IN THIS ISSUE: Story Map, Brown Bag Recap, MAR, APW, We Are Water
Health and Function of Arizona
Watersheds Story Map
A story about watersheds is a story about land and water. On Friday, April 16, Arizona Project WET, in partnership with the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Morrison Institute and the National Forest Foundation, is launching a new and engaging online resource: “Health and Function of Arizona Watersheds Story Map.” This story map connects our water supply in Arizona to the landscapes we depend on - both in the natural and built environments. Drill down into the relationships between land and water, and study forest health, devastating wildfire, the built environment, climate change, and our amazing biodiversity. Water both nurtures and erodes our land. Changes in the land affect our water quality and supply. Watershed and forest health are integral parts of the Arizona water story. Powered by ArcGIS StoryMaps, the watershed story map pulls together interactive maps, photographs, videos, and text to provide an informative resource for all. The project highlights that we are all watershed managers and issues a call to get involved! 
EVENTS
Water Solutions for Our Warmer World Series
Episode 2: Water and COVID-19 in Indian Country

Date: Wednesday, Apr 21, 2021
Time: 4:00 pm-5:30 pm MST

Moderated by Toni Massaro, Interim Director of the Agnese Nelms Haury Program in Environment and Social Justice

Join the Arizona Institutes for Resilience for the second episode of the Water Solutions for Our Warmer World series, “Water and COVID-19 in Indian Country,” co-hosted by the UArizona Udall Center and WRRC! The public webinar will explore water-related challenges Tribes are experiencing and solutions and partnerships addressing these challenges. Please join President Nez of the Navajo Nation and Chairwoman Lee-Gatewood from the White Mountain Apache Tribe and other Tribal experts as they share their perspectives.
 
Upcoming WRRC Events

Robyn Grimm, Senior Manager - Water Information Systems, Environmental Defense Fund - Western Water Program

May 19: Water Solutions for Our Warmer World series, Episode 3: The Realities of Adaptation in the Water Sector
Moderated by Andrea K. Gerlak, Professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment
 
NEWS
Binational Workgroup Studies
Desalination Opportunities
 
On Thursday, April 8, the WRRC hosted Chuck Cullom, Colorado River Programs Manager, Central Arizona Project, and Lela Perkins, PE, Senior Water Resources Engineer, Jacobs Engineering Group for a Brown Bag webinar entitled “Binational Seawater Desalination Study - Sea of Cortez Region.” The presentation described the context for the study, including the importance of Minute 323, which recognizes the opportunity for binational collaboration between Mexico and the US on Colorado River water augmentation projects that benefit water users in both countries. A unique workgroup that included federal and state representatives of both Mexico and the US, water agencies, and NGOs, was created to explore desalination opportunities in the Sea of Cortez region. Results of the study indicate that desalination projects are technically and financially feasible. The workgroup also considered approaches to reducing impacts to environmentally sensitive areas.
 
Collection of Managed Aquifer Recharge Papers Published

Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) has long been utilized to help meet water management objectives. In 1978, the first symposium on artificial recharge was held in Phoenix, Arizona. Then, in 1988 the American Society of Civil Engineers organized the First International Symposium on Artificial Recharge of Groundwater in Anaheim, California, launching what is now known as the International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR). Released this month, “Managed Aquifer Recharge for Water Resilience” is a collection of some of the works presented at ISMAR10, held in Madrid, Spain, in 2019. The book is a compiled edition of the Special Issue published in the journal Water. It includes MAR cases from 14 countries and was collaboratively edited by Peter Dillon, Enrique Fernández Escalante, Sharon B. Megdal, and Gudrun Massmann. In their preface to the Special Issue, the editors note: “This Special Issue strives to elucidate the effectiveness, benefits, constraints, limitations, and applicability of MAR, together with its scientific advances, to a wide variety of situations that have global relevance.” The book catalogs the articles into three categories: water security improvement, water quality improvement, and environmental protection and restoration. The book is available online as an open-access PDF.

A New Era of APW Professional Development

Summer is coming, which means it’s time to once again help teachers deepen their knowledge and evolve their instructional practices through Arizona Project WET (APW) professional development (PD). APW recognizes that continuous learning is an important part of an educator’s life. When educators attend APW PD, they receive relevant, real-world resources, data and information, as well as support from APW staff throughout the year. This year, APW is offering workshops and academies that explore the Colorado River Watershed and management; the Salt River Project system; how to “Build Your Own Basin” to support plants and mitigate heat; outdoor science investigations; land and water relationships at the second-grade level; how to build systems thinking skills; Arizona‘s distinct hydrological cycle; and our fourth grade Arizona Water Festival unit. Visit the new APW PD website for more details on our PD programming, including dates and descriptions. As educators may be in different stages of remote and in-person working environments, APW will continue to provide PD online, enabling us to reach new audiences and those with a preference for remote learning. Additionally, educators in remote areas will now be able to participate in PD opportunities not previously available to them.

Online Resource Connects Communities
 
"We Are Water" is a program funded by the National Science Foundation and is designed for communities in the Four Corners region of the Southwestern US. This program is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences (CIRES), a partnership of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the University of Colorado Boulder. The website features valuable resources that include educational water lessons and activities, as well as stories and events. For example, the website connects communities to the "Hardest Working River in the West" StoryMap, produced by the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, and the "Colorado River Water Supply" activity, created by the Encyclopedia of Earth. The University of Colorado Boulder also offers a 15-hour self-paced online course entitled “Water in the Western US.” Other organizations, such as USGS and NASA, have collaborated with the "We Are Water" program to design educational opportunities. The website also offers a virtual book club, photos, videos, and podcasts about water in the West. Keep up on news and events from "We Are Water" by subscribing to their newsletter.
 
WATER JOBS
ANNOUNCEMENTS