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January 2010 Newsletter |
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Contents Viewpoint: Challenges and Networking WSP
Brown Bag Water Speaker Series: January 2010 WRRC
Brown Bag Seminars: January 2010 Low
San Carlos Lake level threatens fish population Pollution
conflict triggers added tribal hearings Tighter,
costlier water shifting focus to curbing demand Rainwater
can contribute to water supply, advocates say Rebate
program to launch in March will help consumers save water, energy, money Cleaning
dirty air risks costlier Arizona water Survival
and adaptation to change are challenges that we all must face. Noted sadly is the impending end of regular
publication of Southwest Hydrology, due largely to the cessation of funding
from the National Science Foundation, although SAHRA would like to keep it
going. For eight years Betsy Woodhouse
published a journal that was insightful and interesting, and she is to be
congratulated for a job well done. Over
the last two years many firms found that survival entailed laying-off
staff. Now it is the state’s
turn. On January 6, the Arizona
Department of Water Resources laid off 47 people, eliminating 51 total
positions. The ADWR Hydrology Division
took a major hit, losing 15 people.
The entire GIS group was also eliminated. Given the already depleted ADWR ranks, the
loss of 47 people represents a loss of close to one-third of the agency. It could have been worse, as larger numbers
had been discussed. Still this is a
difficult period for ADWR. Layoffs
are painful, but they can be survived.
Many people have been without work for some period of time in their
careers. During such periods, the
value of networking becomes clear.
Networking affords the opportunity to hear about employment
opportunities, to keep current in trends within the industry, and to meet new
people who can expand your range of vision.
Virtually every expert on human resources emphatically underlines the
importance of networking for every professional, not just those temporarily
laid off. There
is no better place to hone your networking skills than within the Arizona
Hydrological Society. The monthly
meetings of the Tucson, Phoenix, and Flagstaff Chapters bring together a
variety of water professionals—people you can talk to face to face. Check the schedule for your Chapter, and
plant to go to the next meeting; you won’t regret it. And the Annual Symposium remains the
premier venue for professional contacts within the state and across the
Southwest. This year’s Annual
Symposium will be held at the Westin La Paloma in
Tucson, the site of the successful 2007 event, and you should mark your
calendars now for September 1-4, 2010. AHS
survived a challenging financial year in which our Annual Symposium lost
money (but only about $1500). We are
still financially healthy. We have a
new Executive Director, Christie O’Day, who has
been an active AHS member for many years.
Christie has already assumed her duties. If you attended the 2009 Symposium, your
dues for 2010 were included in your registration payment. But if you weren’t able to attend, it is
time to renew your membership by paying your dues of $45. I urge you to send in your dues payment as
soon as possible. Only by belonging to
AHS can you reap the benefits of networking through AHS. Alan Dulaney, AHS
Corporate Board President, 2009 We
remind our current and past members, that it is that time again to renew your
membership. Many thanks to those who have already renewed – we value your
membership and commitment to AHS! If
you attended the 2009 Symposium, or renewed your membership after the
Symposium, your membership extends through the end of 2010. Otherwise, your
membership expires at the end of December 2009. To
renew your membership you can either: 1)
Renew Online: Regular Membership ($45) Student
Membership ($15) 2)
Download our Renewal Form, and either: a)
Fax to (866) 931-3134 b) Mail to : Arizona Hydrological Society 3317
S. Higley Road Suite 114-120 Gilbert, Arizona
85297 January Kickoff Meeting Our
next dinner meeting will be held Tuesday, January 12th at the SunUp Brewhouse near 3rd
Street east of Central Avenue on Camelback Road in Phoenix. This will be our annual kickoff meeting. Please
join us Tuesday, Jan. 12th at the SunUp Brewhouse in Phoenix to have a beverage, share business
cards, and talk water. It’s just a
short walk from the light rail station too. Location: SunUp
Brewhouse 322
E. Camelback Road Phoenix,
AZ Date: Tuesday, January 12, 2010 Kickoff
Meeting: 6:00 PM – 8:00 PM Cost: Free – So bring a friend and
help us plan for 2010! RSVP with Kirk Creswick at kcreswick@eecphx.com or 602-248-7702. Hope
to see you then. December
Meeting Summary The
Phoenix Chapter would like to thank Lucius Kyyitan, Director, and Brian Bennon,
Hydrologist, of the Gila River Indian Community’s Office of Water Rights for
their presentation at the chapter’s December 15 Dinner Meeting. Director Kyyitan
provided background about his Community and shared an oral tradition cultural
tale of how the rattlesnake got his fangs.
