On Thursday, October 20, the WRRC will host a discussion panel for the documentary Thirst for Justice. The film follows Sanders, Arizona, and Flint, Michigan residents in their efforts to ensure clean, safe drinking water for their communities. The WRRC is holding this special event to coincide with Imagine a Day Without Water, a national day of action to support communities lacking access to clean water.

Date: Oct 13, 2022

Time: 12:00 pm–1:15 pm Arizona Time

Location: Webinar Only

Speaker: William M. Alley, Director, Science and Technology, National Ground Water Association

This WRRC Brown Bag presentation reviews the history of potable reuse and lessons learned by examining the key roles of Arizona, California, Colorado, and Texas. Case studies illustrate varying conditions that motivate potable reuse, challenges in implementation, and its potential future as urban population growth, environmental needs, and climate change pressure drinking water supplies of cities across the country.

Oct 20: WRRC “Imagine a Day Without Water” Special Event: Thirst for Justice Panel; 4-5 pm AZ Time

Oct 26: Native Voices in STEM Fall 2022 Seminar Series: Groundwater to Snow Science: My Research and Teaching Path to Becoming a "Jack(lyn)- Of-All-Trades

Nov 10: WRRC Brown Bag Webinar: 104(b) Grant Program: Student Research Presentations – Save the Date

Nov 18: WRRC Brown Bag Webinar: Watershed Collaboration in the Tucson Basin: Santa Cruz Watershed Collaborative Adopts a Watershed Restoration Plan to Promote Flowing Rivers – Save the Date

Nov 29: Water and Agriculture: Chile-Arizona Experience; Co-hosted by the Agricultural Office of the Embassy of Chile in the US and the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center; 11:00 am to 1:00 pm AZ Time – Save the Date

Nov 30: Native Voices in STEM Fall 2022 Seminar Series: Featuring Dr. Raymond Torres – Save the Date

On September 28, the second webinar in the Native Voices in STEM Fall 2022 Series was hosted by the UArizona-Sloan Indigenous Graduate Partnership; the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences; NSF-NRT Indigenous Food, Energy, Water Security, and Sovereignty; the Water Resources Research Center; and the Indigenous Resilience Center. The webinar, titled “Collaborative Hydrology Research with the Navajo Nation,” was presented by Dr. Lani Tsinnajinnie, a member of the Diné. She is an assistant professor in Community and Regional Planning at the University of New Mexico (UNM). Drawing from her expertise in hydrology, she and her team have been collaborating with New Mexico Tech, Colorado State, the University of Arizona, and UNM to find solutions for protecting the existing water sources in Indigenous communities subject to heavy oil and gas developments. Her research aims to better understand how groundwater and surface water interactions are impacted by climate change to ensure food, energy, and water needs are met. She emphasized the importance of collaborations in water management and accommodating the needs of not only Mexican, American, and Indigenous peoples but also those of Mother Earth to secure water resources for generations to come. The recorded presentation will be posted soon on the NVIS website.

We are sad to report the passing of Stanley A. Leake on September 19, 2022, at the age of 71. Born in Prescott, AZ, Stanley attended Arizona State University and the University of Arizona, pursuing a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics and a Master of Science degree in hydrology. He dedicated more than forty years to his career with the United States Geological Survey (USGS), becoming a well-known and respected scientist in his field. In 2017, Leake received the Arizona Hydrological Society (AHS) Lifetime Achievement Award. He was recognized for his numerous publications on stream capture and groundwater/surface water interactions, as well as his contributions to groundwater modeling technology. Leake was a dear friend and colleague to many in the hydrology community. He will be missed.

The first Water Festival of the school year was a blast! Arizona Project WET’s 16th Annual Flagstaff Water Festival was a great success thanks to community partners and generous sponsorships from the Flagstaff Arizona Community Foundation, the City of Flagstaff, and the City of Flagstaff Water Conservation. The festival was on September 27 and brought together 32 teachers and 693 students from 11 schools. This was a spectacular collaborative day between Arizona Project Wet (APW), Flagstaff Unified School District, Flagstaff Charter Schools, Coconino County Cooperative Extension, Flagstaff City Government, and Northern Arizona University (NAU). Each year, APW trains over 100 community volunteers to deliver festival lessons, at times working with NAU professors to make it part of their preservice teacher instruction. The Flagstaff Water Festival is a long-standing program in the Flagstaff community and Arizona Water Festivals play an important role in water sustainability and stewardship in Arizona.

Desalination is often considered as an important option for augmenting Arizona’s water supply. WRRC Director Sharon Megdal has recently been consulted for news stories from NPR and ABC regarding desalination projects. In response to worsening shortage conditions and new funding for water projects, there have been renewed discussions about resuming operations at the inactive Yuma Desalting Plant and constructing two new plants along the Mexican Sea of Cortez. However, desalination comes with significant costs and environmental impacts, as Megdal pointed out. In 2020, the Binational Study of Water Desalination Opportunities in the Sea of Cortez estimated that the costs of desalinated water could reach $2,200 per acre-foot, compared to the $270 per acre-foot cost of Colorado River water. Megdal observed that for every gallon desalinated, “you’ll get a half gallon of good quality water, and then a half gallon of brine to dispose,” which could impact nearby ecosystems. During the construction of the Yuma plant, brine runoff created the Cienega de Santa Clara, a 15,000-acre-foot wetland in Mexico that is now home to endangered marine life and migratory birds. However, the plant has remained idle for 30 years. Resuming operations could disrupt that wetland ecosystem with an influx of heavily salted water. Megdal suggests that desalination should still be a part of the “portfolio” for water augmentation, but to create a more resilient water future, diversification of water resources and desalination tradeoffs should be considered as well.

Please visit WRRC's website for a complete listing of water jobs & opportunities.