Just add sewage: How a bone-dry river bed became a thriving haven for desert wildlife

[hauntedheadnc]

Just add sewage: How a bone-dry river bed became a thriving haven for desert wildlife
A new study underscores the utility of raw sewage — and how ecosystem collapse is a choice we can help reverse
By Matthew Rozsa for salon.com

...The scientists decided to address the loss of freshwater biodiversity in urban areas, where rivers continue to be dewatered, channeled and dried up due to climate change. In Arizona's Santa Cruz River, where effluent has restored the flow more than 100 years after the river dried up, the researchers discovered over a two year period that large invertebrates flourished after the initial flow was restored and channels were dredged. Importantly, these population growths were sustained up to two years later.

***

"I think the biggest surprise in our study was just how quickly species returned to the Santa Cruz River when flow was restored – it was astounding how fast biodiversity could recover when given a chance," study co-author Michael Bogan, a professor of aquatic ecology at the University of Arizona, told Salon. "That stretch of the Santa Cruz River had lost year-round flow due to groundwater pumping more than 100 years earlier— and yet within weeks of flow being restored, there were literally dozens of aquatic species living in the reborn river. And nearly 150 species returned after a year or so – it really did show that a huge impact can be had if you just add water."

***

"My initial response was being really sad that we'd lose this brand new, vibrant ecosystem," Bogan said. "But then my 'science-brain' kicked in and I thought, 'Wait a minute, this is a perfect chance to see if species will return so quickly again like they did the first time – who gets a chance to experiment with an entire river?' Thankfully, the species did return just as fast the second time, demonstrating how resilient nature can be if you just give it a chance. And in the second year, after the riverbed dredging, the City of Tucson implemented some great changes in how they release water into the river, including minimizing changes in river flow from day to day, and that resulted in even more species coming back to the river."

[Northern Light]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Just add sewage: How a bone-dry river bed became a thriving haven for desert wildlife
A new study underscores the utility of raw sewage — and how ecosystem collapse is a choice we can help reverse
By Matthew Rozsa for salon.com

Just for clarity.......this is not about 'raw sewage'. The suggestion in the piece that is, is incorrect.

This is about treated sewage.

From later in the same piece:

"Despite this positive outcome, we shouldn't start dumping our toilets into their local waterways just yet. The key to the success of the Pima County project was that they first treated the wastewater using cutting-edge technology. By the time it was poured back into the Santa Cruz River, it no longer carried the risks of raw sewage, which contains disease, pollutants and pharmaceutical contaminants."

Its still an excellent project; I just don't want people to be mislead as to its nature.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Just add sewage: How a bone-dry river bed became a thriving haven for desert wildlife
A new study underscores the utility of raw sewage — and how ecosystem collapse is a choice we can help reverse
By Matthew Rozsa for salon.com

Can you please add a direct link to the article? I don’t see one in your original post..

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by sentinel

Can you please add a direct link to the article? I don’t see one in your original post..

Fixed. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Clicking on salon.com in the first post (and this one) will now take you right to it.

[sentinel]

Originally Posted by hauntedheadnc

Fixed. Thanks for bringing that to my attention. Clicking on salon.com in the first post (and this one) will now take you right to it.

Thanks for fixing; good article too!

[badrunner]

A lot of humans thrive while drinking treated sewage too! Like, anyone who lives in a city that's downstream of another city on a river.

[mrnyc]

Originally Posted by badrunner

A lot of humans thrive while drinking treated sewage too! Like, anyone who lives in a city that's downstream of another city on a river.

haha yeah. good article tho.

[hauntedheadnc]

Originally Posted by badrunner

A lot of humans thrive while drinking treated sewage too! Like, anyone who lives in a city that's downstream of another city on a river.

You don't say? By the time it gets to New Orleans the Mississippi River has passed through how many sets of kidneys and bowels? People in Knoxville, Tennessee drink Asheville's treated sewage eventually, and if anyone is out on the French Broad River in an inner tube north of Asheville, they're paddling around in it. Not to worry though, because the effluent that pours out of Asheville's sewage treatment plan is actually cleaner than the river it pours into. Meanwhile, all the people with their fancy houses on Lake Greenwood down here enjoy their lake view courtesy of some of Greenville's treated effluent, delivered fresh every day via the Reedy River. The folks down in Columbia get the rest of it via the Enoree River once it flows into the Broad River that runs past their downtown.

How many people are drinking filtered sewage specifically, though? This is an article about making deliberate better use of a waste product. Something like this is right up there with naturalizing parts of the Los Angeles River to mitigate flooding and recharge the water table, and projects like that.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by badrunner

A lot of humans thrive while drinking treated sewage too! Like, anyone who lives in a city that's downstream of another city on a river.

As an old local joke goes:

Because Chicago reversed the flow of the Chicago River back in the early 20th century, instead of flowing out into Lake Michigan, our city's sewage now flows south to St. Louis via the Illinois River, where those savvy Missourians then bottle it and sell it back to us as Budweiser.

[hauntedheadnc]

I just took a look at the Santa Cruz River on Google Maps. It's a dry gulch all the way through Tucson up to the wastewater treatment plan, at which point you can clearly see it fill with water and green up with trees and undergrowth. If you look at a streetview from W El Camino Del Cerro, you can see it clearly from the ground. Contrast that to the view from Congress Street near downtown Tucson.