You lost me right here
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ritarancher
Environment Change More natural dams are created by the dirt and rocks pushed off. More oasis are made. Those oasis are soon surrounded by plants that are used to 1000 times less water.
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I grew up playing in these washes, and I've never seen anything but a highway of sand. The only dam/oasis effect I ever saw was where the stream flowed under a roadway.
The oasis effect of these supposed dams seems reasonable; they sound like the 200-300 yards upstream of the Sabino Canyon dam. IMO the extent of change to the city's micro-climate sounds a bit extreme though. Overall, an interesting projection.
Now please excuse these thoughts on drainage:
The city is on a natural floodplain, but our drainage plan makes no sense for a desert. Routing runoff in such a way to quicken it's exit from the city makes more sense in Louisiana than Arizona. Seems to me (not a hydrologist) that slowing water in responsible ways is best for the city AND the valley's
natural environment. Deepening and paving washes feels like prescribing band-aids for a tumor.
In addition to many, many more runoff basins and either mandating or offering heavy incentives for water harvesting; I've always been curious about the possibility of partial dams. A dam that is only 10-15% of the wash depth to retain necessary drainage. Picture a big speed bump but instead of slowing the flow its purpose is to create the oasis environments you describe.
Like before I welcome input, especially from anyone who can tell me why it wouldn't work.