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Meetings & Events

If you would like to present at a future chapter meeting, contact us at [email protected]. Note that we can no longer issue refunds for cancellations; in addition, you must pay in advance — we cannot take payments at the door or invoice you after an event.

April Events

Join us for a talk with Susan Craig and Michelle Oldfield on From Workshops to Impact: A Community-Driven Model for Rural Groundwater Resilience in Arizona

. Networking begins at 5:00pm and the talk will be from 6:00 to 7:00.

  • Date: April 23rd
  • Time: 5:30-7:30pm
  • Place:  ACEC of Arizona Office 3550 N Central Ave Suite 1140 Phoenix, AZ 85012 
  • Cost: $20 for members, $25 for non-members, and $15 for students 
Register

About Susan Craig:

Susan is the Director for Impact Water – Arizona, a core program in ASU’s Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, fostering community understanding and engagement in addressing the state’s water challenges and solutions. Previously, Susan worked for ASU’s Kyl Center for Water Policy at the Morrison Institute for Public Policy, driving projects on water resilience, like the award-winning Arizona Water Blueprint. Having worked for Arizona’s three primary state water agencies, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, Arizona Department of Water Resources, and Water Infrastructure Finance Authority, she has extensive knowledge of the state’s water issues, policies, and players.

About Michelle Oldfield:

Michelle Oldfield is a collaborative leader and skilled convener, specializing in strategic programming and partnerships that bring together diverse stakeholders to create meaningful, action-oriented experiences for cross-sector audiences. She has 20 years of professional experience leading programs in higher education, sustainability, public affairs, nonprofit leadership, and recreation.

In her current role with Impact Water – Arizona, part of ASU’s Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, she contributes to community-based water resilience efforts across the state, facilitating a series of Rural Groundwater Resilience Workshops that bring together residents, local leaders, and experts to address critical water challenges through community-driven solutions. By collaborating across diverse expertise and resources, this program sparks knowledge, inspires engagement, and drives transformative change toward a more secure and resilient water future for rural Arizonans.

Abstract: From Workshops to Impact: A Community-Driven Model for Rural Groundwater Resilience in Arizona

This presentation shares insights from Rural Groundwater Resilience workshops conducted across Arizona, focused on developing locally relevant responses to groundwater challenges. Through engagement with agricultural producers, community leaders, water managers, and residents, these workshops highlight how groundwater depletion, governance gaps, and limited resources are experienced in rural communities.

ASU’s Impact Water – Arizona serves as a neutral convener, leveraging university resources to support collaboration in rural regions of the state, rural regions of the state, largely outside regulated groundwater management areas. Workshops are designed with local partners to bring together community perspectives, technical expertise, and policy considerations to inform place-based strategies. They integrate science, interactive tools, and facilitated discussions to support planning and capacity-building.

The presentation introduces a Workshop-to-Impact model that connects dialogue with action. Key takeaways include approaches to sustainable groundwater management, opportunities to strengthen data-informed decision-making, and strategies for building local capacity and coordination. Attendees will gain practical insights into rural groundwater challenges in Arizona and an adaptable model for designing engagement processes that lead to meaningful, on-the-ground impact.

June Events

Darcy Lecture – Steven P Loheide II, PhD

On June 3rd from 10 – 11 am, the National Ground Water Association is offering a free webinar to NGWA members and non-members.  The webinar features this year’s Darcy Lecture, Steven P Loheide II, PhD. 

Dr. Loheide will speak on how groundwater dependent ecosystems depend on groundwater to thrive.  Groundwater dependent ecosystems include wetlands and riparian forests that border streams and are well recognized in arid regions where lush vegetation may only exist where shallow groundwater is accessible to plant roots. However, in humid, temperate regions it’s often assumed that forests do not rely on groundwater because precipitation is typically sufficient to meet the plant water demand.  His research tested this assumption by quantifying groundwater’s influence on tree growth and transpiration in northern humid forests with sandy soils. Time-series of groundwater levels show that groundwater levels fall during the daylight hours when transpiration occurs and recover during nighttime periods in some of the observation wells were monitored.  The research used these diurnal groundwater fluctuations to quantify groundwater consumption and found that northern Wisconsin’s forests consume groundwater when and where it is within 3m of the land surface. For more information click here.

Furthermore, tree growth response was analyzed by coring trees and measuring annual tree ring increments. The results were that trees in regions with shallow groundwater had up to twice as much growth as indicated by tree rings compared to regions where groundwater was deeper than 5m.  Lastly, remote sensing techniques were employed that compared vegetation indices during wet and dry periods and mapped the degree of groundwater influence across the study area.  Counter to conventional wisdom, this research demonstrates that shallow groundwater subsidizes evapotranspiration even in humid forests and enhances forest productivity. Recognition of forests as groundwater users is important in guiding sustainable water and forest management decisions in the region.

Register Here

Chapter Officers & Board Members

2026 Officers

  • President: Michel Hulst
  • Vice President: Lauren Handley, LRE Water
  • Treasurer: Ed Mears, HDR
  • Secretary: Andrea Wrenn, Matrix New World
  • Chapter Board Member at Large: Bridget Hoagland Stamatovski, Matrix New World
  • Chapter Board Member at Large: Bryon Baden, GES
  • Chapter Board Member at Large: Shannon Reif, SRP

2026 Corporate Board Members

  • Board Member: Chris Brooks, CAP
  • Board Member: Nathan Miller, Matrix New World
  • Board Member: Enrique Vivoni, Director for Center for Hydrologic Innovations

You can contact board members via email at [email protected].

Chapter News