Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2015AZ547B

Information Transfer

Institute: Arizona
Year Established: 2015 Start Date: 2015-03-01 End Date: 2016-02-29
Total Federal Funds: $57,853 Total Non-Federal Funds: $120,082

Principal Investigators: Sharon Megdal, Susanna Eden, Jean McLain

Abstract: The WRRC’s Information Transfer Program will continue to produce its major component products in 2015. These include the Arizona Water Resource and Arroyo newsletters, the Annual Conference, Brown Bag seminars, and the website. The AWR continues as a source of timely information on water resources news, including summaries of 104(b) research projects. The next in the WRRC’s Arroyo series of annual, single-topic newsletters will appear in Spring 2015 on closing the gap between water demand and supply in Arizona, and research on the 2016 Arroyo will be undertaken by the 2015 Montgomery & Associates Summer Intern, to be selected in March. The WRRC’s Annual Conference for 2015 will cover the topic of Tribal water management and will be held in June in collaboration with the Gila River Indian Community. The expanded series of Brown Bag Seminars will continue to provide a forum for researchers, students and community members to learn about and discuss water resources issues. Offsite stakeholders will have access to the Brown Bags through recently expanded live webcasts via Go-to-Meeting, a publicly available webinar platform. Collaborations will continue with the Water Sustainability Program, now a part of the Water, Environmental and Energy Solutions Initiative, and with Arizona Project WET. Collaboration with Arizona’s three universities will produce a reference document on water for the Fall 2015 Arizona Town Hall. Ongoing programs of research, engagement, and outreach are expanding. Although these programs are almost entirely funded from non-program sources, they are provided continuing support by the Information Transfer Program, with creation and enhancement of dedicated web pages. These pages can be maintained by the program principals. The WRRC continues to place increasing emphasis on the internet as a public information tool. An exciting new initiative will provide water information in short video clips from a specially designed web platform that allows users to lead themselves through the material and to create their own documentaries from the hundreds of clips. Social media efforts are expanding, on actively managed Facebook (facebook.com/AZWRRC) and @AZWRRC Twitter handle. Regular weekly updates on WRRC news and events are distributed electronically in the “WRRC Weekly Wave”, which continues as a primary communication medium. In addition to all of the above, WRRC personnel will continue their public service activities and respond to public inquiries about water resources issues of concern.