Rio Salado Update Fall 2000

Low Flow Channel Construction Update
More Habitat Support
Rio Salado in Federal Budget

Back

Low Flow Channel Construction Update

There is more to the Phoenix Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Project than transforming a dry riverbed into a green belt reminiscent of the days when a moving stream, backwaters and a forest of mesquite, willows, and cottonwoods accented the Salt River and its path.

When finished, the project will turn an eyesore into a thing of beauty. The features of the usually dry river course are still needed for relief when the upper stream dams on the Salt and Verde rivers become glutted with runoff from snow and rain.

In other words, flood control needs to be a major component of Phoenix Rio Salado. The project's first phase, a low-flow channel from 19th Avenue to 7th Street in the Salt River, is more than halfway completed, says Laurence Spanulescu, resident engineer for the Flood Control District of Maricopa County, one of the Phoenix Rio Salado Project partners along with the City of Phoenix.

The work scheduled on this portion of the low-flow channel, which will contain dam-released runoff to keep it from damaging habitat improvements and embankments, is scheduled to be done by the end of March in accordance with an agreement with R. E. Monk Construction.

It looks like this first phase will be done early. "We are on schedule," says Spanulescu, "it looks like the work could be done by the end of December or January of 2001 for sure. Right now we are more than 60 percent done."

Up to this point, construction crews and huge earth-moving equipment have excavated approximately 550,000 cubic yards of dirt from the riverbed to form the low-flow channel, which is approximately 200 feet wide and 10 to 15 feet deep.

The work is going so quickly because there hasn't been much rain allowing the huge backhoes, Caterpillars, 35- and 50-ton dump trucks and a host of other earth-moving machines to keep moving. "We haven't had any major storms to hamper the project," said Spanulescu, "and just a little bit of water came through, but that was easily handled. The only other problems we've had is the large amount of trash and construction debris we found in the riverbed, however what is there hasn't affected our overall schedule."

Spanulescu adds that when first phase is completed, construction crews will have moved more than 800,000 cubic yards of dirt, rocks, etc. He explains that some of the moved earth will be used to make "roller compacted concrete" to be used to construct flow control structures to keep any runoff from undermining the banks and other areas important to the integrity of the project. "Some of it is being saved for the second phase for landscaping," he says, "especially soils which will be good for planting." Roller compacted concrete will be used to shore up guide dikes which will aim the water into the low-flow channel which is designed to carry flows up to 12,200 cubic feet per second. The low-flow channel will be at the bottom of a larger channel that will be able to carry 100-year flood rates of 166,000 cubic feet per second.

Spanulescu sums it up with, "The idea is to keep the water moving through in the center of the channel and to keep it away from the banks and landfills so they won't be undercut by the moving water."

Return to top of Rio Salado Update

More Habitat Support

Phoenix Rio Salado is more than just digging a channel, adding some ponds and planting a few trees and bushes here and there in this five-mile project, which stretches along the Salt River from 19th Avenue to where Interstate 10 crosses the usually dry riverbed.

It has to be a community of diverse amenities living in harmony. Everything in this $80 million project, including wildlife habitat, flood control features, recreation and commercial interests, must be able to coexist.

So, to prove this communal concept will work, part of the project calls for construction of a "demonstration area" before engineers get to the serious portion of the huge construction project. This seven-acre site at Central Avenue in the riverbed will test revegetation and irrigation techniques, monitor mosquito populations and the effects of water quality on plant growth, and evaluate planting techniques.

To help answer the above concerns is a $950,480 grant from the Arizona Water Protection Fund (AWPF). The fund, which is fed by the State of Arizona's general tax fund, was created in 1994 to restore, maintain and enhance riparian areas throughout the state.

"It isn't often we get to do that type of a project in an urban setting," says Perri Benemelis, the AWPF project manager, "that makes the Phoenix Rio Salado project unique. The Phoenix Rio Salado Project had some real appeal to the Water Protection Fund Commission when it funded the request."

Benemelis says the commission funds projects all over the state. There's one with the City of Sierra Vista where wetlands are watered with effluent produced by wastewater and recharge water to lessen the impacts of ground water pumping on the San Pedro River. Another involves a revegetation wetlands project with the Colorado River Indian Tribe near Parker where invasive and exotic species are removed and replaced with plants historical to the area. "In the Phoenix Rio Salado the demo area will evaluate the different types of planting techniques and performance of the plants using storm-water collection," she says. "Essentially we'll be setting up a study to see how the plants will respond."

Salt River Project is helping out the cause by earmarking $20,000 to purchase trees in conjunction with the Water Protection Fund grant. "We are always looking for opportunities to plant trees throughout the community," says Lori Singleton, the environmental initiatives analyst for SRP's environmental group. SRP has a tree-planting program as part of its overall environmental program. The company has partnered with the City of Phoenix in the past when it contributed to the Phoenix Urban Forestry Project and has planted trees around Tempe's Town Lake and in some of the state's national forests. "For Phoenix Rio Salado, we are purchasing cottonwood, willow and mesquite trees," says Singleton. "The goal, of course, is to restore the Salt River with riparian vegetation which would naturally occur in the Sonoran desert."

Dr. Robert Ohmart, professor biology at Arizona State University, is serving as a consultant to the Phoenix Rio Salado Habitat Restoration Project and is excited about not only what the project will do for wildlife but also what it will mean to his students. Riparian corridors are very important migratory routes for birds and in Arizona less than one percent of the state's 73 million acres is in a riparian floodplain. And just 4 percent of that is cottonwood-willow habitat and the best of that is along the San Pedro in Southern Arizona. "I plan on involving students in the project as the teaching of biology courses fits right in with what is going on there," says Ohmart.

Return to top of Rio Salado Update

Rio Salado in Federal Budget

Rio Salado in Federal Budget The city of Phoenix celebrated when the 1999 federal Water Resources Development Act authorized $88 million for the reconstruction of riparian habitat along the Salt River through the heart of Phoenix (five miles) and Tempe (two miles). And now we're celebrating again.

Congress has passed the Energy Appropriations bill that includes $2 million for Rio Salado. This means the check is in the mail, so to speak, for Rio Salado. The approval recommends the project as a "new start" in the President's budget - one of only 14 projects in the entire nation to make the list.

A new start appropriation now allows the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to include the project in its annual budgeting until completion. When the President signs the appropriations bill it becomes effective October 1, 2000, the start of the federal fiscal year.

Thank you to everyone who worked hard to make this happen especially Congressman Ed Pastor and the Arizona congressional delegation.

Return to top of Rio Salado Update