Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 14, 2025

Contact: Catlow Shipek, Watershed Management Group's Senior Program Director + SCWC Co-Lead, catlow@watershedmg.org

Post tropical storm Raymond -- are we out of a drought?

Tucson, AZ -- Following this weekend’s tropical storm and the previous late monsoon rains, has this past year’s intense drought finally ended? Before these late rains quenched our soil, we had seen mesquite trees die back, cottonwoods along Tanque Verde Creek completely die, as well as many of our urban non-native Aleppo pines and eucalyptus trees surrender to the drought.

Local drought impacts us all. Our neighborhood forests suffer, the javelina and coyotes seek out irrigation emitters to drink from, our favorite creekside swimming holes dry up along with the Gila topminnow swimming in the murky bottom, and ultimately, we all swelter. Oddly, when we hope to receive direction from our local jurisdiction or water provider on what we can do to respond to local drought, we only find our TV weather forecasters mentioning the continued drought, not offering any suggestions on how to mitigate it. 

This lack of guidance stems from the fact that most local jurisdictions and water provider’s drought response plans only consider Lake Mead shortages several hundreds of miles away. Just a few decades ago, our water supply entirely came from our local watershed. Snowmelt and rainfall in our mountains and our rivers and floodplains replenished our Tucson basin aquifer. Now, our watershed relies on a mix of local and distant waters with many areas still heavily impacted by drought and local pumping.

The Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative is partnering with the City of Tucson and Pima County to develop local drought response planning efforts. The planning goal is to inform response actions based on local rainfall and aquifer drought and water shortage status. This locally-focused approach will help to inform all of us on how we can collaborate to steward our local waters and watershed so we can thrive during these abundant rains but also be resilient through the dry periods.

Thanks to this recent moisture we may be out of this short-term drought; however, we are still observing the lingering impacts on our trees, mountain springs, riparian forests supported by shallow groundwater, and local wildlife. At this time, let’s rejoice once again that our creeks are flowing, the surviving trees have new growth, and our aquifers supporting our rivers and creeks have been recharged a bit. At the same time, let's continue to observe these changes and consider how we can all be stewards of our local waters to further our local resilience to better weather the next dry period.

To learn more or to contribute to this initiative, visit www.santacruzwatershedcollaborative.net or email scwcollaborative@gmail.com 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 1, 2025

Contact: Maria Johnson, SCWC Coordinator with Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative, SCWCollaborative@gmail.com

The Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative Launches a Three-Year Local Drought Planning Effort 

Tucson, AZ – The Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative (SCWC) has launched a three-year local drought planning initiative, bringing together a broad coalition to strengthen resilience across the greater Tucson portion of the Santa Cruz watershed. Data shows that the region is experiencing one of the most severe short-term droughts on record.

This initiative began in response to 2020, one of the driest and hottest years recorded, during which neither the City, the County, nor other local water utilities declared a drought. Much of the Tucson region's water is imported from the Colorado River, nearly 50% in the Tucson Active Management Area. As a result, current drought response plans are tied to Colorado River water levels at Lake Mead several hundred miles away. But, many smaller water utilities rely on groundwater as do our wetlands, creeks, and riparian forests. SCWC is working to elevate attention on local drought conditions and groundwater levels, a critical step toward long-term water reliability in the region to benefit both human communities and local ecosystems.

Catlow Shipek, Senior Program Director with Watershed Management Group commented, “The need for this collaborative initiative was clear after the 2020 drought year and during the current extreme drought. Shallow groundwater area water levels declined significantly which resulted in dead cottonwood and willow trees and negatively impacted our native urban trees. During this time we were uncertain on how to respond and how best to engage the public or groundwater users. These local, episodic droughts directly impact water availability for shallow groundwater communities, stressing our cooling urban forests and wildlife.”

This initiative brings together city and county agencies, Tribal Nations, utilities, industry, private groundwater users and nonprofit organizations to strengthen drought response coordination across jurisdictions and with the public. More than 100 organizations and a small team of subject matter experts including staff from Tucson Water, Pima Association of Governments, Pima County Regional Flood Control, and CLIMAS are contributing their knowledge and informing the process. 

Together, the Collaborative is generating a core set of drought indicators – or measured conditions used to track drought – specific to the Santa Cruz watershed, a drought communication and resource toolkit, and framework of recommended resilience strategies from the personal to the collective level. All of these outcomes will be open source, available for organizations to utilize for their own efforts. 

SCWC encourages our community to respond to local drought conditions, not just during dry times, but also in times of rainfall abundance. Even as we enter monsoon season that may bring high precipitation, we are still experiencing the layered effects of a regional long-term drought since 1994. Suggested drought stewardship actions include watering trees thoroughly while the sun is down, following fire restrictions, providing water for wildlife, harvesting rainwater and conserving water – especially groundwater – whenever possible. During wet times, celebrate periods of abundant rain by connecting with creeks, capturing rainwater at your home or business, installing water efficient fixtures while fixing any leaks, and embracing native drought-resilient plants.

To learn more or to contribute to this initiative, visit www.santacruzwatershedcollaborative.net or email scwcollaborative@gmail.com