Managing Our Watershed Q & A with Lisa Shipek of Watershed Management Group A portion of the proceeds of the Tucson Craft Beer Crawl will benefit Watershed Management Group, a non-profit organization working towards a goal of restoring flow to Tucson’s rivers, creating healthy urban watersheds, and promoting green, walkable
Z: What are some of the projects Watershed Management Group is focused on? WMG: Green Living Co-op: WMG’s popular Co-op helps people transform their yards with rainwater & greywater harvesting, native & edible gardens, soil building, and passive solar. Projects are installed through fun, barn-raising workshops led by experienced WMG project managers. Green Infrastructure & Watershed Planning: We provide consulting, design, demonstration site, and capacity building services working for both public and private partners in the Southwest U.S. and Mexico. Living Lab and Learning Center: The Living Lab and Learning Center is a community educational hub for regenerative desert living in the heart of Tucson. Visitors of all ages are invited to explore sustainability practices in action through our interactive exhibits, classes, and events. The center features water harvesting, native habitat, food forests, composting toilets, passive solar, monitoring systems, and is a campus entirely supported by rainwater. Schoolyard Water Education: WMG provides customized programs for K-12 Students, focusing on water conservation & wildlife habitat through water harvesting & native gardening activities on school campuses. Advocacy & Public Policy: WMG staff provide leadership on advisory boards, coalitions, and stakeholder groups to develop policy that restores our rivers and promotes green infrastructure in our cities. WMG is a founding member & fiscal sponsor of the Community Water Coalition, a group that provides leadership & guidance toward water policy that sustains healthy ecosystems & quality of life in Southern Arizona. 50 Year Program: Restoring Tucson’s Free Flowing Rivers - WMG is leading a long-term initiative to restore Tucson’s heritage of year-round, flowing rivers through community education, on-the-ground restoration, and policy actions. (see more below.) Green Workforce Development: WMG conducts job training for a variety of professionals and youth in water harvesting, green infrastructure, stream restoration, eco-sanitation, and more. International Programs: WMG works with partners in Mexico to offer training and create demonstration projects in watershed restoration, green infrastructure, and eco-sanitation. Z: Can you tell us more about your 50 Year Program to restore free flowing rivers in Southern Arizona? WMG: Our 50 Year Program set a long-term vision to restore Tucson’s heritage of flowing rivers. We are starting with high priority, shallow groundwater areas – including Sabino Creek, Tanque Verde Creek, and Cienega Creek. These are the most critical areas to start restoring, because they are higher up in the watershed and still have groundwater within 50 feet of the surface which supports lush riparian vegetation and wildlife. 32 ZOCALOMAGAZINE.com | February 2017
neighborhoods. WMG was founded in 2003, has 18 staff members, and is based in Tucson. Their services are offered throughout the Southwest and Mexico. Zócalo reached out to Lisa Shipek, WMG’s executive director, to learn more about the organization...
We are engaging the community in this work through our River Run Network, a network of people and organizations working to restore our rivers facilitated through WMG’s online platform. The platform features our mapbased restoration plan, priority actions, and monitoring of progress towards our goal. The River Run Network is currently focused on Sabino, Tanque Verde, and Cienega Creek, but will be expanding to include the Pantano, Rillito, and Santa Cruz River in the coming year. Z: What are the major challenges that Tucson faces in terms of water management? WMG: The major challenge is that we have used more water than is locally available, depleting our groundwater and drying up our rivers. Our solution was to import water from the Colorado River, which is not a sustainable supply. The supply is threatened by drought, climate change, and is an expensive and energy intensive water supply that also diminishes the Colorado River. Z: On a practical level, and based on our currently trajectory, paint a picture of what Tucson and Southern Arizona water resources look like 50 years from now. WMG: WMG is advocating for a hydro-local water portfolio that would consist of annual natural groundwater recharge, effluent, and harvested rainwater, greywater, and stormwater. We could do this currently, if Tucsonans reduced their GPCD to 40 (currently Tucson Water customers are at 80 GPCD). We should continue our trajectory or ramping up water conservation and expanding water harvesting and green infrastructure across the community. At the same time, we should plan to reduce and phase out use of Colorado River water while developing an environmental flows policy to ensure our creeks and rivers have sufficient groundwater to maintain their natural flow. At WMG, we believe this can be done over the next several decades. We can continue to meet the needs of a growing population by fully tapping into water harvesting possibilities and new conservation technologies. If we don’t make this shift, Tucson will become a hotter, drier community that will spend substantial financial resources and energy on securing distant water supplies with detrimental environmental impact. Z: How can individual Tucsonans become involved with Watershed Management Group? WMG: Come visit us at our Living Lab and Learning Center at Dodge and Speedway. We have many free classes, tours, and events about water harvesting, river restoration, and edible and native gardening. You can get involved as a volunteer through our Green Living Co-op, Monsoon Squad, or Docent program. We also offer home consultations and a design-build service if you’d like us to work at your home. n