PPT Slide
Willow-cottonwood communities were once
common along watercourses in the desert.
Today, many of these communities have
vanished or are endangered because of the
lowering of groundwater tables as water is
pumped out for urban use and for farming.
The sanity of growing high
alfalfa and cotton (left) in
the desert should be ques-
tioned. Water ought not to
be squandered for short-term
Another larger user of ground-
water in the Sonoran desert:
spoil heap is close to Tucson.