IN THIS ISSUE: Diversity, Binational Water, CAP Maintenance, APW-Inspire Change, Dan Offret, WRRC Photo Contest
WRRC Seeks to Amplify Your Voice
The Water Resources Research Center engages with policy makers, stakeholders, and the public on a range of important water resources issues. We strive to be inclusive in the people we serve and the voices we listen to and air. Even so, we have fallen short of our goal and need to make special efforts to identify and engage individuals and groups who remain under-represented and whose perspectives should receive more attention. Water is everyone’s business, yet most people do not identify themselves as members of the water community. We want to expand that community. Therefore, we are asking our friends to help with ideas, introductions, and contact information, and to partner with us for more inclusive discussions of issues that affect our lives.
 
Please reach out to us as we strive to actively provide space for community voices and under-represented perspectives through our existing and future programs. Email WRRC Assistant Director, Susanna Eden at seden@arizona.edu.

Photo: WRRC 2016 Photo Contest Winner
Greg Griffin “Autumn in Oak Creek”
Oak Creek Canyon, Arizona
WRRC EVENTS
Brown Bag Webinar: Coronavirus Response at the Central Arizona Project

Date: Friday, November 13, 2020
Time: 12:00 - 1:15 p.m.
Location: Webinar Only
 
Speaker: Ted Cooke, General Manager, Central Arizona Project
 
Ted Cooke will be presenting an overview of how the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a major water supplier with a service area encompassing over 5 million people, responded to the coronavirus pandemic. He will also explain how the CAP kept the water flowing, its employees safe, and managed its facilities.
Upcoming Webinars
 
Nov. 18 – Southwestern Navajo Rural Water
Appraisal Study
Kevin Black, Sr., Planning Program Manager, US Bureau of Reclamation - Phoenix Area Office
 
Dec. 2 – Balancing Water for People and Nature:
The Upper San Pedro River
Scott Deeny, Arizona Water Program Lead, The Nature Conservancy
Holly Richter, Arizona Water Projects Director, The Nature Conservancy

Dec. 9 - Balancing Environmental, Municipal, and Agricultural Needs in the Edwards Aquifer: A Farmer’s Perspective
Adam Yablonski, President, Comanche Creek Farms

Jan. 14, 2021 – Transferring Water in Arizona
Patrick J. Cunningham, Public Affairs Consultant and General Counsel, HighGround
Michael J. Pearce, Partner, Gammage & Burnham
NEWS
WRRC Director Addresses Two Conferences on Binational Water
 
WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal participated in two virtual programs the week of October 12, 2020. She joined two panelists from Mexico to provide remarks comparing groundwater depletion and water security in the Rio Grande Basin and Colorado River Basin at the United States - Mexico Transboundary Groundwater Conference held October 14-15. Focused on “Innovation and Creativity: Strategies for Unprecedented Challenges,” the conference was organized by the Permanent Forum of Binational Waters. The program featured a mix of thematic presentations and engaging panel discussions focused on questions related to key transboundary challenges. With El Dio de los Muertos just a few weeks away, a fun happy hour at the end of the first day consisted of sharing calaveritas. According to the conference website, poems written for the Day of the Dead are known as literary calaveras and are intended to humorously criticize the living while reminding them of their mortality. Visit the website for the poetry winners for a surprise winning entry! 
 
A few days later, Megdal gave a keynote address at a Duke University Water Network symposium on Water and Borders. The October 16th symposium was organized by graduate students at Duke University’s Nicolas School of the Environment. Many of the attendees were students enrolled in the Master of Environmental Management and Master of Public Policy programs. Dr. Megdal’s remarks on transborder issues in the United States followed a panel of representatives from the Upper Colorado River Commission, the Navajo Nation, and the Northwest Florida Water Management District.
At a virtual reception after the symposium, she had the opportunity to answer questions about how current students can pursue careers in water. One of the students in her breakout room was a junior at Duke from Tucson!
CAP Outage for Scheduled Maintenance is Coming Up
 
