(mariachi music)
- So we're standing here at the Mission Garden.
It's a ethnobotanical garden where we're trying
to represent very much what Tucson
used to be 150 years ago.
People would've been growing wheat,
corn, beans, fruit trees.
They would've been growing vegetables
and all kinds of plants that would've been
sustaining the community.
All of course related to the amount of water
that was present in the Santa Cruz River.
- The Santa Cruz River's always been a
key part of why Tucson has had civilization here
for thousands of years and even though
it doesn't look like it today, it used to be
a perennially flowing river.
- This was a thriving, flourishing river
with cottonwoods and willows and surface water
flowing all year long.
As we move through history, population growth
the Spanish, the European influence in the region...
- [Tim] People would actually divert water
out of the river in order to grow crops
or do other things and that really started changing
how the river behaved into the early 1900s.
- [Jesus] And later on, as air-conditioning
came into this area the city exploded.
- [Tim] People discovered how to pump
from the groundwater beneath the river
in order to keep building the community.
- There's a lot of factors that led
to the river drying up,
but groundwater pumping is a big one.
That changed what was living along the river.
You know the Gila topminnow disappeared
as well as many other native fish.
- Visionaries have often thought about,
okay wouldn't it be great if we could have
the Santa Cruz River flow again.
But it wasn't until about 2016
that Tucson Water really took a look at,
okay is this now the time, is there an opportunity here
and do we have the resources in place
that it could make sense.
And it really did.
It lined up really nicely as something
that would be good for the community
but it also fit in with how we approach
management of our water supplies for the future.
So it's been about a three year conversation
from idea to when we're actually gonna
dedicated the flow.
(mariachi music)
- Well good afternoon everybody.
I want to welcome you all
to this dedication ceremony for the Santa Cruz River.
This is a project that's been many years in the making
and we're finally here today.
- This is a grand experiment.
We actually don't know for sure
how far the water will flow.
We have a limited pipe diameter
and limited amount of water we can put in.
So, we're gonna use that
and it'll flow maybe one mile, maybe two miles.
We'll find out over time.
A lot of people might wonder about,
okay how are rate payer dollars being used to do this,
and the total cost of this project
is well under $1 million.
To be able to recharge this amount of water
in a constructive facility would be
at least three to six times as expensive as that.
When we deliver water into the river channel
most of it actually soaks in to the groundwater beneath
and when you do that over time
it actually can start to rebuild
the groundwater underneath it.
- Adding any kind of water regularly to the river
is gonna increase diversity and probably
support more plants like willows and other vegetation
that need more access to water, aquatic wildlife,
insects that a lot of them start their life in the river
and they're a good food source for fish and birds.
- It's a very high quality of reclaimed water.
It's not drinking water, but incidental contact
with that water is perfectly appropriate.
This is the same water that we use
on our golf courses,
that we use in our parks and school grounds.
And it's actually the same quality of water
that already flows in the Santa Cruz River
much further North.
- [Claire] The stretch of the river from
Sweetwater Wetlands area, North to Marana,
I believe we've been releasing water
into the river since the 70s.
So we've been doing it for a long time
but what's really changed is the quality in the water.
I don't think there was any seeding of vegetation.
It just will come on it's own,
so give it water and it will come.
- A few people have asked, how would
the return of the flow effect the Mission Garden
or would compliment somehow the Mission Garden?
Wildlife and the biodiversity, whether we're talking
bats, insects, and birds, and possibly reptiles
will be connected in a bridge between
the "A" Mountain, Tumamoc Hill area,
The Mission Garden Oasis, and the permanent flow,
even if it's small will definitely increase
the biodiversity in the entire area.
- Unless you live in the dessert
you just don't appreciate rain and rivers
the way Tucsonan's do.
And releasing the water into the Santa Cruz today
on el Dia de San Juan, when Tucsonan's
are good and ready for the monsoon to start
is especially appropriate.
Only Tucsonan's could understand why,
on one of the hottest days of the year,
we go outside of our own free will,
celebrate our city, and fervently hope for rain.
(clapping)
(mariachi music)
(singing in foreign language)
- It is a very important symbolic gesture I would say.
Personally, I can compare to what
we're doing here at the Mission Garden.
There's no way we can bring everything back
the way things used to be, you know when
Tucson was a little town.
But yet, it brings us the concept
of why we're here, understanding
the origins of Tucson makes us understand this region.
It makes us conserve and makes us appreciate what we have.
When you see the water flowing in the Santa Cruz
and you can go and touch it
and you can go and put your feet in the water
you are touching history.
- Really we focus so much on
what we've lost along the river
and our river is still there.
It's still very much alive.
It's probably really different from
what it used to be in the past,
but it's still part of our heritage.
It's the reason we can call Tucson home.