TUCSON, Ariz. — There are no lush green lawns among the rows of single-family homes that line a quiet boulevard a mile west of the University of Arizona campus. Instead, small lizards scurry across gravel to the shade of cacti, shrubs and trees native to the Southwestern desert, as cicadas drone and backyard chickens cluck in the triple-digit heat now common here in July.
In the middle of the road, the curbs of a roundabout have been cut to allow water from the summer monsoons to flow into the public landscaping in the roundabout’s center circle and soak the soil, replenish native plants and trickle underground.
This city in the Sonoran Desert, which relies heavily on Colorado River water, will depend more and more on robust water reuse — including from stormwater — as climate change worsens.
Tucson’s 4-year-old Storm to Shade program builds urban infrastructure to divert stormwater from parking lots, streets and rooftops, then captures it to grow trees and native vegetation in public parks, traffic circles and other public spaces, creating shade and natural habitats and allowing the 11 inches of annual rainwater to seep back into the ground.
All new commercial developments in the city must install mechanisms to capture stormwater from their roofs an …
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