March 20, 2020 / Volume 8, Issue 11
The Water Resource Research Center - a research unit of the  College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and an Extension unit in  UA Cooperative Extension  within the Division of   Agriculture,  Life & Veterinary Sciences & Cooperative Extension
WRRC Office Update

Although the WRRC building will be closed to the public until further notice, our staff continue to work and engage as much as possible. You can reach us via email as listed on our Directory. We wish you all the best - Stay safe and healthy!

UArizona Cooperative Extension COVID-19 info page   
In this issue:  Online Seminars  / Well Guidance / APW /  Record Warmth  / Internship
Reflections: Being on Sabbatical During the COVID-19 Pandemic
T his is the second Reflections on my Spring Semester sabbatical activities. While a sabbatical is intended as a time away from some routine faculty activities, it is not meant to be time off from professional endeavors. Faculty members must receive approval of their planned sabbatical program. My approved sabbatical program was to lecture on topics relevant to my research and Extension work on our region's water issues, for which there is a lot of interest globally. After visiting Singapore in late January (see my previous Reflections ) and Mexico City, my schedule from early March through early July was filled with an interesting mix of presentations in Arizona, elsewhere in the United States, Mexico, Israel, Australia, and France. Obviously, the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic has led to the almost complete curtailment of these planned activities. However, even as recently as early March, I had no idea of how this virus would change all of our lives. I write this Reflections piece as a mix between a travelogue and a record of just how quickly things changed in a way none of us could have anticipated. 

WRRC EVENTS 
Brown Bag Webinar Only - Learning from the Colorado River Conversations

April 1, 2020 / 12:00pm to 1:15pm

Speakers:  Katharine Jacobs , Director, Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions and Professor, Environmental Science, University of Arizona; 
Amy McCoy , Partner, Martin & McCoy


Over the past few years, the UA Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions has hosted a series of events aimed at broadening the conversation about managing the Colorado River. These included an assessment of interdisciplinary science needs, recognizing the complexity of river management issues; a conference soliciting input from water managers on the science agenda developed in the first event; and a conference organized around building relationships among entities and individuals with different perspectives on river management priorities. In addition, CCASS hosted a series of scenario planning workshops focused on exploring extreme "black swan" events. These conversations included participants from all seven basin states and Mexico, as well as tribal and environmental interests, NGOs, and federal agencies. 

Webinar Registration
Upcoming Brown Bag Webinars
  • April 8 - Kacey Ernst, Mosquito-borne Disease and Climate Change
  • April 16 - Student Research on Water Resource Science Monitoring and Methods
  • April 29 - Marie Pearthree, Mike McGuire, Book: Tucson Water Turnaround: Crisis to Success
WRRC NEWS
onlineWRRC Brown Bags Offered Online
 
In light of the actions being recommended to slow the spread of COVID19, the WRRC building is currently closed to the public and staff are working from home. As long as social distancing precautions are in place, we plan to present the scheduled Brown Bag seminars as webinars to be viewed remotely. Get the same great information without extra travel! The next WRRC Brown Bag will be presented by Kathy Jacobs and Amy McCoy on April 1st. The topic is the Colorado River Conversations they facilitated with the support of a US Bureau of Reclamation grant. Both have worked on Colorado River issues for many years in their capacities as water management, climate change, and resource economics experts. Future Brown Bags, listed in this Weekly Wave, will also be available  online.

wellShared Water Well Guidance from UA Extension

In February, the University of Arizona Cooperative Extension released "A Guide for Operating Shared Water Wells In Arizona" authored by Gary Hix and Dr. Janick Artiola. Because most shared water wells are registered as domestic wells and there is no separate designation for shared well systems, it is not possible to know how many exist in Arizona. The guide helps homeowners learn to effectively manage their shared water systems. It begins by defining the difference between shared water well systems and public water systems and then provides guidance on how to manage shared systems, how frequently to test the water quality, how to register or get a system inspected, and why it is good to have a Water Share Agreement (WSA). It answers common questions such as: should a lawyer be involved in setting up a WSA, and is there an inspection checklist for managers of shared wells? The guide follows a 2015 publication by the same authors titled, "Arizona Guide to Domestic Well Registration and Record-keeping" (Arizona Cooperative Extension publication AZ1663).  
 
Read the Guide here
apw2Stay Tuned and Stay Healthy

Arizona Project WET wants our teachers, partners, and community to know that we are here for you as we navigate our new reality each day. How do we move forward to develop water stewardship and STEM literacy while taking into account mandated social distancing? Our team is hard at work exploring new ways to provide engaging educational opportunities and tools for our audiences. One tool currently in use with our Recharge the Rain teacher cohort is  Wakelet. This social bookmarking tool allows you to organize and curate collections of online content while inviting others to collaborate and add to your collections. Check out Betsy Wilkening's Wakelet collections which include resources on climate teaching, climate data, citizen science, and rainwater harvesting to continue your journey into water stewardship. Please follow APW on Facebook , Twitter , Instagram, and here on the Weekly Wave as we provide new opportunities and resources moving forward.

APW
warm-winterPast Winter in Northern Hemisphere Amongst Warmest on Record
 
2020 is starting out to be a record-breaking weather year. NOAA just declared that this past winter (December 2019-February 2020) was the second warmest on record for the global northern hemisphere. The warmest period occurred in 2015-2016, a strong El Niño year. In line with climate change predictions of greater variability and more extreme events, the United Kingdom and California have seen records broken: February 2020 was the wettest ever recorded in the UK and the driest ever recorded in CA. Europe as a whole had its warmest record by far, while Alaska has recently endured some of its coldest weather in eight years, with temperatures as low as -60°F. 

internshipWRRC Offers Internship Opportunity
 
The WRRC is offering its Summer Writing Internship, which again this year will provide a student the opportunity to work with WRRC staff on drafting the annual Arroyo publication. This is a paid 8-week, 20-hour per week internship at the WRRC over June and July 2020. The topic of the Arroyo will be "Water at the Crossroads: The next 40 years," the same as the 2020 WRRC annual conference, rescheduled for late August. The internship is open to all UArizona graduate and undergraduate university students who will be enrolled for the Fall 2020 semester. The application form can be found online along with a description of the internship and application instructions. Apply before April 21, 2020 to be considered.

ANNOUNCEMENTS