Trade-offs in Stormwater Recharge

During Tucson's dramatic monsoons our streets are scoured by stormwater. The water drains down storm sewers, gullies and washes, and eventually to areas that could be used for recharge. Should the city actively recharge our depleted groundwater with storm runoff? Through the project ‘Tradeoffs of Enhanced Urban Runoff-Recharge and Water Quality', SNRE Assistant Professor Kathleen Lohse is finding out if pollutants, metals, pathogens and nutrients in storm runoff present a challenge to stormwater recharge.

By comparing samples from developed and undeveloped watersheds, this work will give insight into how different types of land use affect runoff water quality. Dr. Lohse and her students use automatic sampling stations to measure contaminants, but they also get drenched during the rains to sample washes and streets.

Lohse's team will use the information they gather to develop best management practices that take into consideration the tradeoffs between enhanced groundwater recharge and the possibility of contamination. This information will help our region's water managers ensure that we have adequate supplies of healthful drinking water for Arizona's people, well into the future.

Progress to date: This project was funded ($80,000) in July 2007.

Key Collaborators:

Paul Brooks, Hydrology and Water Resources

Tom Meixner, Hydrology and Water Resources

Jen McIntosh, Hydrology and Water Resources

City of Tucson

USDA-ARS

USGS

Upper San Pedro Partnership