The old paradigm for clean water utilities was to see permit compliance as the ceiling of aspirations and to avoid community engagement to the maximal extent possible. However, the new paradigm for the clean water utilities of the future is to see permit compliance as a floor and to strive to be environmental champions and anchor institutions in the communities they serve.
Brown Bag Seminar/Webinar Series
Bring your lunch and join us for a range of presentations on water-related topics of interest.
Access to the WRRC’s Brown Bag series now routinely includes offsite listeners through live webcasts via Zoom.
The slide presentations of most seminars are also available for viewing on the website.
Get updates on upcoming Brown Bag Seminars
Upcoming Brown Bag Seminars
March 11, 2021
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar: Community Service and Environmental Justice as an Essential Best...
March 08, 2021
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar: Arizona's Groundwater Management - Past, Present and Future
Arizona's landmark Groundwater Management Act turned 40 last year and the WRRC marked the occasion by focusing the 2020 annual conference on the legacy of the Act, current groundwater challenges, and potential future pathways. Building on this foundation, the authors of the 2021 Arroyo developed a comprehensive overview of groundwater management in Arizona that looks back over 40 years and ahead toward 2060 and beyond. The presentation will highlight key sections of the Arroyo as reference points for discussion.
Looking Ahead
Mar 11
Community Service and Environmental Justice as an Essential Best Practice for Clean Water Utilities of the Future
Andrew Kricun, Managing Director, Moonshot Missions and Senior Fellow, US Water Alliance
Mar 31
The Internet of Water: Partnerships for Progress—Modernizing Water Data to Meet 21st Century Needs
Peter Colohan, Executive Director, Internet of Water Project, Duke University
Previous Brown Bag Seminars/Webinars
February 16, 2021
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar: Reaching Safe-Yield in the Phoenix AMA
Among its many successes, Arizona's innovative Groundwater Management Act of 1980 established the Phoenix Active Management Area (AMA) and its management goal of safe-yield.
February 03, 2021
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar: Recovery of Arizona Water Bank Credits to Mitigate Shortages on the...
The Arizona Water Banking Authority (AWBA) has accrued over 3.8 million acre-feet of credits to provide firming for Arizona water users during shortages on the Colorado River. Planning for future recovery of AWBA credits involves collaboration between the AWBA, the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), the Central Arizona Project (CAP), and stakeholders. In coordination with the Recovery Planning Advisory Group, this interagency workgroup will release an update to the 2014 Joint Recovery Plan in early 2021.
January 20, 2021
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar: Collaborative Capacity Building and Sovereign Science with NASA and...
Sustained capacity building and knowledge exchange are vital to increase the use of NASA Earth Observations for Indigenous natural and cultural resource management.
January 14, 2021
Brown Bag
Brown Bag: Two-part Webinar on Water Transfers in Arizona
This presentation will discuss points and counterpoints of rural water issues, then look at the efforts to transfer Colorado River water rights from farmlands along the river into Central Arizona for municipal uses. The advantages of such transfers and the difficult public policy issues will also be presented.
December 09, 2020
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar: Balancing Environmental, Municipal, and Agricultural Needs in the...
Adam Yablonski will provide a brief description of the Edwards Aquifer, including the demographics of the region, and give an overview of the political history that led to the permitting of water rights.
December 02, 2020
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar - Balancing Water for People and Nature: The Upper San Pedro River
Flowing from Mexico into Arizona, the San Pedro is one of the last large, undammed rivers in the Southwest that flows year-round in many of its reaches.
November 18, 2020
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar: Southwestern Navajo Rural Water Appraisal Study
The Bureau of Reclamation, in cooperation with the Navajo Department of Water Resources, completed a regional water resource investigation in the southwestern Chapters of the Navajo Nation.
November 13, 2020
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar: Coronavirus Response at the Central Arizona Project
Ted Cooke will be presenting an overview of how the Central Arizona Project (CAP), a major water supplier with a service area encompassing over 5 million people, responded to the coronavirus pandemic.
October 22, 2020
Brown Bag
Brown Bag Webinar: Water for Nature
Kristen Wolfe will be presenting Water for Nature, a talk focusing on environmental water, the forgotten/ignored stakeholder in water policy, management, and law.