Phoenix Could Become Riverside Community

[whatelseisnew]

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uslatest/story/0,1282,-4225656,00.html

Sunday June 20, 2004 6:31 PM


By MICHELLE ROBERTS RUSHLO

Associated Press Writer

PHOENIX (AP) - The dust, rocky soil and inhospitable summers make it hard to imagine why anyone would have settled here before air conditioners and sprinkler systems. But a century ago, Phoenix was a riverside community, with sometimes flowing water and even an occasional flood. Eventually, dams turned the riverbed into a barren ribbon punctuated by gravel mines. Now government officials are working to bring the river back.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and local governments are working to return trees and vegetation to the Salt River's banks. Sections in the metropolitan area, totaling some 40 miles, are in various stages of study or rehabilitation.
...
The Salt River began to dry up with the construction of Roosevelt Dam, which was completed in 1911. Five other dams were later built on the Salt River and its tributary, the Verde River.
...
Before construction started, that area of the river bottom was filled with junk, and debris washed down in floods. Except for sparse grass and an occasional tree, the banks were barren.

``It was just a big dust bowl,'' Kinsler said.

[Tansy_Gold]

1. Many of the dams supply electric power, so what will all the

Phoenicians do to power their A/C?

Of course right now Arizona is in the middle of a 10-year drought. The Salt River above Roosevelt Dam is barely a trickle, and gigantic Roosevelt Lake is almost non-existent. (I've been up there recently, and it's amazing how many Native American sites are uncovered by the vastly receded waters.)

But there is hope --

In a recent issue of Arizona Highways Magazine, the tale ws told of the state's first hydroelectric plant, built in 1906 on little Fossil Creek. The Childs-Irving plant has been in almost continual operation, generating only a few megawatts of power, but doing it dependably. The plant was named to the national register of historic places. But it's being dismantled, and by the end of 2004, it will be gone and long-dammed Fossil Creek will flow freely again.

http://www.aps.com/my_community/StoryArchive/StoryArchive_18.html

Should the Salt River be allowed to flow freely again, it would undo all the work on the Tempe Town Lake. Then again, GOOD RIDDANCE!

Tansy Gold, almost a Phoenician

[whatelseisnew]

2. If only

more rivers could again run freely

[Tansy_Gold]

3. If only

more people could again live -- and vote? -- freely, we might have more free rivers, too.

Barry Goldwater once said that one of his few regrets was having voted for the Glen Canyon Dam.