of water within the larger river channel. This purified reclaimed water re-enters our water system as groundwater recharge and percolates through the ground to enter the aquifer. Once in the aquifer this water is stored for later use, preserving the future resiliency of our local water system and supply.
For additional information, contact the Public Information and Conservation Office at 520.791.4331 or pico@tucsonaz.gov.