Can these rocks reduce flooding? (Spanish captions)

Can these rocks reduce flooding? (Spanish captions)

Creating a binational sponge city in the desert: Flooding in the binational cities at Ambos Nogales on the Arizona-Sonora portion of the US-Mexico border has caused damage, ruined livelihoods and taken lives for hundreds of years. New research suggests that flooding can be detained using low-tech, nature-based solutions, like natural infrastructure in dryland streams (NIDS), rock detention structures and green infrastructure.

This video describes a 20-year effort to identify and mitigate flood risk, by slowing and reducing stormwater runoff and protecting floodplains for disproportionately vulnerable communities. Working with the citizens, city, county, state, and federal managers, the USGS employs actionable science, geospatial analyses, and watershed models that address problems and inform decision-making on both sides of the border. The result is a growing binational ‘sponge city’ that uses nature-based solutions to reduce flooding, filter polluted stormwater, and create more green space that everyone can enjoy.

This research was supported by the US Geological Survey (USGS) Land Change Science (LCS) Program, under the Core Science Systems Mission Area, with support from the USGS U.S.-Mexico Border Environmental Health Initiative (BEHI), and the USGS Southwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (SW CASC). Flooding and stormwater studies were funded by the United States Section of the International Boundary and Water Commission (USIBWC) and Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Ecosystem Services Research Program (ESRP) and EPA Southwest Ecosystem Services Project (SwESP) provided some support investigating ecosystem services, with Border 2020 U.S.-Mexico Environmental Program through the North American Development Bank (NADB) supporting research on green infrastructure. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the U.S. Census Bureau, the Mexican Secretariat of Social Development (SEDESOL), and the Mexican National Institute of Statistics, Geography, and Informatics (INEGI) supported the USGS Colonias Monitoring Program. Support for student researchers was also provided by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Water Sustainability and Climate (WSC) grant (EAR1038938) and the Climate Assessment for the Southwest (CLIMAS) at the University of Arizona. The Paul D. Coverdell Fellows program provided a graduate fellowship program to Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV), and the University of Arizona’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) reviewed all research and related activities involving human subjects conducted by student researchers.

See reference material at original release URL here: https://www.usgs.gov/media/videos/can-these-rocks-reduce-flooding-english-captions