Every Last Drop: Synthesizing the Microbial Quality of Harvested Rainwater and Garden Soils to Inform Environmental Justice Communities

Abstract

Water scarcity has long plagued human civilization, but arid environments such as the American Southwest face an exceptionally difficult climate fight. The states of that make up southwestern United States all primarily depend on the same major water source, the Colorado River, and are at the mercy of its reservoirs to meet their demand. While the switch to Colorado water has allowed for some recovery in groundwater in the region, the lack of precipitation in the coupled with 20th century population growth makes recharging aquifers difficult. As such, many states, such as Arizona, have turned to water conservation plans to meet the growing demand in water, as well as to improve the quality of their own aquifers. One popularly embraced method in Arizona is harvesting rainwater, or the collecting rainfall in cisterns or catchment devices for later use, particularly when it comes to crop and garden irrigation. However, the communities of Dewey-Humboldt, Globe/Miami, Hayden/Winkelman, and Tucson, Arizona, face an additional uphill battle as border communities to Superfund and Toxic Release Inventory sites. These communities have concerns about the quality of their harvested rainwater, and garden soils. By using a co-created citizen science framework, Project Harvest, works directly with community members to sample and participate in the scientific process, answering questions and concerns they may have about their harvested rainwater and garden soils. This dissertation research seeks to understand the socio-demographic factors influencing water conservation infrastructure, as it pertains to rainwater as an alternative water source, to determine the microbial quality of harvested rainwater, and to determine if a lower cost testing method is satisfactory to determine water quality.