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Tortolita Alliance
Feb 102 min read
Marana Housing/Population & TRICO
Dove Mountain Development Looking Towards Saguaro Reserve Project From Upper Javelina Trail (3/5/23) Marana Housing/Population Marana...
291 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Feb 42 min read
Water Woes XXXVI - Low Snow & Colorado River Operations Alternatives
Very Little Snow-San Juan Mountains (Colorado) Approaching Continental Divide-Photo by Jim Quigley (1/27/25) Low Snow Upper Colorado...
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Mark L. Johnson
Jan 302 min read
Flood Control & The Fan
Tortolita Fan Watershed-Pima County Flood Control District-Watershed Master Plan Pima County Flood Control District (PCFCD) has recently...
250 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Dec 14, 20241 min read
Water Woes XXXV-Rebates & Rates
Marana Water Weather-Based Irrigation Controller Rebate Hats off to Marana Water (MW) for implementing rebates for installing a...
273 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Nov 25, 20242 min read
Water Woes XXXIV-Colorado River System-Beyond 2026
The United States Bureau of Reclamation (USBR) released (11/20/24) five alternatives for operating the Colorado River System after 2026. ...
166 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Oct 2, 20244 min read
The Secret Plan To Develop The Tortolita Fan
On April 17, 2024, Tortolita Alliance (TA) filed a Public Records Request (P RR) with the Arizona State Land Department (ASLD) for "all...
752 views
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Tortolita Alliance
Sep 11, 20241 min read
Water Woes XXXII Cautious Optimism
Tortolita Alliance (TA) attended the Local Drought Impact Group (LDIG) meeting today (9/11/24) via Zoom. LDIG is a bi-monthly gathering...
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Tortolita Alliance
Jun 21, 20242 min read
Water Woes XXXI Agua Veto
Governor Hobbs Vetoes 5 and Signs 3 Water Bills The Arizona legislature approved 8 water bills at the very end of the 2024 legislative...
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Mark L. Johnson
Jun 14, 20245 min read
Water Woes XXX-Open House-Supply v Demand-Population
Marana Water Open House Marana Water held an Open House on Wednesday (5/29/24). It included four presentations; (1) Marana Water...
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Tortolita Alliance
Jun 8, 20247 min read
Tangerine Road Corridor-Part I
Tangerine Road (between I-10 and Dove Mountain Boulevard) parallels the Tortolita Preserve. Therefore, it is critical that we carefully...
532 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Jun 1, 20241 min read
Water Woes XXIX-Monsoon Outlook & Colorado River Conditions
Post Monsoon Storm-Double Rainbow-Tortolita Preserve (8/28/21) Monsoon 2024 The monsoon season extends from June 15 through September 30....
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Mark L. Johnson
May 15, 20243 min read
Water Woes XXVIII-Water Info Now Flowing
Snoqualmie Falls-Snoqualmie, WA (4/28/24) On a recent visit with my grandchildren in North Bend, WA, I took them over to Snoqualmie Falls...
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Mark L. Johnson
Apr 14, 20243 min read
Water Woes XXVII-Ebbs & Flows
Glen Canyon Dam (Lake Powell)-photo by Jim Quigley This blog covers several topics concerning Southwest water items including; (1) Local...
204 views
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Tortolita Alliance
Apr 11, 20244 min read
Marana Retreat Newsbeat
The Marana Town Council held its annual retreat (2/14-16/2024) in Chandler, AZ---75 miles away from the citizens of Marana!! There is no...
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Tortolita Alliance
Feb 28, 20242 min read
Marana DAWS Modification-ADWR Decision On Objections-Draft Decision & Order and TA Response Letter
Picacho Peak & Full Moon Decision On Objections and Draft Decision & Order The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) issued a...
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Tortolita Alliance
Feb 16, 20243 min read
Marana DAWS Modification-Objection Letter & Hearing Update
Tortolita Alliance (TA) filed its 6th Public Records Request (PRR) to obtain copies of the Objection Letters and obtain information...