Brian then followed with a presentation on the Hydrogeology of the
Community’s Reservation. The following
is an overview of both presentations. The
Gila River Indian Community is located on the southern boundary of Phoenix,
Arizona along the Gila River. From
time immemorial, the Akimel O’odham
(River Pima) and Pee Posh (Maricopa)—People of the River—and their Huhugam ancestors, subsisted (and thrived) in a symbiotic
balance with the surface water flows that the live rivers naturally brought
to this area in Central Arizona. They
understood and respected the forces of the surrounding environment and, as a
result, developed into a flourishing, progressive, and peaceful society that
existed within its means in harmonious balance with the available natural
resources. This society was known as
the “breadbasket” of the arid Southwest by many of the early explorers. This
balance was destroyed when Euro-American settlers diverted water from the
contributing watershed in disregard of this existing dependent
civilization. What resulted was the
collapse of our society. “The People
of the River” were left without water and our people experienced tremendous
hardship through famine and disease.
Some of our people survived; mostly by selling fire wood that was
harvested from water-starved riparian forests and mesquite bosques. Today,
after decades of endless effort, the Community’s water rights claims are
settled through the historic 2004 Arizona Water Settlement Act. The Gila River Indian Community Water
Rights Settlement will not bring back the once-live rivers of Arizona, but it
marks a very significant historical crossroads for Community’s future (and
the future of others throughout Arizona).
Without
the balanced hydrologic system that naturally existed in the past, the
Community’s lands are functioning essentially as a closed basin. With a shallow aquifer system, high water
table, and elevating levels of total dissolved solids (salts), implementing
the Community’s Water Settlement will be challenging from a sustainability
context. Potential long-term solutions
include multi-jurisdictional collaborative efforts of regional groundwater
management, shallow brackish groundwater dewatering and desalination,
conjunctive management strategies for salinity control and aquifer storage
and recovery. Additional strategies
could include replacing massive salt cedar infestations with managed mesquite
plantations for soil salinity control and soil fertility enhancement. Hopefully,
with their Water Settlement entitlements, the Gila River Indian Community
will recreate a sustainable hydrologic balance with collaboration with their
neighbors. 2012 Symposium Planning Underway In the wake of the conclusion of the 2009 Symposium, the Phoenix
Chapter has already begun thinking about and planning for 2012. Christie O’Day,
Ted Lehman, and Mike Hulst have already begun
exploring possible venues. If you are
interested in helping them with the early stages of the planning for 2012,
please contact 2012 symposium planning chair, Ted Lehman, at ted@jefuller.com or 480-222-5709. Event Calendar (see also calendar on www.azhydrosoc.org) ·
January 12th
– 2010 chapter kickoff, SunUp Brewhouse ·
February –
Chapter dinner meeting, TBD ·
March – Bouwer Intern Application Deadline, exact date TBD ·
March 22-25 –
Arizona Science & Engineering Fair, Phoenix Convention Center ·
April 6th
– AEG-AHS Student Night, ASU Memorial Union ·
Mar-July
Dinner meetings – How ‘bout you?
Contact Keith Ross if
you’re interested in speaking! Topic:
Nanoparticle Interaction with Biological Wastewater Treatment
Processes Speakers: Jim Field,
Professor, Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, The
University of Arizona Date:
January
20th, 2010 Time:
Noon
to 1:30 Held at the University of Arizona Cooperative
Extension, Maricopa County, Palo Verde Room at 4341 E. Broadway, Phoenix
. Free and open to the public. Bring your lunch. There will be time for questions and
answers. Please RSVP to Nancy Crocker
at 602-827-8200 ext. 335 or NCrocker@cals.arizona.edu. Information
for additional seminars can be found on the WRRC web site: www.cals.arizona.edu/azwater
Tucson Chapter
January Meeting Announcement Location: Offices
of Montgomery and Associates 1550 E Prince Rd
Tucson, AZ 85719 Date: Tuesday,
January 12th 2010, 6:00 pm Social half-hour begins at 6:00 pm; Talk begins at 6:30 Food and beverages provided Speakers and Topic: Bill Ellett; ADEQ and
Jeff Tannler; ADWR.
