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October 6, 2017 / Volume 5, Issue 26
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President Robbins and UA Delegation
Visit Gila River Indian Community
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On September 27, 2017 University of Arizona President Robert C. Robbins and a delegation of UA personnel visited to the Gila River Indian Community. At the invitation of GRIC Governor Stephen Roe Lewis, President Robbins spoke with the GRIC Education Standing Committee and then the group toured and received briefings on the MAR5 riparian site, the Gila River Hospital, and Gila River Farms. WRRC Director Sharon Megdal was honored to join President Robbins, Governor Lewis, and the other UA delegation members: Tim Bee, Vice President, Government and Community Relations; Shane Burgess, Vice President and Dean, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Karen Francis-Begay, Assistant Vice President, Tribal Relations; Jeff Silvertooth, Director, University of Arizona Cooperative Extension;Trent Teegerstrom, Associate Director, Tribal Extension Program; Valerisa Joe, Ph.D. candidate and Alfred P. Sloan Scholar; Francisco Moreno, Assistant Vice President for Diversity and Inclusion, Health Sciences; Claudia Nelson, Director, Native Peoples Technical Assistance Office; and Karletta Chief, Assistant Professor, Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science, and Extension Specialist.
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 WRRC Brown Bag -
Adaptive Management and Water:
The Importance of Science to Public Policy and Water Management
October 9, 2017
Time/Location: 12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. / WRRC Sol Resnick Conference Room (350 N. Campbell Ave.)
Speaker: Dave Wegner, Senior Scientific Consultant, Jacobs Engineering
Adaptive Management. Those two words have become integral to water policy and management actions since the mid-1990's. Coupling adaptive management with water legislation, policy, and agency operations has become a requirement for political and public support and action. Due to the variability of water resources, the unknown impacts of climate change and extreme events have made adaptive management a publicly required element, but has it been for the right reasons and to what success?
If you can't make it to the seminar on October 9, join us online
here.
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WRRC Brown Bag - Yuma Agriculture and the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture
October 17, 2017
Time/Location: 12:00 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. / WRRC Sol Resnick Conference Room (350 N. Campbell Ave.)
Speaker: Paul Brierley, Executive Director, Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture
Yuma County is in the top 0.5% of U.S. counties in agricultural crop sales, producing nearly 90% of North America's winter leafy greens, but it is always striving to overcome challenges and be even more productive. What makes it such a top producer? And how does the Yuma Center of Excellence for Desert Agriculture (YCEDA) support this amazing industry?
YCEDA is a public-private partnership between the agricultural industry and the University of Arizona's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Guided by industry stakeholders, YCEDA brings together researchers and funding for projects ranging from irrigation and salinity management to disease mitigation, and from wildlife deterrence to drones and remote sensing.
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WRRC Brown Bag - AZ State Land Department Commissioner
October 25, 2017
Time/Location:
3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. / ENR2 S107 (1064 E. Lowell St.)
Speaker:
Lisa Atkins, State Land Commissioner
Please note special time and location.
The Arizona State Land Department manages approximately 9.2 million acres of State Trust lands within Arizona. These lands were granted to the State under the provisions of the federal Enabling Act that provided for Arizona's statehood in 1912. These lands are held in trust and managed for the sole purpose of generating revenues for the 13 State Trust land beneficiaries, the largest of which is Arizona's K-12 education.
Co-sponsored by School of Natural Resources and the Environment
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Check out all of our upcoming
events and videos of previous events on our
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MetroWeek on KUAT, Channel 6 - Minute 323
October 6, 2017
Time: 6:30 p.m.
Hosted by: Vanessa Barchfield, Metro Week
Guests: Sharon B. Megdal, University of Arizona
Fernando Molina, Tucson Water
An agreement signed by the United States and Mexico is intended to improve conservation of Colorado River water, Arizona water officials said. "Minute 323" calls for the United States to invest $31.5 million dollars in Mexico's water infrastructure. Metro Week goes beyond the headlines and examines the week's issues that affect Tucson and Southern Arizona.Tune in for an in-depth discussion of this historic agreement.
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SNRE Seminar - Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative - Landscape Conservation Design Process
November 1, 2017
Time/Location: 3:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. / ENR2 S107 (1064 E. Lowell St.)