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Mark L. Johnson
Jan 14, 20244 min read
DAWS Flaws
Tony Davis wrote an excellent article regarding the Marana DAWS Modification Application (Application) that headlined in today's Arizona...
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Mark L. Johnson
Jan 6, 20241 min read
Marana Water DAWS Modification-Reminder-Objection Letter
Our Marana In Marana Water DAWS Modification-Part IV-Objection Letter we provided the Background, Revised Public Notice & Objection...
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Mark L. Johnson
Dec 30, 20232 min read
Marana Water DAWS Modification-Part IV-Objection Letter
Our Marana Water is the sustenance of life. We cannot live without it. Yet the Town of Marana-Marana Water (MW) plans to quadruple the...
478 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Dec 21, 20231 min read
TA Alert-#2!-Marana Water DAWS Modification Application-Public Notice
Public Notice The public notice (left) requesting written objections to the Marana Water Designated Assured Water Supply (DAWS)...
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Mark L. Johnson
Dec 19, 20232 min read
TA Alert!-Marana Water DAWS Modification Application-Public Comment Period
Application-Public Comment Period Marana Water filed a Designated Assured Water Supply (DAWS) Modification Application on 5/18/22. For...
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Mark L. Johnson
Nov 25, 20231 min read
TA Tidbits #48 One Water Public Comments & No LIV Golf-Tucson (2024)
One Water-Public Comments Arizona Daily Star (Tony Davis) reported recently that many public comments regarding the Tucson Water (TW) One...
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Mark L. Johnson
Oct 4, 20231 min read
Water Woes XXV-Assured Water Supply Committee Comment Letter
In May 2023, Governor Hobbs established the Governor's Water Policy Council and associated Assured Water Supply (AWS) Committee. The...
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Mark L. Johnson
Aug 27, 20232 min read
Tortolita Preserve-Post Storm(s) Report
Tortolita Preserve-After The Monsoon (8/27/23) Hiked the Tortolita Preserve (TP) Main Loop (7 miles) this early this morning. Reports of...
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Mark L. Johnson
Aug 20, 20232 min read
TA Tidbits #45-Mr. Big Stuff, Pygmy Owl, Monsoon & More
Mr. Big Stuff Tortolita Preserve (TP) This huge Sonoran Desert Tortoise paid a visit to a property adjacent to TP near Moore Road and...
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Mark L. Johnson
Jul 9, 20231 min read
Tucson Water Responds
Tortolita Alliance (TA) provided a detailed Comment Letter (6/7/23) regarding the Tucson Water-One Water 2100 Plan-May 2023 Draft (Plan)....
231 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Jun 7, 20231 min read
Tucson Water-One Water 2100 Plan Comments
Tortolita Alliance has filed the following comment letter with Tucson Water (TW) this morning regarding TW's One Water 2100 Plan. You can...
241 views
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Mark L. Johnson
May 28, 20232 min read
Water Woes XXIII-H2O Medley
The following is a medley of recent H2O developments with the Colorado River, Marana Water and Tucson Water. New-Colorado River...
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Mark L. Johnson
May 14, 20232 min read
Water Woes XXII-Cautious & Frugal
The water situation in the West has improved but it is only one year in a 24-year period whereby the Colorado River reservoir system has...
354 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Apr 16, 20234 min read
Water Woes XXI-H2O Hits The Fan
The media has pummeled us lately with plenty of water news. There is one significant Colorado River action that needs review....
354 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Mar 22, 20232 min read
Marana Water DAWS Modification Part III-DAWS On Pause
DAWS Process/Status Let's summarize the previous Marana Water (MW) Designated Assured Water Supply (DAWS) Modification blogs: Part...
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Mark L. Johnson
Mar 12, 20232 min read
Water Woes XX-Are We All Wet?
Snowpack (Aqua) Western US (1/22/23)-NASA Satellite Image Tortolita Alliance (TA) has been proactively keeping the community informed of...
300 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Mar 8, 20231 min read
TA Alert! Sustainable Landscapes Expo Saturday-March 11
The Annual Sustainable Landscapes Expo will be held this Saturday (3/11/23) from 10:00 AM to 2:00 at the U of A Cooperative Extension...
