Welcome to Citizens Water Advocacy Group

Founded in 2002, the Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG) is a local science-based citizens group dedicated to working for a sustainable water future for the Prescott Active Management Area and to protecting the upper Verde River. We see two fundamental challenges to sustainable water management:
     • Our water supply is dependent on groundwater; we are depleting our groundwater reserves because we are pumping too much.
     • Excessive groundwater pumping and climate change are reducing the flow of the upper Verde River.

FOR FIRST TIME VISITORS. If this is your first visit to our website:

  • Issues of water sustainability are discussed in the section “Our Water Supply”.

  • The challenges facing the upper Verde River are discussed in the section “Verde River”.

  • "Introductory Water Info" will connect you to some basic and important topics.

Current Issues:

OpEd: Population growth versus water
CWAG Statement on Prescott Water Policy
CWAG Fundraising Campaign
Share your required IRA distributions with CWAG!
OpEd: Verde River: Stewardship versus ownership
Eleven Reasons To Protect The Verde
Climate Change & Groundwater Pumping - Big Chino Valley
Babbitt: Big Chino, the Verde River: a time for action
Rainwater Harvesting and Water Budget
Op Ed: Legislators fail to protect our groundwater and rivers

DAILY DROPLET

  • "Ranchers need clean water for their stock, farmers need it for their crops, every employer needs it to stay in business, and every living thing needs it for life... The law needs to be clear to protect water quality and the rights of landowners."
    Mark Udall
  • "Water is the driver of Nature."
    Leonardo da Vinci
  • "When the well is dry, we know the worth of water."
    Benjamin Franklin, Poor Richard’s Almanac, 1746
  • "...and since flow of information is to spirit what water is to life, we'd best think about how to keep the pipes free and unclogged."
    Raphie Frank
  • "In an age when man has forgotten his origins and is blind even to his most essential needs for survival, water along with other resources has become the victim of his indifference."
    Rachel Carson
  • "We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one."
    Jacques Yves Cousteau
  • "Water is life's matter and matrix, mother and medium. There is no life without water."
    Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, 1937 Nobel Prize for Medicine
  • "Water is everywhere and in all living things; we cannot be separated from water. No water, no life. Period..."
    Robert Fulghum
  • "It's the water. Everything is driven by the water."
    Mike Thompson
  • "Whiskey is for drinking; water is for fighting over."
    Mark Twain