Last week, Tucson Mayor Regina Romero proclaimed October 16, 2025 as Imagine a Day Without Water. Imagine a Day Without Water is observed internationally every year on October 16, serving as an opportunity for all of us to acknowledge and reaffirm our shared responsibility of safeguarding water resources for future generations.
Especially in the Sonoran Desert, water is the lifeline that sustains biodiversity and our communities. It is largely through our bi-annual rainfall that the Sonoran Desert is the most biodiverse and wettest desert in the world. This rain feeds the desert’s perennial and intermittent rivers and streams, supporting life and riparian habitats.
The Tucson area has a relationship with the Santa Cruz River that goes back thousands of years, since the Hohokam and Tohono O’odham stewarded the land and depended on the river for water and agriculture. To this day, the Santa Cruz River nourishes the desert in the places where it still flows and erupts with life after mere inches of rainfall. This river is just one of many examples of the irreplaceable water resources that, as a community, we are responsible to protect.
Imagine a Day Without Water — where we no longer hear the songs of spadefoot toads or enjoy the ripened fruit of a prickly pear. A day where the desert loses its magic, species by species…
We are very pleased to see the City of Tucson taking steps to protect this resource for the landscape and the community, and are grateful to have been invited to accept this proclamation alongside other community members and our partners, including Pascua Yaqui Chairman Julian Hernandez, Watershed Management Group, Tucson Clean and Beautiful, and Sierra Club Nopales Chapter. At the Coalition, we will continue to do our part to protect the Sonoran Desert’s natural resources and open spaces with support from our local governments and community.
You can celebrate too! Learn where your water comes from, how you’re using it, and start conversations about the importance of clean and sustainable water in the daily lives of our communities and the desert.
Read the full proclamation here.