Outlook for ADWR and ADEQ in light of recent budget cuts. Bill
Ellett is the manager of the Superfund Programs
Unit for the Southern Regional Office of ADEQ. Mr. Ellett
will discuss the current state budget for the Water Quality Assurance
Revolving Fund (WQARF) which is Arizona’s state superfund program, how the
current budget compares to recent years, and what the expectation is for
fiscal year 2010. Mr. Ellett received his
B.S. degree in Geophysics from the University of California at Riverside in 1980, and his M.S. degree in Hydrology from the University
of Arizona in 1994. Mr. Ellett has been with
ADEQ since 1998. ADWR
Tucson AMA Area Director Jeff Tannler will discuss
the current state budget situation as it applies to ADWR, and will describe
some of the options being discussed with stakeholders for future agency
funding. Mr. Tannler received his B.S. degree
in watershed hydrology from the University of Arizona. Jeff Tannler has worked in the Tucson AMA office since
1988. His responsibilities include policy development, planning, water
rights administration and staff oversight within the Tucson Active Management
Area. Tucson Chapter
February Meeting Announcement Location: TBA Date: Tuesday,
February 9th 2010, 6:00 pm Social half-hour begins at 6:00 pm; Talk begins at 6:30 Food and beverages provided Speaker: Terra Michaels, Engineers without Borders Topic:
Terra Michaels will present on
current and past activities of Engineers Without Borders (EWB) UA Student
Chapter, including a recently completed upgrade to a wastewater treatment
plant in Ghana and current activities developing and implementing a rainwater
harvesting program in Mali. EWB is
always looking for professional support for their projects, and would
appreciate any support from interested AHS members. 2010
Symposium Planning Committee The
AHS Symposium Planning Committee met on December 17th, 2009 at the
offices of Montgomery & Associates. Items discussed included: ·
development of
the 2010 symposium website ·
details of the
contract to be signed with Al Wynant of A6 ·
contacts made
with other professional organizations regarding advertising the symposium to
their members through mailings or advertising in newsletters/journals ·
technical
sessions and sponsorship subcommittees will meet prior to the next planning
committee meeting The
next AHS Symposium Planning Committee meeting will be held on Wednesday
January 13th, 2010 at 5:30 pm at the offices of Montgomery
& Associates, 1550 East Prince Road, Tucson. Topic:
The Arizona Water Atlas Speakers: Linda Stitzer, ADWR, Resource Assessment Planning Manager and Location:
Sol Resnick Conference Room Water Resources Research
Center 350 N. Campbell Ave. Date:
January
20th, 2010
Time:
Noon
to 1:30 Information for additional seminars can be found on the
WRRC web site: www.cals.arizona.edu/azwater Next Flagstaff Chapter meeting: The
next Flagstaff Chapter meeting will be on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010. 6pm,
at Flagstaff City Hall. Margot Truini, Hydrologist
with the USGS, will talk about her recent project work northwest of Kingman.
Pizza will be provided. Hope you can join us!. Location: Flagstaff City Hall 211 West Aspen Ave Date: Wednesday, Jan 13, 2010, 6 PM Cost: Free – So bring a friend and
help us plan for 2010! Mark
your calendars for the following presentations at NAU! Speaker:
Tim Scheibe, Darcy Lecturer of the National Ground
Water Association, Date: Friday January 29, 12:30, Physical Sciences Room
103. “Beyond
the Black Box: Integrating Advanced Characterization of Microbial Processes
with Subsurface Reactive Transport Models” In
this talk, Dr. Scheibe will introduce the audience
to the amazing world of subsurface microorganisms and present some novel
approaches to incorporating new knowledge and data into reactive transport
simulations. Particular focus will be given to genome-scale models of
microbial cell function, and how these models are being integrated into
simulations of contaminant transport and fate in groundwater systems. These
will be presented in the context of the application of in-situ
bioremediation that aims to immobilize uranium in groundwater through microbially mediated metal reduction..
Speaker:
Paul Marinos, 2010 Jahns
Distinguished Lecturer of the Association of Environmental & Engineering
Geologists and the Engineering Geology Division of the Geological Society of
America Date:
March 5 at 12:30, location TBD Topic:
Geology of Athens, Greece: A case of urban geology for land use, construction
of major engineering structures, hazard assessment and sustainable
development. Farmers cut off from
water, must use pricier sources The
Associated Press Tucson, Arizona |
Published: 01.03.2010 PHOENIX — The water level
on Eastern Arizona's San Carlos Lake is so low the irrigation district that
takes water from the lake for deliveries to Pinal
County farmers has turned off the spigot. As the lake empties
because of persistent drought, authorities worry that thousands of fish could
die. The water level now sits
at less than 5 percent of what it was a year ago and is nearing its lowest
point in nearly 20 years. In 1976 and 1977, the
reservoir dried up entirely, resulting in millions of dead fish. But the water
isn't likely to completely disappear this winter unless the weather turns
abruptly warm and dry. Fishing is still
permitted, but farmers were cut off Monday when the San Carlos Irrigation
Project, the federal overseer of operations at the reservoir, stopped
releasing water. By Carol Berry, Today correspondent Story Published: Jan 4,
2010 BLACK MESA, Ariz. –
Opponents of increased coal mining on this massive site in northern Arizona
were encouraged by the disclosure Dec. 3 that the Environmental Protection
Agency has withdrawn a water permit and has ended, at least temporarily,
concern about mining-related runoff into inadequate treatment ponds. OUTSIDE EL CENTRO, Calif.
