WRRC Alum Ken Seasholes Retires from CAP
On June 19, friends and colleagues of Ken Seasholes gathered to celebrate his retirement from Central Arizona Project (CAP) after more than 17 years at that organization. A well-respected authority on Arizona water, Seasholes began his career as a WRRC graduate student in 1993, and after moving on, he maintained his connection with the WRRC, collaborating on events and publications and ready with ideas and advice on a range of other activities. WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal, who also worked with Seasholes during her time on the CAP Board of Directors, speaks warmly as a friend and colleague of his cooperative approach, remarkable abilities, and outstanding accomplishments.
In 1995, with a newly minted MS in Geography, Seasholes was hired by the WRRC as a research specialist. During his time here, Seasholes worked closely with then Associate Director Gary Woodard on upgrading the Center’s online presence and other projects aimed at communicating effectively about water to multiple audiences. He remained at the WRRC until 2001, when he was offered the position of Water Resource Specialist at Tucson’s Active Management Area (TAMA) division of the Arizona Department of Water Resources by then TAMA Director Kathy Jacobs. During his more than eight years there, Seasholes rose to become TAMA director himself in 2004. In 2008, he joined the staff at Central Arizona Project as a policy analyst and has been Resources Planning & Analysis Manager at CAP since 2012.
Throughout this time, Seasholes remained a valued resource for the WRRC. Memorably, a guest lecture that he gave to Director Megdal’s graduate water policy class inspired her to write her March/April 2006 newsletter column. The column describes a cartoon Seasholes presented of “a multi-armed, scary monster” that turned out to be “an informative depiction of the groundwater aquifer and the factors to be considered when calculating the Tucson AMA’s water budget.” Seasholes also co-authored several water policy articles with Megdal, including one published in 2014 with Peter Dillon, Honorary Research Fellow at CSIRO Land and Water, in the journal Water, titled “Water Banks: Using Managed Aquifer Recharge to Meet Water Policy Objectives,” and a 2021 case study in UNESCO, titled “The Arizona Water Banking Authority: The Role of Institutions in Supporting Managed Aquifer Recharge.”
The WRRC extends hearty congratulations and wishes Ken well in his retirement.