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"We had flowing rivers here 150 years ago.. we believe that we can get those back"

River Restoration projects gets water in rivers
Posted at 4:56 PM, Aug 25, 2019
and last updated 2019-08-25 19:58:41-04

TUCSON, Ariz. — On a hot summer day in the Old Pueblo, volunteers with the Water Shed Management planted over 100 trees as part of the Shamrock Restoration Project.

"We had flowing rivers here 150 years ago, those are all gone now, we believe that we can get those back," River restoration biologist with Water Shed Management Trevor Hare said.

He said a big part of this project is to build water basins, which is a dug out area of the sand to help prevent flooding.

"Slowing the flows down, sinking the water into the ground instead of letting it just flash flood above ground all the way into Pinal county," Hare said.

Capturing the water also helps grow more native vegetation and bring wildlife to live in that area.

This project is in partnership with the Pima County Regional Flood District.

"Well it use to be that the water would just rush through this little parking area and just flood right into the Rillito River," Hare said. "We are intercepting some of that water and sinking it into the ground to grow more native vegetation."

The next step for the volunteers is to wait for rain.