Engagement Impacts

The annual Upper Gila Watershed Forum on January 11, 2019, in Thatcher, Arizona will feature daylong discussion, presentations, and activities focused on "Adapting to a Hotter and Drier Future."

The 2019 WRRC annual conference, to be held in Phoenix on February 1st, will begin with a series of presentations that set the stage for the day's discussion about water in Arizona. The conference, titled "Arizona Runs on Water: Scarcity, Challenges, and Community-based Solutions", explores how communities across Arizona are working to make sure they have sufficient water to meet their future needs. Before sharing numerous place-based examples, the program includes three framework presentations.

Food, energy, and water systems, especially in drylands, are vulnerable to projected changes in climate – primarily changes in the timing and amount of precipitation and rising air temperatures. For the most part, we grow non-dryland adapted food within a dryland climate through a reliance on irrigation, and the water resource requirements are large and increasing.  At the same time, renewable energy in drylands is vulnerable to the same warming trends that threaten food systems. The abundance of sunlight in the southwest US constitutes a significant solar energy resource.

The February 1st WRRC annual conference, "Arizona Runs on Water: Scarcity, Challenges, and Community-based Solutions," will feature an Arizona Legislators Panel including Senators Gail Griffin and Lisa Otondo, Representatives Rosanna Gabaldón and House Speaker, Russell (Rusty) Bowers. Moderated by WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal, the panel discussion will reflect on the day's presentations and the water issues and decisions facing Arizona. Our goal is to further the statewide conversation on water resource opportunities and constraints.

Water, such a vital component to our lives and the environment around us, is also the main ingredient in beer. As we dive into what it takes to make beer and the role water has in this fermented beverage we’ll also investigate some creative ways we are able to conserve water inside the brewery and out. From involvement with local farmers, a maltster, and a charitable environmental organization to working with recycled wastewater, all it takes is an idea, a conversation, and little creativity to make an impact.

"Super excited" was the expression used by ADEQ's water quality monitoring guru, Meghan Smart, to describe the new partnership with Arizona Project WET (APW) to begin monitoring select rivers during school field investigations. Smart, who recently delivered a brown bag presentation for the WRRC, was pleasantly surprised by APW's quick response and interest in the Arizona Water Watch (AWW) citizen science program.