Brittany Choate began her work at the WRRC in the fall of 2010 with the Arizona Environmental Water Needs Assessment (AzEWNA) Report and Methodology Guidebook. AzEWNA is a two-part publication designed to increase public awareness of environmental flow (e-flow) needs, help policy makers understand the science behind e-flow studies, and identify information gaps in understanding environmental water needs. The goal of AzEWNA is to help bring the environment to the table as a water-using sector. Brittany’s involvement with AzEWNA included assisting the authors, Joanna Nadeau and Dr. Sharon Megdal, with compiling information about Arizona’s current understanding of environmental water needs, creating flow charts and GIS maps for the publication and designing posters, presentations, and materials for the outreach component of AzEWNA. Brittany also helped write portions of the AzEWNA Report and Methodology Guidebook and provided photos for both publications. For more information about the WRRC’s AzEWNA Report and Guidebook, please refer to the centerfold insert in this AWR publication.
Brittany received her bachelor’s degree in Environmental Science from the University of Arizona in 2010. As an undergraduate, Brittany was part of the University’s Undergraduate Biology Research Program, named one of the University’s Pillars of Excellence award recipients, and was her department and college’s Outstanding Senior for the Class of 2010. Currently, Brittany is a second year Master’s student at the University of Arizona majoring in Soil and Water Science with a minor in Microbiology. In addition to attending classes, Brittany works as a graduate research assistant at the WRRC. She also serves as a College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Ambassador, College Peer Mentor, has been a Graduate Student Representative for the Soil, Water, and Environmental Science Department, and was principal bassoon for the University’s Wind Symphony. Later this fall, Brittany will start an internship as an Agriculture Specialist for U.S. Customs and Boarder Protection in Nogales, Arizona.
Brittany has also been, and continues to be, part of the WRRC’s Conserve to Enhance program. Conserve to Enhance (C2E) is a voluntary municipal water conservation program that encourages participants to implement water conservation techniques, track their monthly water bill savings, and then donate some or all of those savings to a fund for environmental enhancement. Brittany has been a part of the Tucson pilot since it began in January 2011, working behind the scenes to design outreach materials, help create the pilot’s water Conservation Calculator, calculate participant donations, contribute to writing reports on the pilot. Brittany also presented at a WRRC Brown Bag seminar on potential areas for program expansion in Tucson.
Over the summer, Brittany was involved in a collaborative project between WRRC and the Colorado Water Institute at Colorado State University. The two sister organizations teamed up to organize an Agricultural-Environmental Cooperation Field Trip. This trip took agricultural and environmental stakeholders from Arizona and Colorado to Oregon to show them successful examples of how local agriculturalists and environmentalists have workedtogether on water related issues to produce positive results. Brittany worked with Dr. Sharon Megdal on recruiting Arizona participants, planning travel logistics, and acted as an on-the-ground facilitator when the group traveled to Oregon in August.