Announcements - AWR Spring 2015

Return to AWR Spring 2015

UA Team Wins the New Arizona Prize: Water Consciousness Challenge

A unique project, Beyond the Mirage, was awarded the top prize of $100,000 in the New Arizona Prize: Water Consciousness Challenge. Developed collaboratively by a creative team from the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, which includes the Communication and Cyber Technologies Department, Water Resources Research Center, and Arizona Project WET, along with Arizona Public Media (AZPM) and marketing professionals, Beyond the Mirage aims to raise the level of awareness and understanding about Arizona’s water supplies, demands, and challenges. Beyond The Mirage will use this award to help launch innovative web and social media strategies to engage Arizonans in creating and sharing their own mini-documentaries on the Beyond The Mirage website, expected to launch January 2016. With the help of AZPM, the hundreds of clips that cover all facets of Arizona’s water story can also find homes throughout the news media and on major educational sites such as PBS learning media. AZPM also will produce a feature documentary from the same content. The New Arizona Prize, a joint initiative of the Arizona Community Foundation, Republic Media, and the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, seeks to harness Arizonans’ creativity “to solve persistent and complex problems.” Through the Water Consciousness Challenge, the first competition of a series of New Arizona Prize challenges, organizers are highlighting the importance of raising water awareness in our communities. A panel of judges selected Beyond the Mirage after reviewing presentations from five finalists at the Phoenix Art Museum.

WIFA Awards 2014 Clean Water Project of the Year

The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority of Arizona (WIFA) announced in February that it had selected the City of Prescott to receive WIFA’s 2014 Clean Water Project of the Year award for the Airport Water Reclamation Facility Expansion. The $42 million infrastructure project renovated and expanded treatment capacity and now has the ability to produce Class A+ reclaimed water from current and near future waste flows. WIFA praised the project’s fiscal sustainability, exceptional project management, and commitment to improving Arizona’s quality of life through wastewater infrastructure upgrades. WIFA is a state agency that provides financial assistance for water and wastewater infrastructure, investing more than $2 billion over the past 25 years.

Verde River Focus of $2.8 Million NRCS Grant

The U.S. Natural Resources Conservation Service has awarded a grant of $2.8 million for the Verde River Flow and Habitat Restoration Initiative, which seeks to restore river flows and riverside health while supporting the irrigation needs of agricultural producers in the Verde Valley. Partners in the initiative include The Nature Conservancy, Friends of Verde River Greenway, the Verde Natural Resource Conservation District, Arizona Game and Fish, and the Tamarisk Coalition. The funding is from the Regional Conservation Partnership Program, part of the Farm Bill passed in late 2014. In the past five years, The Nature Conservancy and its partners have worked with irrigators to improve irrigation water management by using automated gates, ditch liners to reduce water loss, and improved infrastructure. These efforts, combined with financial incentives for conservation, have meant less water is being diverted from the river. The result has been increased flows along 20 miles of the river in the Verde Valley and improved flows in the Wild and Scenic area between Camp Verde and Phoenix. This new funding will continue to support collaborative efforts to restore flows, including improving irrigation systems and wildlife habitat along the river.

EPA Publishes Draft Contaminants List

In February the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a draft list of contaminants—the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL). Listed contaminants are not currently regulated under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) but may need to be regulated in the future. The SDWA requires EPA to publish the CCL every five years. EPA uses the list to identify contaminants for study. The Draft CCL is the fourth of the lists EPA has developed and includes 100 chemicals or chemical groups and 12 microbiological contaminants. Listed contaminants include chemicals used in commerce, pesticides, biological toxins, disinfection byproducts, pharmaceuticals, and waterborne pathogens. Contaminants on the CCL are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems at levels of potential concern for public health. EPA will evaluate and consider public review comments when developing the final CCL 4. The draft CCL4 can be viewed at http://www2.epa.gov/ccl/contaminant-candidate-list-4-ccl-4.

EPA Awards $2.5 Million to Arizona to Improve Surface Water Quality

On March 20, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced the award of $2.5 million to the State of Arizona for projects to help restore water quality in the state’s polluted water bodies. The state will add $1.6 million, making $4 million available this year for these projects. This brings EPA’s investment in Arizona’s surface water quality to more than $16 million since 2009. The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ) and its partners around the state will use the funds to restore water quality in a variety of watersheds, including the Upper Santa Cruz River watershed (Mexico border to Sapori Wash) and Oak Creek, Granite Creek, San Pedro River, San Francisco River, and Blue River watersheds, as well as the Little Colorado River watershed and the Boulder Creek watershed. More information is on the ADEQ website at azdeq.gov/environ/water/watershed.