Water sources like springs are imperiled along the border in the San Rafael Valley, due to impending construction of the Trump administration’s 30-foot-high border wall. It is estimated that 500,000 gallons of local groundwater will be pumped for every mile of wall built and will be used to create cement footers for the wall and to keep dust down. This will impact springs by drawing on shared groundwater — putting wildlife and native plants at risk from reduced water access.
With your help, we hope to gather baseline data on summer flows for as many springs as possible before border construction begins.
Then we’ll continue monitoring these springs so we can document changes to spring flows as the wall is built. Not enough is known about how springs are impacted by border wall construction, and the data we collect together will help us advocate for watershed mitigation.
We’re asking everyone to focus Spring Seeking attention on any spring or other water source within three miles of the U.S.-Mexico border across the San Rafael Valley. This map shows that area along with recent Spring Seeker surveys. Any sites in red have already been done this summer or more recently, so the springs to visit and survey are the ones in the target area in blue.
An important reminder: Please only survey springs you have permission to access, on public lands or places you have permits to access.
If this is your first time with Spring Seeker, head to our project homepage to learn more about getting started. Otherwise, feel free to begin surveying.
If you have any issues installing the Spring Seeker app on your phone, or if you have any questions about the surveys, please reach out to me at [email protected], or 520-624-7080 x18.
If you would like another person to come with you on springs visits, let m know and I can match you up with another Spring Seeker. It’s very hot in the borderlands right now, so please take caution and plenty of water when heading out to survey these water sources.
Thank you in advance for your time surveying and protecting border springs!