Pima County’s Bond Advisory Committee is working to narrow down a field of proposals for a future bond election, including one to heal the Altar Wash, also known as the Brawley Wash. The severe encroachment of the Altar Wash begin in the early 20th century. The floodplain area was a travel and trade route. A major flood occurred when the Aguirre Lake breached.
The Altar Wash is now 20 miles long, 20 feet deep and 1500 feet wide in places. During rain events, high velocity water and heavy sediment loads surge out of the valley instead of recharging aquifers and supporting the microhabitats on which the region’s native species depend. Head-cutting in uplands and the erosion of banks along the main wash work destructively in tandem to vacate hundreds of acres of viable habitat. For more about the wash and its impacts in the Altar Valley, click here.
In the seven years since voters approved a Pima County held bond election , the Bond Advisory Committee asked the community to submit projects. More requests came in than Pima County can fund in a future bond election and narrowing down the list for a future election will be extremely difficult. To let the Bond Advisory Committee know that the Altar Wash is an important proposal, take their survey. The “Altar Valley Watershed Restoration Project” appears on the second page and is the Altar Wash proposal.