Image: Dulcey Lima
When
Speaker(s)
The Arizona Tri-University Recharge and Water Reliability (ATUR) Project provides a comprehensive statewide assessment of opportunities to enhance groundwater recharge and strengthen Arizona's long-term water resilience. Developed through a collaboration among the University of Arizona, Arizona State University, and Northern Arizona University, with support from the Arizona Board of Regents, the project integrates hydrologic modeling, climate science, geospatial analysis, and water management expertise to identify recharge opportunities across the state.
This WRRC Water Webinar will provide a guided overview of the ATUR Final Report and its accompanying online tools and resources. Participants will learn how the report is organized, where to find key information, and how to navigate the project's interactive basin profiles, maps, and supporting datasets. Presenters will also highlight major findings and introduce the project's suite of products, including the statewide report, basin profiles, and geospatial resources. Designed for water professionals, researchers, planners, decision-makers, and others interested in Arizona's water future, this webinar will serve as an introduction to the ATUR project and its publicly available resources. Time will be reserved for questions and discussion with members of the project team.
Neha Gupta is an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Arizona's Arizona Institute for Resilience and an affiliate faculty member in the Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences. Her interdisciplinary research focuses on water resources in arid and semi-arid regions, with expertise in groundwater recharge, stormwater capture, urban hydrology, watershed resilience, and climate adaptation. She collaborates with researchers, water managers, and community partners to develop science that supports water management and decision-making. Dr. Gupta serves as the Project Manager for the Arizona Tri-University Recharge and Water Reliability (ATUR) Project, leading interdisciplinary collaboration and stakeholder engagement across Arizona.
Kathy Jacobs is a recently retired Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona and Director of the Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions within the Arizona Institute for Resilience. She is a nationally recognized expert in water policy, climate adaptation, and environmental decision-making. From 2010–2013, she served in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy as Director of the Third National Climate Assessment and lead advisor on water science, water policy, and climate adaptation. Professor Jacobs' career also includes leadership of the Arizona Water Institute and more than two decades with the Arizona Department of Water Resources, where she helped implement Arizona's Groundwater Management Act.
Caelum Mroczek is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the University of Arizona and a member of the Arizona Tri-University Recharge and Water Reliability Project management team. Mroczek joined the project as a PhD student in Northern Arizona University’s Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability program before transitioning to project leadership following his graduation in 2026. His research focuses on regional groundwater flow dynamics, sustainable aquifer management, surface water–groundwater interactions, and the impacts of climate change on ecohydrologic systems. Dr. Mroczek’s work integrates hydrologic science and systems understanding to advance knowledge of groundwater resilience in arid environments.
Abe Springer is a Professor of Ecohydrogeology at Northern Arizona University and the inaugural Director of the School of Earth Sciences and Environmental Sustainability. Springer's research focuses on groundwater systems, springs, ecohydrology, karst hydrogeology, groundwater-dependent ecosystems, and sustainable aquifer management. He works to understand how land-use change, climate variability, and human activities influence groundwater flow and ecosystem health. Dr. Springer has received national and international recognition for his contributions to hydrogeology, including serving as the 2022 Birdsall-Dreiss Distinguished and LaMoreaux International Lecturer for the Geological Society of America. He is a co-principal investigator on the Arizona Tri-University Recharge and Water Reliability Project.
Tianfang Xu is an Assistant Professor in the School of Sustainable Engineering and the Built Environment at Arizona State University. Her research combines physical process-based models with machine learning to improve predictive capability and understanding of water resources systems, groundwater in particular, under human adaptations and climate change. Xu's research experience relevant to the tri-university project includes quantifying tradeoffs in water quantity and quality in a managed aquifer recharge facility, largescale agricultural irrigation monitoring using remote sensing and deep learning, and regional scale groundwater flow modeling, bias correction, and uncertainty quantification.