News

Consider what life would look like without water, even for one day. The Value of Water Campaign challenges ALL to participate in the annual Imagine a Day Without Water awareness event, which will take place this year on October 16, 2025. The WRRC would like to encourage interested groups and individuals to begin preparing now for the event by taking advantage of the many resources provided by the campaign.

Last week, WRRC staff and Designated Campus Colleagues (DCCs) gathered to welcome current WRRC students to the Fall 2025 semester and to catch up on what everyone has been working on. Thank you for all you do, students— keep up the good work!

WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal and Associate Director Jamie McEvoy attended the 2025 Agribusiness and Water Council (ABWC) Conference last Friday, September 19. Attendees heard compelling insights into the intersection of water, agriculture, economics, energy, and policy shaping Arizona’s future.

On Thursday, September 18, 2025, the University of Arizona Scottsdale Center hosted WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal for a CATalyst CHAT, titled “Dry Times, Bold Moves: Innovation for Arizona’s Water Future.” Drawing on decades of leadership in water policy, Megdal shared insights on Arizona’s groundwater and Colorado River water supplies and discussed the “wicked water problems” facing Arizona, as well as the innovation and collaboration necessary for addressing these complex issues.

On Tuesday, September 16, 2025, the WRRC hosted a Water Webinar featuring Jennifer Wendel, Assistant Director of the Arizona Adjudications Project within the Natural Resource Use and Management Clinic at the University of Arizona College of Law. Titled “An Overview and Update on Arizona’s General Stream Adjudications,” Wendel’s presentation aimed to help viewers understand a complicated process affecting many Arizonans and provided webinar attendees with a forum for sharing insights on the state’s water rights issues. Register for our October 6 webinar and stay tuned for details on other upcoming webinars!

The working title of the WRRC 2026 Annual Conference is Commercial & Industrial Water Stewardship: Large Users and Our Water Future. The conference will be held April 14–15 at the University of Arizona Student Union in Tucson, Arizona, and its program will focus on the challenges and opportunities for water stewardship of large, non-agricultural water users in Arizona’s commercial and industrial sectors, such as manufacturing, mining, energy, and technology.

In his recent annual letter, “Celebrating Our First Year Together: U of A 2024-25,” U of A President Suresh Garimella highlighted the essential role of engagement across the university and spotlighted the WRRC as one example of how the university brings people together.

One Tucson household has released a report describing their rainwater harvesting efforts over the past two decades to show that rainwater harvesting is a viable option for conserving water in the arid southwest. Biologists Charles J. Cole and Carol R. Townsend installed a rainwater harvesting system in their home in the Tucson Mountains, allowing them to gather enough water to fully sustain nearly all their household water needs, including providing for a vegetable garden and swimming pool.

The WRRC is pleased to announce that Elia Tapia, a longtime collaborator and friend to the WRRC, recently joined our staff as the new Associate in Extension, TAAP & Water RAPIDS. Welcome to the WRRC, Elia!

On Thursday, September 4, 2025, Luke Cole presented a WRRC Water Webinar, titled “The Santa Cruz: A River of Transition and Hope.” Dr. Cole, who is the Director of the Santa Cruz River Program at the Sonoran Institute, paid tribute to the Santa Cruz River, which has provided life-sustaining water for 12,000 years. Today, many stretches of the river are dry in areas where the bedrock is hundreds of feet deep; however, efforts are helping to refresh the flow of the Santa Cruz River in the Tucson area.