IN THIS ISSUE:
MAR 5, IDWW, New Book, APW, Webinar, Dubai Expo, Photo Contest
Field Trip to GRIC’s MAR 5 Site
Enlightens Attendees
On October 22, 2021, the Gila River Indian Community hosted over 60 people at the Managed Aquifer Recharge Site #5 (MAR 5) and Gila River Interpretive Trail. This opportunity was offered to those who attended the WRRC’s 2021 Annual Conference, Tribal Water Resilience in a Changing Environment. As noted in the Interpretive Trail pamphlet received by all, “MAR 5 is a water recharge project that operates as a storage system, and serves as the first portion of the Community’s ‘Return to the River’ program.” Attendees were honored with a welcome from Governor Stephen Roe Lewis (pictured above), who spoke to the site’s importance as a nexus of culture, history, spirituality, and science. He underscored the connection of the site to the life’s work and vision of his late father, Rodney Blaine Lewis, to whose legacy the conference was dedicated. After breaking into smaller groups, participants learned about the history of the Gila River and the Community’s farming, how plants at the site provide materials used for traditional basket weaving, the Community’s flora and fauna, and the Pima-Maricopa Irrigation Project (P-MIP). We thank P-MIP Director David DeJong for facilitating this meaningful and interactive site visit; Governor Lewis and the Community and staff experts (Henrietta Lopez, Yolanda Elias, Kristina Morago, and Sam Rector) for welcoming us and sharing their knowledge and insights; the Gila River Indian Community for its care in screening attendees according to Community COVID-19 protocols; WRRC Program Manager Michael Seronde for facilitating registration and communications; and all attendees for participating.

EVENTS

Date: Oct 29-30, 2021
Time: October 29, 1:00 pm – 5:00 pm and October 30, 9:00 am – 1:00 pm Arizona Times
 
Speaker(s): Various natural resource managers and community leaders, See agenda for more details

This year, the Telegraph and Mescal Fires impacted hundreds of lives and charred over 250,000 acres of land in central Arizona. The fires burned across Pinal and Gila Counties and San Carlos Apache Reservation, damaging dozens of structures, and causing evacuations of multiple communities. Following containment, the record monsoon season triggered floods and debris flows that threatened property and lives. Despite these hardships, natural disasters have a way of binding communities together, creating opportunities for collaboration toward recovery and resilience. On October 29 and 30, the public is invited to Bullion Plaza Cultural Center & Museum in Miami, AZ to hear from natural resource managers and community leaders about the short and long-term impacts of the fires on the landscape and watershed. The Cobre Valley Watershed Partnership is hosting this event in collaboration with Bullion Plaza Cultural Center & Museum, US Forest Service, the WRRC, and UArizona Cooperative Extension.
104(b) Grant Program – Student Research Presentations

Date: Wednesday, Nov 10, 2021
Time: 12:00 - 1:15 pm Arizona Time
Location: Webinar Only
 
Speakers:
Sarah E. Abney, PhD Candidate, Dept. of Environmental Science, W.E.S.T. Center
Ammon F. Cadogan, Water Resources Engineer, Craftwater Engineering
 
Method Optimization for Reduction Analysis of Microplastics in Wastewater
Contamination of our environment from microplastics (1 mm to 5 mm in size) is gaining public attention due to their emergence as an environmental and potential human health threat. Microplastics have been detected in surface waters and treated wastewater effluents. The study's goal is to provide the first low-cost, high-volume microplastic filtering method and information on mass balance of microplastics in wastewater treatment plants to inform the use of Soil Aquifer Treatment. This study was conducted at the Water & Energy Sustainable Technology (WEST) Center in collaboration with the Pima County Reclamation Department.

Measuring River Discharge with Drones
The accurate measurement of river discharge during flooding events has long been a challenging and dangerous task in the Southwestern US where flows are often flashy and have a high sediment concentration. Small unmanned aerial systems (sUAS) can be deployed to access unsafe field sites and measure flow remotely. Using the sUAS footage along with Large Scale Image Velocimetry techniques can yield detailed surface velocity distribution. This research aims to improve the estimation of the velocity index by incorporating turbulence properties (e.g., energy dissipation rate) measured at the surface, channel roughness, and channel geometric properties.
Upcoming WRRC Events


Betsy Wilkening, President, Polar Educators
Kristen Poppleton, Senior Director of Programs, Climate Generation

Diego Berger, PhD, Coordinator of International Projects, Mekorot
NEWS
Emerging Leaders “Imagine a Day
Without Water”

On Thursday, October 21, the WRRC celebrated the 7th annual “Imagine a Day Without Water” with a panel of five emerging water leaders at UArizona: Mary-Belle Cruz Ayala, post-doctoral researcher at the WRRC; Taylor McHugh, MA student, Landscape Architecture; David Eduardo Morales, MS student, Hydrology; Nikki Tulley, PhD candidate, Environmental Sciences; and Simone Williams, PhD student, Arid Lands Resource Sciences. This special webinar featured a 19-minute Netflix video, “EXPLAINED: The World’s Water Crisis.” After the video, the panelists were invited to reflect on its message and share their personal stories in the context of imagining a day without water. McHugh mentioned that “the treatment of [water] reflects how we value it,” an important point built on by other panelists who expanded the concept of water’s value beyond economics.

