Saturday, December 4, 2010

Conclusion

I have enjoyed my experience volunteering with different organization in Tucson. It was great to see different perspectives on water havesting techniques. I recognized many of the techniques from concepts I had learned in my Air an Water and Watershed Hydrology classes. For example, at both water harvesting sites we discussed soil types and how to build structures to minimize evaporation.
 Having just moved to Tucson, working on water harvesting projects was a great way for me to further understand the complexities of obtaining water in a desert. It helped me to undertand that during the monsoons, it rains so much at once that it is impossible to capture much water before it evaporates. Because most the soil are so compacted, very little water is able to infiltrate into the ground. Working at the water harvesting projects also allowed me to see how much effort it takes to grow trees and other plants in this environment. The plants were placed very carefully, according to how much water they needed and what the root structure was like.
I also really enjoyed my experience learning about stream restoration. This workshop seemed to relate the most to everything we had been studying in Air and Water, as we discussed stream velocity, discharge, erosion and stream power. In class we had become familiar with the equations used to quantify streams, however it was great to see how these equations could be applied in the field. This workshop allowed me to see how streams of different velocity will erode their channels. Having the background from Air and Water gave me a better understanding of the physics behind the stuctures that we built and how they would help to return a stream to its natural condition.

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