- About 25 miles west of Yuma, across the Colorado River in California's
sand-dunes country, construction crews work day and night on two gaping
basins that will, inside of a year, add another piece to Arizona's
increasingly complex water future. The Drop 2 Reservoir, a
name befitting the project's utilitarian purpose, will collect the dregs of
the Colorado, billions of gallons of water that seep through the cracks of an
imperfect system. The water now flows south into Mexico if it can't be used
immediately, written off as a loss for U.S. users. For its $28.6 million
investment in Drop 2, about 16 percent of the total cost, Arizona will
receive a small share of the water saved, to be taken in even smaller
increments over 20-some years. California and Nevada will split the rest
based on their contributions. The water saved - up to
70,000 acre-feet each year - will amount to barely one-half of 1 percent of
the river's annual flow. Arizona's share, 100,000 acre-feet by 2036, is a few
drops in the bucket for a state that in a year uses 7 million acre-feet. (An
acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, enough to serve two average households for one
year.) TUCSON - Thickets of
native trees shade the street in front of Brad Lancaster's downtown home, a
patch of urban greenery that owes its survival to the strategic management of
concrete. Lancaster and his
neighbors worked with the city to cut gaps in the curb to allow storm water
to fill earthen basins carved out around the trees. No drinking water is used
to support the landscaping, a lush array of mesquite, paloverde,
cholla and prickly pear cactus and desert shrubs. "It used to be the
streets flooded around here, and I thought, 'It's like a creek,' " said
Lancaster, an author, lecturer and rainwater-harvesting evangelist. "Then I realized, it is a
creek. There's all the water we needed, and it's free." With the curb cuts, the basins, some reshaping of the lot
and the installation of two 1,200-gallon cisterns, Lancaster's
one-eighth-acre property can now harvest as much as 100,000 gallons a year. http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2009/12/28/20091228water-rain1228.html Arizona consumers in the
market for a new washing machine, dishwasher or water heater might
want to hold off until March. That's when rebates from
$75 to $450 will become available to Arizonans who scrap their old appliances
for more-efficient models. Cash for Clunkers Part II
is expected to boost lagging appliance sales and help the environment by
encouraging consumers to purchase more energy-efficient appliances. Arizona has $6.2 million
to give away. That's its share of a
$300 million pool of funds set aside by the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act of 2009 for appliance rebates, all designed to stimulate
sales to help jump-start the U.S. economy. The program will be
administered by the Arizona Energy Office, which is still working out details
of a program that is expected to get under way in March and last until the
money is gone. Given an average rebate of $200, the program could benefit as
many as 31,500 people. by
Shaun McKinnon - Nov.
1, 2009 12:00 AM
The
Navajo Generating Station, the huge coal-fired power plant outside Page,
supplies a fraction of Arizona's electricity demand, but its role in moving
water to the state's largest cities has thrust it into a growing battle over
the cost of cleaning up air pollution. In
the two months since the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency proposed rules
that would require costly new air-scrubbing equipment at the plant, the
debate has escalated into a war of increasingly dire predictions: Tribal
economies could collapse. The plant itself could close. The price of water
sold to Phoenix and Tucson could quadruple. Environmental groups have
targeted Navajo and the nearby Four Corners Power Plant for years because of
the emissions-related haze that builds up over the Grand Canyon and other
fragile landscapes. The EPA ranks Navajo as the nation's third-largest
emitter of nitrogen oxides, pollutants created when coal is burned. Four
Corners is the second-largest. Find
the rest at http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/2009/11/01/20091101water-ngs1101.html. Shaun
McKinnon also writes a blog – Waterblogged
– on news and analysis about water, drought, conservation, climate change,
natural resources, wildlife and the environment, from the forests to the
deserts, from Arizona across the West at http://www.azcentral.com/members/Blog/ShaunMcKinnon. For
more information about the Arizona Hydrological Society, or to view current
job listings and announcements, please visit our web site at: Your membership may be renewed for 2010 by credit card
through the AHS website or by mailing a check to the Arizona Hydrological
Society, c/o Christie O'Day, 3317 S. Higley Road, Suite #114, Box 120, Gilbert, Arizona 85297.
Dues remain at $45.00 year for regular membership and $15.00 for students.
Looking forward to a great 2010 with your continuing support. For those who
attended the 2009 Water Symposium, be reminded that membership dues for 2010
were included in the registration fee. |
