Sweetwater Wetlands Reclamation Facility
The Sweetwater Wetlands were built in 1996, and its field guide Sweetwater Wetlands: Water, Wildlife, and People states that it:
“…was originally constructed to naturally treat backwash water from the filters at the now decommissioned Roger Road Water Reclamation Facility. Because that facility used older technology, Tucson Water was required to filter the water before delivering it to reclaimed water customers. The wetlands were used to treat water from the backwash process that cleaned the filters. Today, the Wetlands receive higher quality treated water from the new Agua Nueva Water Reclamation Facility, and frequent backwashing of the filters is no longer necessary. However, water from Agua Nueva is continually added to maintain the wetlands and the wildlife supported by the wetlands.
Water arriving from the Reclamation Facility is first piped to settling basins at Sweetwater Wetlands. Here, suspended solids drop out of the water and became trapped in the wetland plants and soil of the basin. The water then flows to the two large wetland ponds for further polishing. The water slowly filters through the wetland vegetation to the west end of the ponds. Throughout this process – which might take several weeks– more solids settle out and microbial transformations occur which remove a variety of contaminants including pathogens and heavy metals. The water is then directed to the recharge basins where it filters through soil sediments and replenishes the groundwater in the aquifer below. The flow of the water from the settling basins through the recharge basins is entirely directed by gravity as the water gradually moves downhill. When needed, this now recycled water is pumped up through extraction wells and delivered through a series of special distribution pipes to Tucson parks, schools, and golf courses.”
Photo: Tucson Water, City of Tucson
Where:
2511 W. Sweetwater Drive
32.27985706573423, -111.02092035958948
Hours: Sunrise to sunset, Mondays: Opens to visitors at 9 a.m., once larvicide application is completed.
Cost: Free
No pets allowed
See here for self-guided and guided tours
This location is included in the following tours:
See the new, full-color, revised editions of Brad’s award-winning books
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