Water conservation is an ethical challenge. Integrating ethical water education into our programs instills a sense of stewardship, ownership, and responsibility in our youth, shaping behaviors and inspiring solutions to our water resource issues. Each year, 4th-grade students across Coconino County are invited to participate in a Water Ethics Contest. The contest, which began in 2010, is sponsored by the Coconino Plateau Watershed Partnership (a branch of the Coconino Plateau Water Advisory Council) and hosted by Willow Bend Environmental Education Center.

Agriculture/Water Nexus Academy 2022
Water is an important consideration for most businesses, but it is absolutely essential for agriculture. Arizona agriculture exports food and fiber to 70 countries across the globe as well as throughout the US. It contributes more than $23.3 billion to our state’s economy but also uses 70% of our state’s water resources. On the surface, agriculture seems to be a likely industry to review for water savings. Yet, as the saying goes, looks can be deceiving.
Even home gardeners know there is a delicate balance between soil types and plant watering needs to get that perfect crop. With all the advances in irrigation technology, it often seems like more of an art than science to growing food. There is no “one size fits all” strategy for crop irrigation. The poignant question is “How do we balance agriculture’s need for water while our region is in a long-term drought?”
To help students get a better understanding of the current water-agriculture nexus, APW has created innovative multi-grade level lessons which allow students to explore how to design and model irrigation systems and how to analyze the cost of water in food. These new classes will be offered in a two-day teacher professional development workshop entitled Ag/Water Nexus Academy 2022 on July 12 & 13. Teachers will attend the WRRC 2022 Annual Conference: Arizona’s Agricultural Outlook: Water, Climate, and Sustainability on July 12. They will spend the following day at Maricopa County Cooperative Extension exploring ways to bring science to life with the problem of water and agriculture with Arizona Project WET.
For more information contact Pam Justice at pjustice@arizona.edu.
WRRC Annual Conference
Recent News

The low-cost standard registration for the WRRC's upcoming conference, Arizona’s Agricultural Outlook: Water, Climate, and Sustainability, closes on June 30! Register today to ensure your spot before the price goes up. In addition to the diverse set of speakers and topics scheduled for the in-person day on July 12, the WRRC has organized two days of virtual programming on July 13 and 14.

Summer break is a good time for reading. Although fiction is my preferred genre, I was eager to read the fourth and latest book by William M. and Rosemarie Alley, The Water Recycling Revolution: Tapping into the Future

On May 16, the WRRC organized a meeting in Nogales, Arizona to discuss current and future opportunities for collaboration on the federally funded Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program (TAAP).

Water is an important consideration for most businesses, but it is absolutely essential for agriculture. Arizona agriculture exports food and fiber to 70 countries across the globe as well as throughout the US.

On May 16, the WRRC hosted a panel discussion on the documentary film INHABITANTS: Indigenous Perspectives On Restoring Our World. The panel featured Dr. Michael Kotutwa Johnson, Assistant Specialist, UArizona Indigenous Resilience Center, School of Natural Resources and the Environment; film co-directors Costa Boutsikaris and Anna Palmer; and moderator Rebecca Tsosie, JD, Regents Professor of Law, UArizona James E. Rogers College of Law.