Protect Phoenix Preserve

The Core Finding (The Sideways Ditch)

The Problem: To manage mountain stormwater runoff, the City of Phoenix encountered a hard Precambrian bedrock shelf behind our neighborhood curve. Rather than executing a deep-trench excavation through this solid formation, the construction framework shifted toward a horizontal expansion. The channel footprint was widened sideways instead of deepened, which required clearing a significant swath of pristine native desert vegetation and placing a wide, shallow concrete track directly adjacent to private rear property boundaries.

From an open-channel hydraulics standpoint, spreading rapid mountain runoff across a wide, flat floor maximizes surface boundary friction. This configuration forces incoming high-velocity stormwater to slow down abruptly upon transition. Because the water’s carrying capacity drops along with its velocity, suspended mountain gravel and sediment are expected to drop out of suspension rapidly. This design essentially creates a structural silt trap that risks choking the channel’s active volume during high-intensity storm events, introducing a foreseeable overtopping hazard to previously secure residential properties while permanently replacing a natural preserve view corridor with an expansive infrastructure footprint.

Central Evidence Repository (Open Source Verification)

We believe in total transparency. Anyone can download our raw verification materials to audit our findings independently.