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Hydrating Phoenix: Quenching a city in the desert; How Phoenix and its 3.5 million people defied the odds, running on all cylinders without running dry

Posted by: Maven on August 6, 2009 at 10:29 pm

From Mother Nature Network:

“Mayor Phil Gordon grew up playing in swampy back yards. During summers in central Phoenix, Ariz., he and his friends looked forward to the days when their parents would flood the grass, which meant a day or two of inch-deep splash puddles or soggy baseball games. Today, though the residents use the irrigation canals less frequently, nearby back yards are still separated by trenches, punctuated with pipes and valves that let homeowners flood their lawns about once a month rather than use water for daily sprinkler systems.

The network of canals sends untreated water from the Salt River Dam, where turbines generate electricity for the state of Arizona’s use, on its way to water treatment facilities. Using nothing more than gravity, city controllers can open up smaller networks of canals on a regularly scheduled basis for landscaping use, currently about two-thirds of the water used in the city, according to the city of Phoenix Water Resource Plan.

Gordon reminisces about his aquatic youth, telling me that central Phoenix was once a hotbed for citrus growers because the water was so plentiful. But that was decades ago, before the population exploded to more than 3.5 million residents, all thirsty, all washing laundry, and all wanting things like pools and golf courses and vegetables. Folks like Washington Post columnist Neal Peirce talk of imminent disaster: Arizona might run out of water and dry up like the desert surrounding its capital city. …”

Read more from the Mother Nature Network by clicking here.

August 6, 2009 · Filed Under Colorado River & the Southwest

Comments

One Response to “Hydrating Phoenix: Quenching a city in the desert; How Phoenix and its 3.5 million people defied the odds, running on all cylinders without running dry”

  1. patfromftworth on December 13th, 2009 7:27 am

    Iwish you could share these articles by e-mail. thank you for the concise facts

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