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Apr 23, 2021 / Volume 9, Issue 16
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IN THIS ISSUE: EarthWeek, Brown Bag Recap, WTI, APW, WAM, Little Free Pantry
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Student-Led Symposium Celebrating EarthWeek |
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Earth Day is an annual event that takes place on April 22 and strives "to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide." In celebration of Earth Day, we reflect on EarthWeek, a student-led symposium held March 25-April 2. Every spring, graduate students in the School of Earth and Environmental Sciences (SEES) participate in EarthWeek. SEES is comprised of the departments of Environmental Science, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, Geosciences, Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, School of Geography and Development, Arizona Institutes for Resilience, Accelerator Mass Spectrometry Laboratory, and the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research. This year, 37 students shared their research on wide-ranging topics such as water resources, geoscience, environment and society, ecology, weather and climate, and soil physics. The event also included a live Lightning Talk competition with graduate students participating from each department. The virtual round-table discussions on "Environmental Racism 101" and "What Does it Mean to Be an Environmental Scientist" were well-attended and stimulated engaging discussions. Although EarthWeek was primarily virtual, it included two socially-distanced events in the field in which 50 SEES students joined forces to clean up a section of the Tucson Arroyo Chico Wash and remove invasive fountain grass from the Saguaro National Park.
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Brown Bag Webinar - OpenET – Filling One of the Biggest Data Gaps in Water Management
Date: Wednesday, May 5, 2021
Time: 12:00 pm-1:15 pm MST
Speaker:
Robyn Grimm, Senior Manager - Water Information Systems, Environmental Defense Fund - Western Water Program
Sustainable water management is one of the most challenging issues of our time, especially in the arid western US. Maximizing the benefits of water supplies requires careful measurement of availability and use. However, one important information gap is compounding this challenge: the lack of consistent consumptive water use data for irrigated agriculture, which accounts for the majority of water use in the western US. To date, access to this data has been limited and expensive, keeping it out of the hands of most water users and decision-makers who could benefit from its use. OpenET aims to change this and support sustainable water management and innovation in water conservation. This talk will provide an introduction to the OpenET platform and the approach taken to its development and will demonstrate a few of its applications.
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Reclaimed Water Opportunities for Tucson
On Wednesday, April 14, the WRRC hosted John Kmiec, Tucson Water Interim Director, for a Brown Bag webinar entitled “Tucson Water’s Reclaimed Water System: Providing the Right Water for the Right Use for Nearly 40 Years.” The presentation began with an overview of the legal context that gave the City of Tucson the right to 90% of the recycled water generated by its residents. In 2020, recycled water represented 12% of the city's portfolio, Colorado River water made up 82%, and remediated groundwater, 6%. Recycled water is delivered through 173 miles of purple pipelines to more than 1,000 customers to irrigate golf courses, school fields, and parks. Recycled water is also used for managed aquifer recharge - the process of storing water in aquifers for later recovery. This method allows for the natural treatment of water as it percolates into the aquifer.
Photo: Michael Thomas Bogan
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Policy Brief on Tribal Water Rights
The Water & Tribes Initiative (WTI), a project of the Center for Natural Resources & Environmental Policy at the University of Montana, released its fourth policy brief on tribal water in the Colorado River Basin. “The Status of Tribal Water Rights in the Colorado River Basin” provides a comprehensive overview of the historical and legal context of the Basins’ 30 federally recognized tribes' water rights. According to the brief, 22 tribes in the Basin hold recognized rights to 3.2 million acre-feet of Colorado River water annually, constituting 20-26% of the Basin’s average annual supply. The brief presents informative tables summarizing both recognized and unresolved water rights of the tribes in the Upper and Lower Basins. The third and fourth policy briefs from WTI seek to inform ongoing water management discussions as federal and state representatives, sovereign tribes, and other stakeholders negotiate the management framework that will replace the 2007 Interim Guidelines. On April 27, a webinar presented by the Getches-Wilkinson Center Natural Resources, Energy, and the Environment at the University of Colorado Boulder will feature members of the WTI leadership team for a discussion of the briefs and the role of tribes in “advancing a sustainable vision for the Colorado River.”
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AZ Environmental Teams Strategize to Solve Shortages
"We can go the distance" was the theme for Trivium students from Goodyear participating in this year’s Arizona Envirothon. And they did just that, winning the competition! Trivium coach Kelly Briggs noted how incredibly motivated her students were to take part in a competition that promotes the environment, science, and engaged learning in this truly odd year. This year's competition theme was “Water Resources Management: Local Control & Local Solutions.” Environmental science students from around the state proposed a series of water conservation strategies to preserve long-term water supplies for a hypothetical Arizona community. A plan to use water-saving technologies in municipal, industrial, and agricultural applications won the day for Trivium.
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Fun Facts About AZ Water Use
April is Water Awareness Month (WAM), and the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has a website devoted to information and activities that promote “Arizona’s success in managing its water resources” and “encourage Arizonans to be conscious of every precious drop.” The WAM website is nested within the content-rich Arizona Water Facts site, which provides a wealth of Arizona water resources and information. Speaking of interesting Arizona water facts, in their April 19 newsletter, ADWR published an article answering the question, “How Many Homes in Arizona, on Average, Share an Acre-Foot of Water Each Year?” According to the article, over the last several months, various news stories included statements about the number of households an acre-foot of water supplies, ranging from an average of one to two homes. Digging into this question, ADWR researchers found that an acre-foot of water supplies as many as three Phoenix-area households, on average. This number increases to 3.5 when including data from all five of Arizona’s Active Management Areas. While there are many variables at play in this statistic, ADWR partially credits residents who are conservation-minded, highlighting the value of educational water information and campaigns such as WAM.
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WRRC Staff Member Helps Tucson Community
One of our newer team members, Rose Veneklasen, who joined the WRRC last August, volunteered to have a Little Free Library (LFL) installed on her property in 2019. When the pandemic hit last year, she chose to convert her LFL to a Little Free Pantry (LFP) due to the potential health risks of sharing books and to better serve her community during this difficult time. Over the past year, she has become more resourceful in coming up with ways to keep her LFP stocked and wants to thank those who have donated non-perishable food and hygiene items to keep things running. Her intention is to eventually return to sharing books, however, she feels she will likely function as both library and pantry in the future. Reporter Shawndrea Thomas of KGUN 9 News recently contacted Rose to ask about her LFP – the link to the video and story is below.
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Please visit WRRC's website for a complete listing of water jobs & opportunities.
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