IN THIS ISSUE: Mohave County Factsheet, Seminar Recap, New Extension Director, Babbitt Dissertation Fellowship, New Student Assistant | |
Mohave County Factsheet Release | |
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The fourth installment in the WRRC’s Arizona Water Factsheet initiative is now available! The Mohave County Water Factsheet provides a general overview of local water resources, as well as insights about how communities adjacent to the Colorado River work to improve their water supply resilience in the face of drought and a rigid regulatory context. While long-term drought and water shortages directly impact the county, water-related recreation in Mohave County is an important related part of the conversation. The county provides public access to three major reservoirs of the lower Colorado River: Lakes Mohave, Havasu, and Mead. Acknowledging the unique characteristics, priorities, and values of Mohave County, the WRRC collaborated with local experts to guide the content and showcase existing water-related data. The Mohave County Factsheet Technical Advisory Committee included Mohave County Cooperative Extension Director Andrew Brischke, Mohave County Water Authority, the City of Kingman, Lake Havasu City, Bullhead City, and several other county representatives. Additional stakeholders provided input reflective of the deep local knowledge about the county’s water resources and management. Factsheets are available for Maricopa, Pima, Cochise, and Mohave Counties, and work is well underway for Graham, Greenlee, and Yavapai Counties! Follow the series and read about water in each county on our dedicated Arizona Water Factsheet website.
Mohave County Factsheet
AZ Water Factsheets
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WRRC Seminar Series: Preparing for Shortages on the Colorado River: The Activities of the Arizona Water Banking Authority
Date: Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Time: 12:00 pm – 1:15 pm Arizona Time
Location: Webinar Only
Speaker: Rebecca Bernat, Water Resources Specialist Associate & Technical Administrator, AWBA
Established in 1996 to store an unused portion of Arizona's Colorado River entitlement, the Arizona Water Banking Authority (AWBA) provides backup supplies in times of shortages for certain fourth-priority Colorado River users (through a process called firming) and Nevada. With the first-ever Colorado River shortage declaration by the Secretary of the Interior in 2022, the AWBA transitioned to its next phase, making its stored water supplies available to meet its responsibilities. In this WRRC webinar, Dr. Bernat will talk about the ways in which the Water Banking Authority is preparing for shortages, from firming the Gila River Indian Community to recovery planning with partners in the Phoenix, Pinal, and Tucson active management areas.
Register Here
More Info
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WRRC 2023 Annual Conference: What Can We Do? Solutions to Arizona’s Water Challenges
Date: July 11–12, 2023
Times: 9:30 am – 5:00 pm (Jul 11), 8:00 am – 5:00 pm (Jul 12) Arizona Time
Registration is now open for the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center's 2023 Annual Conference, What Can We Do? Solutions to Arizona’s Water Challenges. The conference program aims to address the pressing water resource challenges currently facing Arizona and the region by bringing forward ideas that offer pathways to water security for all. The two-day program will feature sessions on working with nature, improving farming practices, adapting policy, utilizing technology, and more! There will also be ample opportunity for networking to continue the solution-focused discussions of the conference. Thanks to the generosity of our sponsors, early bird registration will be $110 ($65 for a single day), until June 14. We are also pleased to offer student registration for only $30. For those who cannot make it to Tucson, we are offering non-interactive livestreaming at no charge (registration coming soon!). We hope to see many of you in Tucson this July!
Register Here
More Info
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WRRC Seminar Compares Arizona and Nevada Golf Course Water Management
On April 19, the WRRC hosted a webinar presentation from golf course agronomist Tim Cloninger, titled “Golf Course Water Usage: Effective Policy and Effective Water Efficiency Strategies.” Cloninger provided an overview of water management strategies and regulation for golf courses, drawing on 20 years of turfgrass management experience and work in both Arizona and Nevada. Focusing on golf courses within the Phoenix Active Management Area, Cloninger described the history of Arizona golf course water policy. In 1985, the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) began regulating golf course water allotments. Currently 54% of AZ golf courses use at least some groundwater, and are regulated by Annual Conservation Allotments. According to ADWR’s 5th Management Plan, “The allotment formula is intended to encourage efficient design, construction, water application, and to acknowledge limited overseeding practices.” As a comparison to Arizona’s approach, Cloninger described the policies implemented by the Southern Nevada Water Authority (SNWA) to regulate use of potable water. Adopted in in 2003, SNWA limited new golf courses to five acres per hole, and established a water budget of 6.3 acre-feet per irrigated acre. They have also invested in heavily in converting turf to low water use landscaping. Speaking to the future, Cloninger suggested that golf courses should utilize Tif-Tuf Bermuda grass, a warm season turf, to conserve water in the hot and dry climate of the southwest. He also discussed strategies for improved efficiency in irrigation, including tools that monitor soil moisture. The recording of the webinar is available on the WRRC website.