New Book on US-Mexico Water Management Cooperation Available
 
El Colegio de la Frontera Norte has issued a new book, Visiones contemporáneas de la cooperación y la gestión del agua en la frontera Mexico-Estados Unidos (Contemporary visions for cooperation and water management on the Mexico-US border), edited by José Luis Castro Ruiz, Alfonso Andrés Cortez Lara, and Vicente Sánchez Munguía. This collection of papers by scholars from Mexico and the US, with content in both Spanish and English, contains a chapter by Mary-Belle Cruz Ayala, a post-doctoral researcher at the WRRC, and others on the overuse of groundwater in northwestern Mexico and the implementation of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) for mitigating climate change impacts. The book ranges geographically from Baja California to the Rio Bravo/Rio Grande region, encompassing the binational water framework, water security and climate change, transboundary groundwater, and local governance. It is an excellent summary of successful examples of collaboration between Mexico and the US, as well as the challenges faced when conducting binational projects.

Better Together – Bringing In-person Water Festivals Back to Your Communities

APW is thrilled to be out in communities across the state of Arizona, delivering Water Festivals in person once again! APW sends a sincere “thank you” to all parties involved in making this possible. While things are anything but normal, with the support of loyal sponsors and dedicated teachers, and assistance from many committed community volunteers, APW can get back to interactively providing hands-on educational learning activities and celebrating science along with water stewardship with fourth graders. APW loves instilling a deeper understanding of water in many enthusiastic students during this fun field day event! Although this year continues to present challenges, APW has risen to the occasion, offering flexible and innovative ideas to adapt to the diverse needs of our communities. APW kicked off its first water festival of the school year in Flagstaff on September 28th and successfully delivered festivals in Marana and North Peoria, as well as a unique program for Verde Valley. They are currently working on the 15th Annual Chandler Water Festival for next week. APW truly values the opportunity to bring this outdoor educational experience to fourth graders across the state and is dedicated to creating many more successful water festivals throughout the remaining academic year.

Image: North Peoria Water Festival, Tim Eiden
Webinar Addresses Climate Impacts on Water Infrastructure

Water Solutions for Our Warmer World is a six-part public webinar series hosted by the Arizona Institutes for Resilience, the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy, and the WRRC. The series offers analyses and recommendations on the emerging challenges related to the broad range of climate change impacts on water. Episode 5: Water and Infrastructure: Building for the Future aired live from 4:00 to 5:30 PM on Wednesday, October 20. Moderator Courtney Crosson, a licensed architect and UArizona assistant professor, kept the discussion lively among the distinguished panelists. Green infrastructure was featured in a conversation that ranged widely across the spectrum of relevant concepts. Cathleen Kelly, a senior fellow for Energy and Environment at the Center for American Progress who specializes in US and international climate and sustainable development policy, spoke urgently about the need for the US Congress to act on pending infrastructure legislation. Kelly emphasized that the issues the two pending bills address have been deferred and ignored too long, creating a perilous situation.

International Conference on Water in Arid Regions Accepting Abstracts

The international conference “Water Resources Management and Sustainability: Solutions for Arid Regions” will be held March 22-24, 2022, as part of Dubai’s EXPO 2020. WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal is a member of the conference’s Scientific Committee. To be held in conjunction with observance of World Water Day (March 22), the conference will address a wide range of topics on water resources and include free workshops on AI and GIS/Remote Sensing applications. Conference organizers, the National Water and Energy Center, UAE University, in collaboration with the South Australian Goyder Institute for Water Research and the South Australian Department for Environment and Water, are inviting presentation abstracts. The call for abstracts is open until December 1, 2021. Papers are invited that relate to a broad set of conference themes from Socio-Economic Water Studies and Water Resources Sustainability to Advanced Technologies in Water Resources Management and Karst and Coastal Zone Management and Water Resources, among others. Accepted full-length papers will be considered for publication in the book series Water Science and Technology Library, published by Springer. Extended abstracts will be included in the conference proceedings.

WRRC 2021 Photo Contest: Aridity, Shortage, and Resilience
 
Thanks to all who have submitted photos to our 2021 photo contest. For those who haven’t yet submitted anything, there’s still time to show us what you’ve got! The main submission criterion is that photos must feature water. With the exception of photos in the special category: Water in Arid/Semi-Arid Lands Beyond Arizona, all photos must be taken in Arizona. Arizona photo categories include Best in Show, Water in Nature, Water in the Built Environment, and Water is Life (e.g., people, pets, agriculture). Use the contest theme, Aridity, Shortage, and Resilience, to fuel your imagination. We look forward to seeing your submissions!

WATER JOBS
ANNOUNCEMENTS
PUBLICATIONS & MEDIA
Do you have a story idea, water job announcement, or event to share?