Speaker: Desert LLC Panel
The Bureau of Reclamation and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service have partnered to develop the Desert LCC. The Desert LCC is a bi-national, self-directed, non-regulatory regional partnership formed and directed by resource management entities as well as interested public and private institutions in the Mojave, Sonoran, and Chihuahuan Desert regions of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. Through collaborative partnerships, the Desert LCC seeks to provide scientific and technical support, coordination, and communication to resource managers and the broader Desert LCC community to address climate change and other landscape-scale ecosystem stressors.
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WRRC Awarded New TAAP Grant
The WRRC has been awarded a new grant to continue its work on the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program (TAAP). Director Sharon Megdal, Research Analyst Jacob Petersen-Perlman, and Graduate Research Assistant Elia Tapia will participate in various activities related to the TAAP in the coming year. They will participate in efforts to complete the Binational Study of the Transboundary Santa Cruz Aquifer and collaborate with the USGS, International Boundary and Water Commission, and other TAAP partners on the program's implementation. The team will also work on assessing groundwater recharge in the U.S. portion of the Santa Cruz Aquifer. Team members will continue to hold stakeholder engagement forums and present TAAP results and activities via conferences, journal articles, and other materials in the coming year.
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Presentations Posted Online: Upper Gila State of the Watershed
Presentations from the 2017 Upper Gila State of the Watershed are now posted and available for viewing. Presentations covered a broad array of topics. Full of enlightening information tailored for the Upper Gila Watershed, the first State of the Watershed demonstrated how active rural watershed stakeholders can work together. A mix of over 130 people including citizens, scientists, non-profits, industry leaders, local government, as well as state and federal agencies came together to share information and find common ground for future work. According to initial survey results, participants agreed unanimously that the event should be repeated. The planning committee is already busy reviewing comments and thinking about how the next State of the Watershed can be even better.
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As a first generation American and the first and only child in his extended family to attend university, Rickii often has the eyes of many glued to his progress. Rickii Rik, born in Glendale, AZ, has known no other home beyond the dry desert environment, but his family, originally from Laos and Cambodia, had quite a different experience with water in water rich Southeast Asia. Yet one water experience that he and his family have in common is fishing. In fact, it's this family love of fishing that inspired him to pursue an undergraduate degree in Natural Resources, with an emphasis in Ecohydrology and Watershed Management at the University of Arizona. Arizona's own water biomes and ecological diversity pique his interest. Rickii's interest in all things water drives the passion behind his studies. So, if he's not in the office, he's either studying diligently or out hiking and fishing!
Welcome to the Arizona Project WET team Rickii Rik!
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Student Research Proposals Sought
The WRRC is calling for research proposals from students for its 104b grants program. The program, authorized under the Water Resources Research Act, Section 104(b) and funded through the U.S. Geological Survey, provides small grants for research that explores new ideas to address water problems in Arizona and expands understanding of water and related phenomena. Program goals emphasize the entry of new research scientists, engineers, and technicians in the water resources field and education of students through significant involvement in water research. To advance these goals, the WRRC is calling on students and their faculty sponsors to submit proposals that feature student work.
The WRRC expects to award two to four grants of up to $10,000. Student project proposals must show a faculty member at one of Arizona's three state universities (UA, ASU, or NAU) as the Principal Investigator (PI). The student or students should be listed as Co-PIs. The deadline for submitting proposals is 5:00 pm, Wednesday, November 15, 2017.
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On October 2nd, Clive Lipchin, the Director of the Center for Transboundary Water Management at the Arava Institute described the world-wide need for on-site, off-grid solutions for communities lacking access to centralized water, wastewater, and energy infrastructure. He reported that approximately 70% of the Palestinian population in the West Bank, 30% of the Jordanian population, and 50% of the Bedouin population in the Negev are off grid and many of these communities practice discharge of raw sewage into the environment. Dr. Lipchin described the work of the Arava Institute, including a current project to treat and recycle graywater (kitchen and non-toilet bathroom water) for irrigation and livestock watering in Bedouin communities. He described the importance of decentralized wastewater treatment in communities not only for improving water quality, but also for improving crop yield in gardens, and decreasing environmental impacts. This presentation was co-sponsored by the Water Resources Research Center, the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, the Arizona Center for Judaic Studies, and
Weintraub Israel Center.
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The Waterfront Center of Washington DC has announced it will team with the Yuma Crossing National Heritage Area to host its 33rd annual international conference on urban waterfront planning, development, and culture in Yuma, Arizona from January 25 through 27, 2018. Registration and event details are now available on the Conference web site.
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WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH CENTER
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