EL PARQUE DEL RIO + ACEQUIA NETWORKS

Santa Fe, USA
Surroundings Studio

The Santa Fe River was designated the most endangered river in the United States by American Rivers in 2007, due to the completion of a dam in 1886 upstream of the city of Santa Fe and drought across the southwest that has caused the river to dry up, leaving a riverbed threatened by introduced weeds. El Parque del Rio is a linear park that follows the Santa Fe River through downtown Santa Fe, which was bordered by dying cottonwood trees threatened by erosion and pollutants from stormwater directly piped into the river. The park recaptures storm water to support the park by removing the direct pipes and instead using oxbow infiltration structures that are modeled on historic acequias that reroute water into absorbent wicks that irrigate newly planted cottonwoods and orchards along the park. The wicks are bands of porous volcanic rock that serve as passive irrigation systems with hundreds of tiny holes. Though wicks are traditionally underground, they are exposed in the park to show the functionality of the site visually. In addition to its stormwater management system, the park provides needed areas with shade and recreational opportunities, including playgrounds, benches and shade trees. Acequias are a ditch irrigation system and a traditional form of community water governance that is still functioning in New Mexico today. Acequias create several points of diversion that channel water through presas, or check dams, from a natural source, into the acequia madre, which carries the water into agricultural fields and communities through smaller canals, while returning any excess water to the river. While this system of water management has persisted for centuries, its threated by drought and water management practices that reject this communal system.

2008
5 acres
7000 feet above sea level

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