December, 2020
Weekly Wave,
vol.
8,
no.
38,
Water Resources Research Center,
Tucson, AZ,
December, 2020
In November, WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal had two opportunities to bridge the Colorado River Basin and Israel through invited lectures. On November 20, she delivered a guest lecture on “Water and Agriculture in Israel” to students in ASU’s Water Management Certificate Program, a course led by Mr. Bill Plummer. Megdal highlighted how increased residential and industrial use of desalinated seawater has reduced the salinity of soils and crops due to the Israeli agricultural sector’s significant reliance on reclaimed water. Israel relies on soil aquifer treatment as a final treatment for effluent produced by the Shafdan regional wastewater treatment plant. Basins there look very much like the recharge basins of Arizona! On November 30, Megdal reversed the direction of information sharing by speaking on “Wicked Water Problems of the Colorado River Basin” at the weekly seminar of the Porter School at Tel Aviv University. This lecture focused on four wicked water problems: the imbalance of Colorado River supply and demand, groundwater overdraft and invisibility, lack of attention to water for nature, and lack of water and water infrastructure. She spoke of the problems and also the processes for addressing them. Both lectures were designed to underscore commonalities and differences as these two water-scarce regions strive to achieve water resiliency under challenging conditions.