TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — While monsoon often brings a welcome quench of summer rain to the desert, it can also lead to flooding and mud slides, especially after what has already been an active wildfire season.
To help combat those risks, Camille Hall, with Pima County Regional Flood Control, tells KGUN 9 they have recently completed a project that targets seven specific areas.
This story is part of our KGUN 9 original: Monsoon Watch 2025. Watch the full program:
“We conducted a series of studies following the Big Horn fire to get a good idea of what we could expect," Hall said. "Typically, when we have fires, we expect increased flows. So, this project is to raise the levy to account for that."
Hall adds that raising the levy decreases the chance of overflow as each flood leads to more sediment buildup over time.
"Something that we often do is use LIDAR, which uses a light from a laser to create a topographic map of the channel," Hall explained. "This allows us to see where sediment has built up, and then we can actually go in and remove that sediment or excess vegetation to make sure that the channel is clear and has a higher capacity to carry that flow."
Regional Flood Control's main mission is to protect the people and property of Pima County. That is why Pima County Flood Control has also implemented something called Storm Water Parks, like the one at Meander Bend, 2055 W. Silver Honey Pl., on the banks of the Santa Cruz on Tucson's Westside.
Meander Bend's sole purpose is to keep the rain that we get during monsoon and throughout the year right here in our neighborhoods.
"These are projects that capture runoff off of the streets and capture [it] into a series of basins that then allow it to slow down, sink into the ground, and add a benefit," said Hall. "They water native plants that we plant in the areas."
Meander Bend Park is home to trails, walking paths and native plants, plus water harvesting basins and ramadas. A project that is projected to provide environmental and social benefits six times greater than the construction costs, which includes lessening urban heat island effects over 50 years.
"We often partner with students from the University of Arizona to measure this recharge," Hall said. "So we have a few projects that are just going live now, you know, focusing on figuring out how much we're actually able to capture, because with heat like this, it evaporates quickly, so it's very important to capture and recharge it back into our groundwater.”
MORE INFO: PIMA COUNTY'S GREEN STORM WATER INFRASTRUCTURE
Pima County Flood Control has now implemented nearly a dozen planned, or existing, storm water parks across Pima County. Find out more at the link above.
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April Madison is a KGUN 9 meteorologist. April started her media career in radio in the late 90's, while attending the University of Arizona. She was an Airborne Traffic Reporter and one-time disc jockey. After switching to television, she got the news bug and became interested in weather. Share your story ideas and important issues with April by emailing april.madison@kgun9.com or by connecting on Facebook, Instagram, and X.