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Mark L. Johnson
Feb 18, 20233 min read
Smart Irrigation To Save Water
Typically, 50-75% of the water use at a home in the arid southwest goes to outdoor landscape irrigation. Therefore, it is very important...
318 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Jan 29, 20239 min read
Marana Water DAWS Modification Part II-Analysis
Introduction The 6-Step Procedure for developing the Designated Assured Water Supply (DAWS) was described in Part I. In Part II, we go...
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Mark L. Johnson
Jan 22, 20233 min read
Marana Water DAWS Modification-Part I Introduction & DAWS Basics
Introduction Marana Water (MW) applied to modify its Designated Assured Water Supply (DAWS) with the Arizona Department of Water...
397 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Dec 28, 20229 min read
Water Woes XIX-New Water-Issues & Who Pays?
This blog covers the current state of the Colorado River water supply and the urgent need to develop new sources of water (New Water) to...
459 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Dec 4, 20222 min read
TA Reflections & Future
The Beginning The Tortolita Alliance (TA) was formed three years ago in response to efforts by the Town of Marana (Marana) and the...
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Mark L. Johnson
Nov 26, 20222 min read
TA Tidbits # 40-Water, BioBlitz and Crime & Planes
Water Year 2022 Update Tortolita Alliance (TA) attended the Local Drought Impact Group (LDIG) Meeting via Microsoft Team on November 8,...
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Mark L. Johnson
Oct 20, 20223 min read
TA Tidbits #39-Saguaros, BioBlitz & H2O
Tortolita Preserve-Fiery Monsoon Skies Old Growth Sagauro Deaths-Bacterial Infection & Climate Change Strong-arm passed on 8/4/22 and is...
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Mark L. Johnson
Oct 8, 20226 min read
Tucson Water-One Water 2100 Analysis
Tucson Water (TW) is preparing an 80-year Water Master Plan called One Water 2100. This is an update to their previous Water Plan...
445 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Jul 31, 20223 min read
Storm-Water-Shed
Upper Wild Burro Canyon Watershed (7/31/22) Hiked the Wild Burro Trail and Alamo Springs Loop Trail early this morning after nice...
359 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Jun 15, 20221 min read
Water Woes XVII-Disaster Looming
The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) issued a press release in response to yesterday's Senate Committee on Energy and Natural...
424 views
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Mark L. Johnson
May 11, 20221 min read
Water Woes XVI-Is The Worst Yet To Come?
Tortolita Alliance (TA) attended the Local Drought Impact Group (LDIG) Meeting via Microsoft Team today (May 11, 2022). LDIG is a...
247 views
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Mark L. Johnson
May 1, 20221 min read
May Day! May Day! May Day!
The Conjunction Moon, Jupiter & Venus line up early Wednesday (4/27/22) morning over the Tortolita Preserve. Good things come in...
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Mark L. Johnson
Feb 26, 20222 min read
TA Tidbits #35 Petitions, Owls & New Water Agency
Town Council Candidates Need More Signed Petitions Thanks to everyone who have signed the Non-Partisan Nomination Petitions for Patrick...
370 views
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Tortolita Alliance
Feb 16, 20222 min read
TA Tidbits #34 Petitions & More
Meet The Change4Marana Candidates-Sign Petitions Patrick Cavanaugh, Mark Johnson and Tim Kosse are running for Marana Town Council as the...
299 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Feb 6, 20222 min read
Mark 4 Marana Town Council Campaign
I first came to Marana in 1976 on a cross county RV adventure during my senior year in college. Having grown up in a coastal environment...
1,348 views
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Mark L. Johnson
Feb 1, 20222 min read
Water Woes XIV-Pause On DAWS
The following serves as an update to the previously reported Marana Water Designated Assured Water Supply (DAWS) analysis. Remember DAWS...
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Mark L. Johnson
Jan 13, 20222 min read
Water Woes XIII-Short-Term Drought Improvement
The Flats-Wild Mustang Trail Helpful Facts/Hints Blog Images-Just want to remind readers that you can click on any image (photo, graphic,...
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