On Monday the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) granted an appeal in Sackett v. EPA, a 2012 case involving federal jurisdiction to regulate wetlands on private land under the Clean Water Act (CWA). In the 2012 decision, SCOTUS sided with the Idaho landowners, ruling that the Sacketts have the right to challenge a CWA order from the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), but the court affirmed the lower court’s ruling that the wetland in question was under the jurisdiction of the CWA.

Please join us from 4:00 to 5:00 pm MST on Wednesday, February 16 for the WRRC’s Annual Chocolate Fest! This two-part virtual program of celebration will include announcement of our 2021 Annual Photo Contest winners! 

Faculty and research personnel at any of Arizona's three public universities are invited to submit research proposals to the WRRC for grants of up to $10,000.

On October 29 and 30, 2021, the WRRC, Gila County Cooperative Extension, and Cobre Valley Watershed Partnership co-convened the After the Fire public meeting to unpack the status and outlook for local watersheds affected by the Telegraph and Mescal Fires.

Happy New Year! As our plans for 2022 continue to take shape, here is a selection of what’s on the horizon for the WRRC. 

As this year comes to a close, we would like to reflect on our work in the context of its unprecedented events. In 2021, the US Bureau of Reclamation declared a Tier 1 Shortage on the Colorado River—a historic moment that generated international media attention and many requests to the WRRC for comment.

UNESCO, an organization within the United Nations, recently published a book on Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) that is freely available online. MANAGING AQUIFER RECHARGE: A Showcase for Resilience and Sustainability offers 28 real-life examples of MAR use in collaborative water resources management aimed at improving the quantity and quality of water supplies while buffering against drought and other emergencies.

APW is back in the classroom and out in the field! After a very long period of only offering online classes, APW presenters have been itching to get their hands dirty and wet. While the number of students might be down, the excitement and fun have only increased.

On November 16, as part of ongoing efforts by the University of California, Riverside, School of Public Policy to give policymakers, practitioners, and researchers an opportunity to discuss current pressing policy challenges, WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal was invited to present, Tribal Water Dialogues in Arizona and the Colorado River Basin: Listen, Learn, and Listen.

On November 19, the WRRC hosted Betsy Wilkening, president of Polar Educators International, and Kristen Poppleton, senior director of programs for Climate Generation, for a Brown Bag webinar on their experiences at the United Nations 26th Conference of the Parties (COP26).