Weekly Seminar Format
Available in-person and via Zoom. Contact the department to subscribe to the email list (zoom link provided in announcement).
Abstract
Escalating drought and increasing demand over the past decades has led to growing concerns regarding water quantity and quality for Arizona’s communities. At the request of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, 30 researchers from the U of A, ASU, and NAU are studying locations and methods for capturing precipitation that would otherwise be lost to evaporation, in order to enhance groundwater recharge across the state. The Arizona Tri-University Recharge and Water Reliability Project (ATUR-WRP) is funded by the Arizona Board of Regents. Tom Meixner was the original PI; Kathy Jacobs is now leading the project and Neha Gupta is the project manager. This project focuses on capturing and storing precipitation in a manner that is sensitive to existing water allocations and policies within the state of Arizona. By combining analyses of precipitation, evaporation, vegetation water usage, land use/urban runoff, groundwater and surface water modeling efforts, remote sensing, and geologic mapping, the study seeks to identify locations where precipitation can be captured for recharge and community and wildlife needs. This presentation will describe project advances and continuing and future efforts in the form of data analysis, stakeholder engagement, and integration across multiple lines of investigation that include landscape analysis of low and high elevation zones in Arizona as well as urban regions.
Bios
Kathy Jacobs is a professor of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona and Director of the Center for Climate Adaptation Science and Solutions (CCASS) within the Arizona Institute for Resilience (AIR). CCASS builds capacity on campus and off to accelerate adaptation and on-the-ground solutions to climate issues. She was the executive director of the Arizona Water Institute from 2006-2009. From 2009 – 2013, Jacobs worked in the Office of Science and Technology Policy in the White House. She was director of the Third National Climate Assessment, and the lead advisor on water science, water policy, and climate adaptation. She worked 23 years for the Arizona Department of Water Resources (ADWR), including 15 as the appointed director of the Tucson Active Management Area (AMA). At ADWR she led the establishment of groundwater rights in the Tucson AMA and the statewide Assured Water Supply Rules, developed conservation requirements for all sectors, and contributed to aquifer recharge and statewide planning efforts. She has served on nine National Academy panels and boards and currently is an elected board member of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research.
Neha Gupta is an Assistant Research Professor in the University of Arizona’s Arizona Institutes for Resilience (AIR) who participates in a number of interdisciplinary research efforts focused on urban hydrological issues (including the use of stormwater as a resource), water resource planning and management, and climate adaptation planning. She also is affiliated with the University of Arizona Department of Hydrology and Atmospheric Sciences, of which she is an alumnus, and works closely with the Office of Sustainability as a Faculty Advisor for Students for Sustainability. Prior to joining the University of Arizona, Neha worked as an environmental consultant on contaminated soil and groundwater issues.
