Water Resources Research Center  

April 29, 2016 / Volume 4, Issue 15            
 
 Students Teach Students About Conservation

A program at UA is empowering college students to make an impact on the water knowledge of the community. Arizona Project WET trains, and then provides these Water Educators to Tucson area schools.

Being a Water Educator is a lot more than just a part time job. For APW Water Educator Kopila Paudel, it's a chance to "convey the message that small changes in our daily activity can save so much water in the long run." Those small changes add up - last year, Water Educators delivered lessons to over 9,000 K-12 students in the Tucson area. According to Nicole Bui, "Impacting the lives of kids through teaching has made this one of the best jobs I've ever had."
 
Alissa White enjoys being a Water Educator because she loves working with curious students. Their efforts are paying off: Ryan, a 3rd grader at Borman Elementary, has this to say about the program: "What you're doing on this planet is absolutely amazing. I love how you are making a difference on planet Earth. You can count on me to try to help the world and be like you guys." All APW Water Educators are degree-seeking UA students and/or Americorps volunteers. Sponsorship from Tucson Water supports 10 to 12 educators over the course of the school year.
 
Learn more about APW outreach here
    
EVENTS
"Beyond The Mirage" Screening
May 20, 2016 

Time/Location: 3:30 - 5:00 p.m. / WRRC Sol Resnick Conference Room (350 N. Campbell)

The WRRC is hosting a screening of "Beyond the Mirage: The Future of Water in the West," a film by Cody Sheehy and a production of Arizona Public Media, the University of Arizona College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, and the Water Resources Research Center.

Following the 60 minute screening there will be an opportunity to speak with the filmmaker and get the insider view of his quest to build understanding about water in the Southwest.

Please RSVP here
WEEKLY REPORT
Interstate Negotiations Address Lake's Mead Dropping Water Levels
 
Arizona is in the midst of negotiations with California and Nevada that could have a significant impact how the declining levels in Lake Mead are handled. The U.S. Bureau of Reclamation announced this month that Lake Mead is projected to end the year at 3 feet above the level that triggers reductions in water deliveries to Arizona, Nevada, and Mexico under the 2007 shortage sharing agreement. This projection allows time for the Lower Colorado River Basin states to negotiate actions to protect the lake.

According to Tom Buschatzke, Arizona Department of Water Resources Director, whose story on the negotiations, "How Arizona is handling Lake Mead's dropping water levels," appeared in the April 22nd Arizona Republic, the states are discussing a suite of possible next steps. Among these are reductions Arizona and Nevada would take before the lake falls to the 2007 shortage trigger level. In addition, California would take reductions when the lake falls to lower levels, although such reductions are not required under current law.

Buschatzke warns, however, "No agreements have been reached. No decisions have been made. Water users, their principals and their governing bodies need room to discuss, debate and deliberate."
 
 You can read the Arizona Republic article here
 
Beyond the Mirage at Gila County STEMFest

On April 23rd, the Water Resources Research Center and Cooperative Extension teamed up to introduce Beyond the Mirage at the 5th Annual Gila County STEMFest at Bullion Plaza Museum and Cultural Center in Miami, AZ. More than 40 students from 8 to 16 years old explored different water topics and selected clips to create their own stacks on the new interactive web platform Beyond the Mirage website. Each customized stack told a story about water that the student felt was important to be shared. The stacks were published on the website with unique URL web addresses, so that friends and family can watch the finished products and spread the water knowledge even farther. 
 
To date, 357 stacks have been created since the Beyond the Mirage launch. Arizona Project WET's Earth Day Stack Sharing Festival produced 184 stacks between April 13 and April 24, all by 6 to 8th graders. With each new stack, water awareness and empowerment increases in Arizona and beyond.

Join the "Beyond the Mirage" movement here, create your own documentary and share it with others 
 
Time is Running Out

Tucson needs you to pledge to conserve water today! Arizona Project WET and Tucson Water invite you to participate in the National Mayor's Challenge for water conservation.

By pledging to take small actions, you will learn the significance of those actions. Did you know that it takes 3 liters of water to make 1 liter of bottled water? Refillable water bottles save both water and money. This challenge is a friendly competition between cities all over the U.S. challenging residents to be "water wise" through actions to conserve water, energy, and other natural resources. Tucson is currently in second place, but your participation can help reclaim the first place standing we accomplished in 2013. Not only will you make our community a better place and learn while doing so, you can also enter to win prizes. Act now! The competition ends on April 30th. 
 
Participation is easy: make your pledge to conserve here
 
Last Call to Apply for the Conserve2EnhanceTM Grants   

Local organizations can apply for C2E grants for projects including habitat enhancement and restoration of natural areas in Tucson. The grant application deadline is May 2, 2016.

Apply for the C2E grants by May 2, 2016 here
 
New Cutting-Edge Laboratory Equipment Advances Water Quality Testing 

Building upon the momentum of the water quality and food safety initiatives at UA, the university has recently purchased Digital Droplet PCR (ddPCRTM) system to help researchers better understand and address non-point source pollution problems across Arizona. Microbiology is a fast-advancing science, with new technologies continuously introduced. The ddPCRTM technology removes the potential for over- or under-estimation of microbial presence in an environmental sample by removing analysis bias based on equivalent sample volume. This equipment also allows an absolute count of target DNA copies, without the time consuming need for developing and running standard curves. The equipment will be shared between the Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science and the School of Animal and Comparative Biomedical Sciences and was purchased with funding from the Water, Environmental, and Energy Solutions (WEES) initiative, co-directed by WRRC Director Sharon B. Megdal. The purchase of this system is highly relevant to the WEES mission to support interdisciplinary and cross-sector collaborations and to benefit the state of Arizona. 

For more information about WEES, click here 

WATER RESOURCES RESEARCH CENTER
The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) -  A unit of the University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and Arizona Cooperative Extension - promotes understanding of critical state and regional water management and policy issues through research, community outreach and engagement, and public education.