IN THIS ISSUE:
Reflections, Brown Bag Recap, Lightning Talk, APW, ADWR-CAP, Ashley Hullinger
Reflections: 
On April 4, Easter, and the Earthquake
In 2021, the Easter holiday once again fell on April 4, which happens to be my birthday. This coincidence previously happened in 1999 and 2010. For different reasons, I think back to both. In 1999, Tucson, Arizona experienced snow on Easter morning. The highly unusual April snowfall was beautiful and brief, with all signs of snow quickly disappearing as the sun came out and temperatures warmed. A very different natural phenomenon occurred during the afternoon hours of Easter 2010; a devastating earthquake lasting about 1.5 minutes hit northwestern Mexico and southern California. Measuring 7.2 on the moment magnitude scale, the 2010 Easter earthquake inflicted terrible damage, including destruction of water delivery infrastructure in Mexico.
EVENTS
Brown Bag Webinar - Tucson Water's Reclaimed Water System: Providing the Right Water for the Right Use for Nearly 40 years

Date: Wednesday, Apr 14, 2021
Time: 12:00 pm-1:15 pm MST
Location: Webinar Only

Speaker:
John Kmiec, Interim Director, Tucson Water
 
For nearly forty years, Tucson Water has been reusing its effluent to help offset traditional potable uses. Today, the Tucson Water reclaimed water system not only provides high-quality reuse water directly to a wide variety of non-potable customers, but the utility is now utilizing their excess water for aquifer banking and riparian restoration projects. John Kmiec will walk us through the history of the Tucson Water reclaimed water system, up to the most recent projects for the utility. Then, he will discuss what may lie beyond the horizon in the next forty years.
Upcoming WRRC Webinars

Moderated by Toni Massaro, Interim Director of the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice

May 5: Brown Bag Webinar - OpenET – Filling One of the Biggest Data Gaps in Water Management
Robyn Grimm, Senior Manager - Water Information Systems, Environmental Defense Fund - Western Water Program
NEWS
Internet of Water Facilitates Data Sharing

On Wednesday, March 31, Peter Colohan, Executive Director of the Internet of Water (IoW) Project at Duke University, and Ashley Ward, Senior Policy Associate for Engagement and Outreach for the IoW Project, presented a WRRC Brown Bag webinar titled, “The Internet of Water: Modern Water Data Infrastructure for 21st Century Water Management.” Initiated in 2018, the IoW project aims to facilitate the sharing of public water data to improve scientific-based policy decisions. The team developed Geoconnex, a system for connecting water information from different data providers via geographic location. They are also launching HubKit, a free, open-source software suite that stores and converts data to common standards. The IoW project team collaborated with partners in New Mexico to implement their 2019 Water Data Act, and with partners in California, Texas, and North Carolina on other projects. The presenters encouraged everyone to participate in creating the Internet of Water.

IALC Call for Submissions to Student Lightning Talk Competition
 
The International Arid Lands Consortium (IALC) is encouraging graduate students to participate in its 2021 Virtual Conference Lightning Talk competition. Six finalists will be chosen, each to be awarded a $100 gift card and to have their Lightning Talk featured during the conference. Participants are required to submit a 3-minute video about one or more of the conference themes: Water & Agriculture, Land & Natural Environment, or Forests & Fire by 30 April 2021. The three-day international conference, Addressing the Environmental Challenges of Arid Lands, will be held 24-26 May and is free to attend.

Exploring Instruction for All Learners

The power of story and the Indigenous world view came to the forefront in last week’s Freeport-McMoRan Tribal Representative Workshop (see the Creative Process Instructional Model, taken from Igniting the Sparkle: An Indigenous Science Education Model, Dr. Greg Cajete, 1999, pictured on the right). APW’s long-held instructional practices to: engage learners first, use questions to drive instruction, enable learners to explore through models and simulations, and only then explain, were demonstrated in our exploration of watershed health. According to Cajete, “The first frame of reference for a Native science curriculum must be the place of the community, its environment, its history and people.” For APW, the place that we call home is also the watershed in which we live. So together, workshop participants and instructors grappled with the idea of a watershed and how watershed health can be maintained while exploring how to activate learning in various settings. Participants studied and reported how they would adapt Project WET lessons from an Indigenous perspective. The workshop was mutually beneficial for all! For more Indigenous perspectives on water, please Save the Date for WRRC's 2021 Annual Conference: Tribal Water Resilience in a Changing Environment.
Anticipated Shortage on the Colorado River
 
The Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) and the Central Arizona Project (CAP) announced in a joint message that they expect the US Bureau of Reclamation to declare a "Tier 1" shortage on the Colorado River in 2022. This would require a reduction of about 18% of Arizona’s current allocation, mainly affecting central Arizona agricultural users who are reliant on CAP water. Agreements between Colorado River Basin states and Arizona water users, such as the 2019 Drought Contingency Plan, have been implemented to delay more significant cutbacks that would affect cities and Native Nations.
 
Next Generation Leader at the WRRC

Ashley Hullinger, WRRC Research Analyst and 2020 Flinn-Brown Fellow, was named by BizTucson Magazine as one of Tucson’s Next Generation of Leaders. This annual recognition features Ashley and six other Flinn-Brown Fellows in a selection of 20 young leaders and visionaries who are working toward a more prosperous future for Southern Arizona. Ashley manages the Water RAPIDS (Research and Planning Innovations for Dryland Systems) Program at the WRRC, working with partners from around the state to develop sustainable water management solutions. Last year, she was selected for the Flinn-Brown Fellowship, which "helps emerging and experienced civic leaders from throughout Arizona expand their knowledge, skills, and networks to help address Arizona’s long-term issues."

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