Take Action in Response to Drought
Local Drought Tips for Desert Dwellers
The Sonoran Desert is the most biologically diverse desert in the world, but it’s still a desert receiving less than 11 inches, on average, per year. Some years, we are well below that average. Plants are stressed, animals are thirsty, creeks are drying, and the desert is parched and at risk of fire.
During extreme drought, conditions might seem dire, but there are plenty of ways you can help our treasured desert landscape survive and bounce back. Adopt of few of these tips to make really make a difference:
Restore your yard with harvested water: 🌧️💧
- You’ve saved water for a dry day. Still got water in your rain barrel? Now’s the time to use it in your garden.
- Welcome in future rains with rock dams or dirt berms on the downslope of trees, at the canopy’s edge.
- Make good use of the extra water from your AC or evaporative cooler.
- Learn more about water and sustainability resources through the Water Resources Research Center or take classes with Watershed Management Group.
An important time to up your water conservation game: 🚿
- Vow to go one step further, such as creating a plan to replace thirsty non-native plants with native plants in the fall – Tucson has many several plant nurseries or you can find resources via Pima Smartscape. Explore the use of gray water, utilize AC condensate or evaporative cooler backwash, or use a pool cover. Give it a try!
- Prepare for future drought stages by limiting use of misters for cooling, use sweepers instead of hoses to clean sidewalks and driveways, using carwashes that recirculate water, and only irrigating landscapes when it is dark out.
Thank you to the Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative for these proactive tips to preserving this watershed.
Give your trees some TLC: 🌳
- Keep your shade trees healthy. Even native trees can use some extra love and attention with water during unusually dry times. Why prioritize trees? They cool our environment, screen dust, took a long time to grow, add value to our lands, and provide shelter and food for wildlife.
- Add mulch to your landscape to keep it cool and minimize evaporation! Minimize new planting and major trimming in this vulnerable season.
- Swap out non-essential grass and let the grass in your play area go fallow temporarily to save water for native trees and plants that really need it. Check out Tucson Water for rebates.
Support wildlife and natural heritage of rare desert creeks: 🦜
- Transform your yard into a drought refuge for birds and wildlife. Tucson Bird Alliance has useful tips.
- Dive into Watershed Management Group’s Flow 365 program to help monitor and protect our creeks.
- Learn acute conditions and trends through the Arizona Department of Water Resources Drought Map and the S. Drought Monitor alerts within NOAA’s NIDIS newsletters.
- Own a well near a river or creek lined with cottonwood trees? Water conservation can have a huge positive impact on groundwater-dependent creeks and riparian areas.