Educational Insight on Important Water Issues
Newsletters
January 27, 2023
Weekly Wave: Registration Now Open for WRRC Chocolate Fest!
Please join us on Friday, February 10 from 3:30 to 5:00 PM for the WRRC’s annual Chocolate Fest. This year, we are thrilled to be hosting this fun event in...
January 20, 2023
Weekly Wave: WRRC Invites Research Proposals for 104(b) Program
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,...
January 13, 2023
Weekly Wave: WRRC Invites Proposals for 2023 Annual Conference
The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center invites proposals for conference presentations and posters for its 2023 Annual Conference, What...
January 06, 2023
Weekly Wave: Reflections: Thoughts at the Start of 2023 About Pathways to Water Solutions
As reflected in past essays, I consider it useful to think about our serious water challenges as wicked problems. Wicked problems are complex, and addressing...
December 21, 2022
Weekly Wave: Happy Holidays and a Joyful New Year from the WRRC!
Upcoming WRRC Events: Save these Dates!
Jan 18, 2023: WRRC Brown Bag Webinar: The 21st Century Water Quality Challenges for Managed Aquifer...
December 16, 2022
Weekly Wave: WRRC Director Selected for UArizona Presidential Advisory Commission
WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal has been appointed to serve on UArizona’s Presidential Advisory Commission on the Future of Agriculture and Food...
Articles, Reports and Other
Reports
January 04, 2023
Project Title: Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program (TAAP): Arizona Water Resources Research Center Effort
In 2017, the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center started working on a Five-Year Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program (TAAP) effort funded by the federal government (Award No. G17AC00439). This bi-national effort came after the signing of the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Act (US Public Law 109–448, TAA-Act) in 2006, the signing of the "Joint Report of the Principal Engineers Regarding the Joint Cooperative Process United States-Mexico for the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program" (TAAP Cooperative Framework) in 2009, and years of collaboration with the United...
Journal Articles
November 28, 2022
Reaching Groundwater Agreements on the Border Between Mexico and the United States: Science and Policy Fundamentals
Groundwater is vital to the sustainability and survival of human communities in the U.S.-Mexico border region, a nearly 2000 mile-long, arid zone in North America where climate uncertainty prevails. More than 30 aquifers are known to abut or span the international boundary, supporting a border area population exceeding 15 million persons in 2020 (Figure 1). Groundwater is the sole or principal water source for more that half-a-dozen sister cities or communities ranging from one of the largest binational metropolitan zones, El Paso-Cd. Juarez, to the thriving binational metropolis of Ambos...
Journal Articles
November 23, 2022
Water Federalism in the United States of America
Water governance in the United States has followed a water federalism system, in which government functions are shared between federal and state authorities. Water federalism is the sharing of governance across different levels of government over freshwater quantity (water quantity federalism) and quality (water quality federalism). These terms have evolved throughout different eras of U.S. history. Initially, water federalism involved water quantity federalism only, and both state and federal governments had management prerogatives. The 1922 Colorado River Compact and the 1944 U.S. and...
Factsheets
September 30, 2022
Arizona Water Factsheet: Cochise County
The Cochise County Water Factsheet is now available! As the third installment in the WRRC’s Arizona Water Factsheet series, the factsheets offer a wide ranging yet concise overview of county water resources information for a general audience. The Cochise County Water Factsheet covers topics such as the county’s water supply and demand, unique water management challenges and opportunities, and a look to the future of water in Cochise County. Acknowledging the distinct water resources conditions, priorities, and values of each county, the WRRC works with local experts to guide the content and...
Factsheets
July 08, 2022
Arizona Water Factsheet: Pima County
The WRRC is pleased to release the second in its Arizona Water Factsheet series, the Pima County Water Factsheet. These county-level resources are designed to answer common questions about water resources, tailored to every county in Arizona so as to foster understanding of the local nature of Arizona water resource challenges and solutions. Packaging concise water information for a general audience, these resources are nested within the broader Arizona context and address basic water supply and demand, regionally relevant challenges, and sustainability issues for the future. The...
Reports
June 15, 2022
Managed Aquifer Recharge
The imbalance between water supply and demand is of growing concern globally. Rarely a day goes by without news about the dwindling surface water supplies, with the Colorado River as the poster child. Coverage of approaches to addressing the supply/demand imbalance is broad, with strategies including augmentation, reuse, market mechanisms, and conservation. The dialogue involves not only diminishing surface water supplies but also the increasing role of, and threats to, groundwater — which accounts for 99% of Earth’s liquid freshwater (UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme 2022, see...
Information Sources
September 30, 2022
Arizona Water Factsheet: Cochise County
The Cochise County Water Factsheet is now available! As the third installment in the WRRC’s Arizona Water Factsheet series, the factsheets offer a wide ranging yet concise overview of county water resources information for a general audience. The Cochise County Water Factsheet covers topics such as the county’s water supply and demand, unique water management challenges and opportunities, and a look to the future of water in Cochise County. Acknowledging the distinct water resources conditions, priorities, and values of each county, the WRRC works with local experts to guide the content and...
July 08, 2022
Arizona Water Factsheet: Pima County
The WRRC is pleased to release the second in its Arizona Water Factsheet series, the Pima County Water Factsheet. These county-level resources are designed to answer common questions about water resources, tailored to every county in Arizona so as to foster understanding of the local nature of Arizona water resource challenges and solutions. Packaging concise water information for a general audience, these resources are nested within the broader Arizona context and address basic water supply and demand, regionally relevant challenges, and sustainability issues for the future. The...
December 17, 2021
Arizona Water Factsheet: Maricopa County
The WRRC is pleased to share the first in a series of Arizona Water Factsheets. The Maricopa County Factsheet packages concise water information and builds on previous collaborative water education efforts with the Maricopa County Cooperative Extension. The Arizona Water Factsheets aim to answer common questions about water resources at the county level. Tailoring information for a local audience within the broader context of the state, these snapshot resources address basic water supply and demand, regionally relevant challenges, and sustainability issues for the future. Additional...
October 22, 2021
Tackling Wicked Water Problems in the Transboundary Colorado River Basin
A 20-minute presentation, Tackling Wicked Water Problems in the Transboundary Colorado River Basin, is available for viewing on the WRRC website. This recorded keynote presentation was to be shown at a conference in Morocco on October 20, 2021. Announcement of postponement of the in-person conference arrived a few days after the recording was submitted. Due to the high interest in the low-flow conditions of the Colorado River locally, nationally, and internationally, WRRC Director Sharon Megdal is making the recorded presentation and slides freely available. A written supplement...
July 02, 2020
A Visual Guide to Water in the Pinal Active Management Area
The WRRC is pleased to share our newly released report Getting Down to Facts: A Visual Guide to Water in the Pinal Active Management Area, a collection of information on water use and management in the Pinal Active Management Area (AMA). In partnership with the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, this report was created as a reference resource for interested residents, decision makers, and other stakeholders by summarizing existing data, through graphics and concise text. This report, with its 40 customized figures and tables, uses maps and data visualizations to explain the...
May 31, 2017
Desert Flows Methodology Guidebook
Successful implementation of environmental flow projects depends on land and water managers having clear objectives and access to reliable data. This guidebook provides information on a variety of methods that can be utilized under different fiscal or temporal constraints to determine and implement appropriate environmental flow targets. Based on evidence from cases focused in the Southwestern United States and Northern Mexico, steps are suggested to help ensure maintenance of flows under uncertain future natural and socio-economic conditions. The importance of education and engagement to...