Kino Environmental Restoration Project (KERP)

In the mid 1990s, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Pima County and the Pima County Flood Control District entered into a cooperative agreement to create the Ed Pastor Kino Environmental Restoration Project (KERP).  This project was the result of the agencies’ desire to redevelop an existing unlined storm water detention basin - Tucson (Ajo) Detention Basin -  into a detention basin that was more environmentally sensitive and aesthetically pleasing to the community.  The multifaceted KERP facility was designed to meet three primary purposes – create native ecosystems, harvest urban storm water and control flooding.