The Water Resources Research Center is deeply grateful to those who supported us in 2025. The generosity of donors helps fuel research, support experiential learning opportunities for students, and extend programs that transform communities. As we look ahead to 2026, we hope that you will consider supporting the WRRC to further expand this valuable work.

The Arizona Board of Regents (ABOR) has approved a $3 million Regents’ Grant to establish the Arizona Hub for Agriculture Innovation—a new statewide effort focused on supporting the future of agriculture in Arizona’s arid climate. The initiative unites Arizona’s three public universities—Arizona State University, Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona—with the Arizona Department of Agriculture to apply research findings aiming to create practical solutions for farmers and producers across the state.

Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR) has released 13 new Supply and Demand Reports (SDRs) in their latest installment of an initiative that began in 2023 to develop high-level groundwater "budgets" for 51 Arizona basins. These reports are intended to help support local planning for water augmentation and conservation.

Cooperative Extension (Extension), the community outreach arm for the U of A, recently released a new Strategic Positioning Plan to help guide decision-making and priorities in the coming years. The plan, described on Extension’s website as “a forward-looking framework rooted in community insight, research, and decades of trusted partnerships,” was developed through a deliberate and inclusive process ...

On December 15, 2025, eight speakers, including both editors and authors of the Routledge Handbook of Water Diplomacy, provided a special WRRC Water Webinar to discuss building relationships, negotiating shared interests, and managing complex water challenges across physical, political, and societal boundaries. Over the course of the 90-minute webinar, each speaker offered a short presentation, followed by a panel during which they addressed virtual questions from attendees around the world. The webinar was co-convened by the Stockholm International Water Institute; the International Centre for Water Cooperation; the UNU Institute for Water, Environment and Health; and the Women in Water Diplomacy Network.

In January, WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal will be the first speaker featured in a three-part lecture series entitled Running on Empty – Facing Water Scarcity across the Southwest, presented by Kol Ami Synagogue’s Dayenu Circle. Mike Crimmins, a climate scientist in the U of A’s Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Science, and Chairman Austin Nuñez of the San Xavier District in the Tohono O’odham Nation will also speak during this series focused on Arizona’s water future.

Time is running out! All submissions to the WRRC 2025 photo contest are due by Friday, December 19. This year’s theme, A World of Water, invites you to showcase the many ways water shapes our planet and how we shape water.

On Monday, December 15, the WRRC will host a Special WRRC Water Webinar offering an overview of the Routledge Handbook of Water Diplomacy. The Handbook is a comprehensive guide to understanding and practicing water diplomacy – a framework for building relationships, negotiating shared interests, and managing complex water challenges across physical, political, and societal boundaries.

The Water Infrastructure Finance Authority (WIFA) of Arizona concluded phase 1 of its Long-Term Water Augmentation Fund (LTWAF) program by selecting for further evaluation seven proposed projects designed to develop, store, or deliver new water supplies or to stretch existing supplies.

In October 2025, ScienceDirect journal published a special issue, titled Agricultural Water Management, for which WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal served as a guest editor along with colleagues in New Mexico and California.