Water in the Desert

Over the years I have grown to have a substantial dislike of Tucson Water... they make it so easy. It began with the CAP shenanigans and continues as they continue to shove their head deeper into the sand. David Modeer's newest bright idea: since the Southwest is in a serious drought the first thing we need to do is think of future development. He wants to make sure we use (and thus secure) our share of the Colorado, so that when the Colorado finally fails to satiate everyone in the Southwest, we still have enough CrAPpy water to provided for all our new residents... at least for about 5 more years until we're all really screwed.

Since the Colorado watershed is in a drought situation and the river will soon be over allocated Tucson could lose its share if we are not already using it (currently we are not using our entire share). The Modeer solution: Draw even more water from an already hurting Colorado River and pump it into the ground in Avra Valley. Why: because the city and county refuse to get serious about our region's future growth and water supply.

Hey if we're going to waste water, at least do something useful with it. I say put it in the Santa Cruz riverbed North of Tucson so we can feel like we have a real river again... with cottonwoods and willows. It would be a prefect fit for the so called "Rio Nuevo"!

Reality check.... the future is more than 20 or 30 years long. Tucson is supposed to be progressive (read: not sold out). We should be leading the charge in reality planning... we'll let Phoenix continue to plan its deliberate ignorance.

I'd still like someone to tell me what (big picture here) benefit there is to this unrestrained growth. Quality of life goes down... way down, the environment gets slowly destroyed, more smog, more traffic, less community.... there is nothing that can compensate for these, not even a better economy! I say let's just stop building infrastructure... no more water or waterlines, no more roads or road widening, no more electricity, no more subsidies, no more tax incentives, no more permits to destroy neighborhoods and native plant communities, no more. Let us come face to face with what's really happening here. I for one will stay and watch people get fed up and stop moving here... people who are not dedicated to the region and its future will finally leave.

From there we can put our resources to what's important and lead the country to a better future... ha ha, just kidding. Well, at least have a more enjoyable city and a some surviving plants and animals nearby.

Goodbye Tucson, Hello Phoenix Minor

I want the old Tucson back... it has been invaded by hoards of unwelcome wealth. Tucson is becoming Phoenix, which in turn is becoming LA. And it's spreading over rural Southeastern Arizona, a land that was apparently unworthy for anything but cows until very recently. All of the sudden it's about as valuable as beachfront property!

Where is all this money coming from? We had our own old west economy in this no man's land between LA and Houston where money was actually worth something. Then, suddenly, our $10 had to compete with $100 dollars, which in California where it came from, was worth about $10. It's like when someone like me, on the lower end of economic success, goes to Guatemala and is like a millionaire... except these people brought their economy and prices with them.

As much as I blame California refugees themselves, it's also the fault of business interests which are pushing economic 'progress' in Tucson. More to blame than anyone are companies like Pulte, KB Home, and American Home, which are creating housing demand through advertising the pluses of our region... our wide open spaces, light traffic, gorgeous views, and inexpensive living... see the irony?

I would even be happy with Tucson 10 years ago... hell 5 years ago. The rate of change is amazing... I can barely leave my house without being surrounded by something depressing or infuriating -- new condos, new asphalt, new Californians clogging everything from roads to restaurants, new SUVs, new streets named Ironwood Way, which are actually paved over their namesake. It's finally starting to really get to me.

Sometimes I feel like I have to give up and move somewhere that nobody will ever want to go... maybe North Dakota. The only problem is that North Dakota sucks.... and of course the main problem is that I love this region. Everything from the Creosote flats to Sky Islands, ephemeral washes and unknown canyons to summer thunderstorms and the heat. The diversity of Nature is amazing. I even like a lot of things about the city of Tucson.

So what do I do? My options boil down to these: deal with it... or let it drive me crazy. Or perhaps I can wait till the day (hopefully in the not too distant future) when CAP runs dry and the wells start hitting mineral laden water... or maybe someday electricity rations will cause the AC loving, pseudo-desert rats to wilt and leave town.

In the mean-time it sure would be nice if more Southern Arizonans spoke out against what's happening here, making it clear that we REALLY don't want to live in Phoenix. We should show our local politicians that they have a lot of support to radically shift the direction of Tucson's future... that we don't want to continue supporting unsustainable growth, and that we actually like having a few pygmy-owls, ironwoods, and horned lizards, even at the expense of (short-term) economic growth.

Freeway through San Pedro River?!

That's what ADOT (AZ Dept. of Transportation) thinks is a reasonable option to route through traffic on I-10 around Phoenix and Tucson. ADOT has already contracted out to study the idea (see editorial below).

The proposed route cuts through some of Arizona's most prized natural areas including the San Pedro River valley, the last undamed river in the Southwest. The San Pedro is Southern Arizona's most important riparian area and hosts over 400 bird species, 100 butterfly species, 83 mammal species and 47 amphibian and reptile species. Other areas this freeway bypass would apparently effect is a very nice Sonoran Desert area South of Phoenix (in this area it would skirt the recently created Sonoran Desert National Monument), as well as the bajada on the North side of the Tortolitas, which has some of the most well developed Ironwood/Saguaro forest in Southern Arizona.

The direct effect of a freeway is nothing compared to the longterm changes it brings to an area... including development, offroad vehicles, among an endless array of others. We should do all we can to stop this project.


3-6-07 Tucson Citizen editorial --
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/ss/opinion/43914.php