26 April 2022

THE FUTURE OF WATER

Intro: Arizona has also spent the past 25 years storing about 3 trillion gallons in a network of “water banks” — a supply big enough, the state says, to serve Phoenix for 30 years. Part of that supply was created through artificial above-ground pools that gradually seep through the soil and “recharge” subterranean aquifers.

But Arizona’s regulatory apparatus isn’t airtight. Some landowners and farmers aren’t bound by its rules and can pump groundwater at will. And there are no uniform legal guidelines around various uses of surface water and groundwater.

While Arizona now uses less groundwater than it did decades ago, waning supplies from Lake Mead have forced it to reconsider that strategy. As the shortage deepens, water banking is likely to be eliminated. Sprawling suburban subdivisions depend on groundwater stocks that will be difficult to replenish. The prospect of aggressively tapping other groundwater supplies in rural areas to make up the difference has sparked a heated debate about environmental impacts — and basic fairness. . .If the drought persists or accelerates, then this becomes a race against time. The Colorado River Compact, drafted in the wake of two decades of unusually abundant rains, allocated more water than the river could provide. Now Mother Nature is forcing the Southwest to adjust. . ."

Can the Southwest Survive With Less Water?

By Timothy L. O’Brien

Bloomberg.com

LAST YEAR --- The water industry is constantly changing. What are the new and innovative ways professionals are measuring, predicting, and communicating about water? How will they change in the future?

Water resiliency depends on constant improvement, risk taking, and collaboration. Join us February 23^rd and 24^th 2021 to learn leading edge technology and new or future methods for monitoring, remote sensing, communication, modeling, data science, water quality threats, water planning and water markets.

The curated program for this conference will educate, engage, and inform both technical experts and water managers alike