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Ed Martin Named Director of AZ Cooperative Extension
Effective April 17, 2023, Dr. Edward C. Martin has accepted the position of Associate Vice President and Director of the Arizona Cooperative Extension System. Since 2021, Dr. Martin has served as Interim Director of Cooperative Extension. Shane Burgess, Vice President for Agriculture, Life & Veterinary Sciences, and Cooperative Extension, wrote in a welcome letter that “Ed’s expertise and existing statewide trust in water is consistent with what our existing stakeholders, and other sources of information, tell us is the most important issue in Arizona today and its most likely future.” Burgess also noted that in his two years as Interim Director, Dr. Martin “has led through many pandemic-related and other major challenges; managed business and finance flawlessly, led economic and functional impact analyses of all CES programs; worked with UA Government and Community Relations to successfully secure $22.05M in additional state support; supervised the TEConomy CES Economic Impact report showing that Arizona CES has one of the largest returns on state investment of any state measured; initiated, led and managed a statewide needs assessment that will inform a new strategic action plan; and began 30 ongoing CES faculty searches.” As a unit within Cooperative Extension, the WRRC would like to congratulate Dr. Martin on his new role!
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Simone A. Williams Wins Prestigious Babbitt Dissertation Fellowship
We congratulate Simone A. Williams, Graduate Research Associate at the WRRC and a PhD Candidate in the Arid Lands Resource Sciences GIDP, who has been awarded a Babbitt Dissertation Fellowship to support her dissertation research! This competitive and prestigious fellowship is granted by The Lincoln Institute of Land Policy, to support US university students whose dissertation research shows strong potential to support the integration of land and water policies, contributes to advancing water sustainability and resilience, and has significant public impact, especially in western states. The fellowship is administered through the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy. Simone’s dissertation research focuses on enhancing groundwater vulnerability and contamination risks in Arizona using interdisciplinary methods and models to understand differential impact and outcomes of groundwater and land use policies.
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WRRC Welcomes New Student Communications Assistant
The WRRC is pleased to welcome Catherine Hill to its team as the new Student Communications Assistant. She has been a journalist at UArizona, working for KAMP News, since February 2022, where her primary focus is to produce music-related news. She also interned at iSaw International through the Honors College and at Pride Alliance through the LGBT+ Center as part of the marketing and outreach team. Prior to these two internships, Hill graduated from Coconino Community College with an associate's degree in General Studies. While there, she worked as a tutor in the TRIO department coaching students individually, directing open study hours, and creating supplemental video content and also designed and published two magazines: OnCourse and Curios. Most recently, she served as a juror for the 2023 Tucson Festival of Books and is working on her bachelor’s degree in Journalism at UArizona. Welcome, Catherine!
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CORRECTION: Simone A. Williams, mentioned in last week’s edition, is a current WRRC Graduate Research Associate. | |
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Please visit WRRC's website for a complete listing of water jobs & opportunities.
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JAWRA Early View Article on Riverine Flooding
Cockburn, Charlotte, Jonathan M. Winter, Erich C. Osterberg, and Francis J. Magilligan. “Drivers of future streamflow changes in watersheds across the Northeastern United States.” Journal of the American Water Resources Association 00 (2023): 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1111/1752-1688.13120.
Western Water Article: Upper Basin States Seek Added Leverage to Protect Their River Shares
The states of the Lower Colorado River Basin have traditionally played an oversized role in tapping the lifeline that supplies 40 million people in the West. California, Nevada, and Arizona were quicker to build major canals and dams and negotiated a landmark deal that requires the Upper Basin to send predictable flows through the Grand Canyon, even during dry years. But with the federal government threatening unprecedented water cuts amid decades of drought and declining reservoirs, the Upper Basin states of Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, and New Mexico are muscling up to protect their shares of an overallocated river whose average flows have already dropped 20% over the last century. More Info
Drought-Stressed Plants Emit Sound
Khait, Itzhak, et al. “Sounds emitted by plants under stress are airborne and informative.” Cell Volume no. 186, Issue 7 (2023): 1328-1336. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2023.03.009.
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ADEQ Invites Comments
On April 21, 2023, the comment period begins for the Groundwater Rule Clarification and Citation Cleanup rulemaking. The comment period ends on May 22, 2023. More Info
WIFA Water Conservation Grant Program Now Open
The Water Conservation Grant Fund (WCGF) exists to provide financial resources to eligible entities for the purpose of conserving Arizona's water supply. A wide range of projects and programs may be eligible for WCGF funding. Eligible entities may apply for up to $250,000 per project or $3,000,000 per program. A 25% match is required. Cities, towns, counties, districts, commissions, authorities, or other public entities that are organized and exist under the statutory law of Arizona or a voter-approved charter or initiative of Arizona are eligible to apply. Additionally, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) may apply in partnership with one of the entities described above. This first round of applications will be open for four weeks and closes on May 18 at 5:00 pm. More Info
Registration Open for One Health Spring 2023 Symposium: “Water is life”
Faculty from across the University of Arizona will share their research and insights into water under the One Health umbrella. WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal will give an opening address, “One Water, OneHealth, One Earth,” which highlights the OneHealth idea of using and reusing water to meet human and environmental needs. Keynote speaker John H. Postlethwait, professor of biology at the University of Oregon’s Institute of Neuroscience, will discuss integrating human, animal, and environmental health using fish as models. One Health is an approach that recognizes the interconnections in health and wellness among people, animals, plants, and our shared environment. It integrates expertise in human, animal, and environmental health to improve health outcomes, better respond to public health challenges, assure safe and healthy food and water, and protect global health security. More Info
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