Renovation is underway at Agua Caliente Park pond in Tucson

Now that the main pond at Agua Caliente Park has been largely restored after nearly drying up two years ago, work is underway to renovate a second, currently dry, pond at the park so that it might one day hold water again.

Workers have graded and smoothed out the bottom of the dry pond, known as Pond 2, in preparation for installing a heavy-duty plastic liner that will significantly limit water loss when the pond once again contains water.

It’s uncertain when enough water will be available to begin refilling Pond 2, said Kerry Baldwin, Natural Resources Division manager for Pima County. The county oversees the park northeast of Tucson.

“For now, our priority is maintaining Pond 1,” the park’s 3.5-acre main pond, Baldwin said. “Unless we get an influx of water, we won’t have water to put in Pond 2 yet.”

Pond 1, which had all but dried up because of drought and the failure of the spring that once fed it, has been restored to near-normal levels with water pumped from a well. Plans call for installing a liner to limit water loss at the pond, or perhaps using a newly developed liquid polymer technique to seal the pond bottom if it is found to be effective, Baldwin said.

During that work on Pond 1, which wouldn’t start until funding becomes available, the 2.5-acre Pond 2 would come into its own.

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“Before any work could go on at Pond 1, we would need an open surface pond to support the park’s wildlife and be available for visitors,” Baldwin said. “That’s why we need to have Pond 2 ready so we can put water into it in the future when we can do the (lining) work on Pond 1.”

Later, with pond linings in place, “we might reduce the water loss so significantly that we could keep Pond 1 full and Pond 2 at least partially full,” he said. “That would provide additional wildlife viewing spots.”

PLANS FOR POND 2

Additional plans for the renovation of Pond 2 include:

• Adding drip irrigation on an island in the pond so that trees and shrubs there could grow and provide increased shade.
• Installing new asphalt to complete a perimeter path around the pond.
• Creating beach areas to allow safer proximity to the pond edge for education purposes.
• Removing invasive California fan palms around the pond and on the island to improve viewing opportunities and allow for new wildlife habitat planting options.