|
|
September 9, 2022 / Volume 10, Issue 22
|
|
IN THIS ISSUE: Reflections, NVIS, ADWR Letter, APW, Fallen Saguaro
|
|
Reflections: Connecting Globally at
Stockholm World Water Week
|
|
Stockholm World Water Week (WWW) is a highly regarded international conference, well known for bringing together diverse water experts from different parts of the world. This year’s WWW theme was Seeing the Unseen: The Value of Water.
|
|
WRRC Brown Bag Webinar: Water Reuse Action Plan and REUSExplorer Demo
Date: Sep 12, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm–1:15 pm Arizona Time
Speaker: Sharon Nappier, National Program Leader for Water Reuse, US Environmental Protection Agency
The National Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP) helps drive progress on reuse by leveraging the expertise of scientists, policymakers, and local experts across the country to create a more resilient water future for communities of all sizes. The collaborative was launched in February 2020 by federal, state, Tribal, local, and water sector partners to build state and local capacity to pursue reuse practices that help solve local water resource challenges. There are currently more than 100 organizations partnering on 56 actions in the plan, ranging from scientific and technical advances in water reuse to policy and coordination improvements across jurisdictions. This WRRC Brown Bag presentation will highlight progress across the WRAP actions and provide a demo of a new tool: Regulations and End-Use Specifications Explorer (REUSExplorer). The REUSExplorer compiles state water reuse regulations and guidelines and highlights the underlying scientific and technical basis of water quality metrics. This new web-based tool, developed by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and partners under WRAP Action 3.1, is searchable by state, source of water, and end-use application. It can be used to assist states interested in developing regulations and help utilities and practitioners to better understand current regulations. The first end-uses available include potable water reuse, onsite non-potable reuse, and other centralized non-potable reuse applications, except agricultural and landscape reuse. The REUSExplorer is available at http://www.epa.gov/reusexplorer.
|
|
WRRC Brown Bag Webinar: Arizona Project WET's Groundwater Videos in the Making
Date: Sep 22, 2022
Time: 12:00 pm–1:15 pm Arizona Time
Speakers:
Holly Thomas-Hilburn, Director, Arizona Project WET
Kevin Sirois, Design Director, Esser Design
Arizona Project WET has been teaching about the groundwater system for over two decades using everything from two-dimensional drawings to tubs of earth materials and the ever-popular sand tank groundwater model. Helping students to understand this critical unseen system is no easy task. With the support of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, APW partnered with Esser Design to develop a series of nine videos about the groundwater system. In the process, we encountered a variety of challenges and interesting questions on the best way to communicate about the groundwater system. In this brown bag, we'll share some of those questions, hear stories from the field, and show some of the groundwater videos.
|
|
Upcoming Events
Oct 13: WRRC Brown Bag Webinar: The Water Recycling Revolution: History and Lessons from Four Western States – Save the Date
Oct 20: WRRC Special Event: Thirst for Justice – Save the Date
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
External Events
|
|
Webinar on Environmental Justice and Indigenous Rights Kicks Off NVIS Fall Series
On August 31, 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 had their first webinar in the Native Voices in STEM Fall 2022 Series. This webinar and others will highlight Native scientists, engineers, educators, leaders, and social activists. Dr. Ryan Emmanuel, an associate professor at the School of the Environment at Duke University and member of the Lumbee Tribe presented the first webinar of the series, titled “Environmental Justice and Indigenous Rights in Eastern North Carolina.” In partnership with the NC Commission of Indian Affairs, Dr. Emmanuel, who trained as a hydrologist, uses his skillset and position to advocate for environmental justice throughout the state. Motivated by a desire to protect ancestral waterways and landscapes from pollution, unsustainable development, and climate change, Dr. Emmanuel speaks to varied audiences about the challenges associated with the recent Atlantic Coast Pipeline Proposal. Construction of the pipeline would have affected rural communities, including the ancestral land and waters of four to five Tribes. Emmanuel highlighted barriers to Indigenous representation, including procedural narrowing or compression of timelines for meeting with Tribal representatives, engaging only Tribes officially recognized by the federal government, power asymmetries, and “color blind” planning. He emphasized the importance of activists and the cooperation of marginalized communities, NGOs, and grassroots organizations, which ultimately put an end to the pipeline project. Dr. Emmanuel and others are actively working to promote native voices in future projects involving native lands or resources. He views river systems not only as physical artifacts but also as “cultural reservoirs” in need of protection.
|
|
ADWR Calls for Federal Action on
Colorado River
On August 30, Arizona Department of Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke sent a letter to officials at the US Department of the Interior and Bureau of Reclamation asking for the federal government to take action to cut water use from the Colorado River. The letter, according to a September 5 article in the Arizona Daily Star, suggested a set of specific water conservation actions to help solve the current crisis. Many of the proposals in Buschatzke’s letter mirrored those suggested in a similar letter sent to Interior officials from Southern Nevada Water Authority General Manager John Entsminger. In the two letters, Arizona and Nevada propose actions such as compensated turf removal, paying farmers to grow lower-water-use crops, investing in water reuse and desalination, funding improvements to Glen Canyon Dam to increase the reliability and predictability of water releases, and changing federal programs to prioritize drought mitigation. According to the article, Buschatzke wrote that “we cannot afford to do nothing, and we cannot simply rely on the tools we have used to date. We must give due consideration to each of these ideas.”
|
|
Colorado River Days Flagstaff Launches September 2–12
Northern Arizona is celebrating Colorado River Days! Colorado River Days Flagstaff is a series of educational events to remind Flagstaff and surrounding communities about the importance of the Colorado River and all it has to offer, bringing together river runners, artists, businesses, scientists, educators, community organizers, and anyone passionate about the Colorado River to celebrate, learn, tell stories, share art and photography, and engage in community with each other. “This community really comes together to organize and celebrate Colorado River Days Flagstaff. The events are collaboratively created and give people a way to celebrate this river that runs through the heart of our culture and economy, but which we can't see from our town,” said Alicyn Gitlin, Program Manager for Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter.
|
|
Ancient Saguaro Uprooted in Monsoon
On August 30, Physics.org News reported that heavy rain caused a 200-year-old Saguaro in Catalina State Park to fall over. The monsoon season in the region of this state park north of Tucson has been wetter than normal, with a series of back-to-back rainstorms. Saguaros have wide-spreading shallow roots, which serve them well for drawing water from occasional desert showers, but serve less well for stability after days of soaking rains. The water-filled cactus toppled under its own weight. Visitors to Catalina State Park can see the fallen giant beside the Romero Ruins trail.
Image: Arizona State Parks and Trails
|
|
CORRECTION: The 10th Annual Tribal Water Law Conference on September 19-20, 2022 will be delivered as an in-person event. Click here to register and for more info.
|
|
Please visit WRRC's website for a complete listing of water jobs & opportunities.
|
|
The Water Desk is now accepting applications for grants of $2,500 to $10,000 to support media outlets and individual journalists covering water issues related to the Colorado River Basin. The deadline for applications for the 2022 grants is Wednesday, September 21, 2022, at 11:59 pm Pacific. |
|
Do you have a story idea, water job announcement, or event to share?
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