Each year in the fall, the Central Arizona Project shuts down portions of its system for scheduled maintenance, which results in an extended outage lasting through November. Regularly scheduled maintenance allows customers to plan for outages and saves money. In 2019, the fall extended outage was scheduled to repair the Salt River Siphon among other maintenance activities. The Salt River Siphon is a 21-foot diameter steel pipe that carries almost 75% of the CAP water delivered to its customers under the Salt River. The repairs took approximately 6 weeks. A repeat is expected in 8 to 10 years. This year, in advance of the November extended CAP outage, Tucson Water (TW) is preparing to provide groundwater to customers in place of the normal CAP supply. TW is taking the opportunity to do maintenance on its system and to rehabilitate inactive groundwater wells. The wells, which are independent of CAP infrastructure, will be returned to service temporarily. Most customers will not notice a difference, although some may see unusual amounts of harmless sediment and/or air bubbles.

Also in November, the WRRC has organized a CAP related event. Join us on November 13 for the Brown Bag Webinar, Coronavirus Response at the Central Arizona Project, featuring CAP General Manager Ted Cooke.

Inspire Change!
 
The field of environmental education is changing to create a more sustainable future in our communities and the Arizona Project WET team is among those leading the way! In last week’s North American Association for Environmental Education (NAAEE) conference APW highlighted our work. Originally scheduled in Tucson, the conference moved to an online platform with thousands of educators attending from 50 countries. Our sessions (with links to recordings) provided a sampling of the work that APW does across the State. In Building Community Resilience Through STEAM Education and Actions teachers and students highlight the actions they are taking to mitigate our climate threats in Tucson through the NOAA-sponsored Recharge the Rain project in partnership with Watershed Management Group. Environmental educators have always helped students make sense of phenomena in the natural world using engagement, wonder, and discovery. The Collaborative Approaches to Integrating NGSS into Formal and Nonformal Education presentation delineated the unprecedented collaborative opportunities environmental education providers have to drive science learning as prescribed by the new Arizona Science Standards. Rediscovering Nature: From Hands-On to High-Tech and Back Again tells the story of APW’s continual assessment, evaluation, and revision of our outdoor field experiences to focus on students' learning styles and needs and offers strategies to support program evaluation and revision. Transforming the Field Experience to Promote Green Careers and Stewardship provides an overview of how APW’s Aqua STEM Riparian Habitat Exploration unit engages students in real world field science investigations, while providing a framework for a deeper level of thinking. This combination helps students develop a greater appreciation for water in the environment.

Local Water Diplomat Dan Offret Mourned

The WRRC sadly notes the passing of a good friend, Dan Offret. Active for many years in the water world, Dan served on the Tucson AMA’s Groundwater Users Advisory Committee and the board of the Metro Water District and kept himself informed on water issues locally and beyond. Metro Water’s general manager, Joe Olsen wrote, “I can say without hesitation that Dan left the world better than he found it.” Among his many services to the community, he represented the Citizen Diplomacy Alliance for International Visitors, collaborating with the WRRC to put together a program of experts from southern Arizona to inform visitors from various African countries about regional approaches to water resource management. WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal remembered, “Dan was passionate about and dedicated to his water work.” In addition to attending many conferences and meetings of the WRRC and others, Dan was enthusiastic about local music, attending concerts where WRRC friends would bump into him. In addition, he is reported to have taken up salsa dancing! He will be sincerely missed.
Reminder: Submit Your Photos for the 2020 WRRC Photo Contest
 
We’ve already received lots of great photos for the 2020 photo contest, and there is still time for you to submit your amazing images. As with the last few photo contests we’ve held, the main criteria are that the photos be taken in Arizona and feature water. This year, however, we have added a special category for photographs of water taken in arid regions outside our state. We want to see water in cities and towns, water in nature, water and people, water and industry, water and anything that sparks your imagination!
The contest ends on Dec. 18th.

ANNOUNCEMENTS
PUBLICATIONS
UArizona #1 in Higher Education in the Water Sector: A Global Overview. 2019. Colin Mayfield. UNU-INWEH Report Series, Issue 07. United Nations University Institute for Water, Environment and Health, Hamilton, Canada.