Greetings!
For those of you just tuning in, welcome. Hope you’re having a labor day weekend. I keep hoping we’ll get rained out. Check out this article from the Arizona Daily Star for why: http://www.azstarnet.com/allheadlines/307301.php
Arizona is historically a dry place, and we depend on the rains to renew the land before winter. Problem is, there simply hasn’t been much rain. We’re about 4 inches short for the season. Less rain now means bigger problems down the road. Rain replenishes the aquifer- the water we use for drinking, washing and growing crops. When the aquifer isn’t replenished, we have to find water other ways. This means greater reuse and pumping water from deeper below ground to keep up with demand above. By pumping groundwater, we’re depleting our water stock. This can lead to subsidence above (sinkholes), especially if we use too much. An alternative to pumping groundwater is to reuse the water we’ve already taken, something called secondary effluent. This is water that’s been used once for eating, washing, cooking or flushing and that has been treated to make it clean again. It’s great for watering plants, and it means we have more water in the future. You’ll see purple pipes around Tucson that carry this water- on parks, schools and golf courses. It’s one way we can keep water here in the desert.
What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery
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