CWAG NEWS & VIEWS

January 8, 2012

 

In this issue:

 

 

 

Time to renew your membership/join CWAG! Help us continue our work to achieve a sustainable water supply while maintaining the flows in the Verde River. Dues are only $25 per household! Download our membership form at http://www.cwagaz.org/aboutus.html. Thanks to all who have already joined and renewed!

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CWAG Annual Strategic Planning Retreat. Saturday, Jan. 14 from 9 a.m. to no later than 3 p.m. Prescott Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 945 S. Rancho Vista Dr. (Please note: this is not the same as our monthly meeting place. Directions are at http://www.puuf.net/sunserv.htm). You must pay your 2012 dues by the day of the retreat in order to participate. Download a membership form at http://cwagaz.org/aboutus.html. Agenda has been sent to current members. Details about lunch options and further retreat materials will be sent upon retreat registration. For more info: info@cwagaz.org or call CWAG president John Zambrano at (928) 708-1660.

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CWAG for Feb. 11: Meeting The Challenge Of Water For The Environment In Arizona. Kelly Mott Lacroix and Candice Rupprecht of the University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) will explore how they can help apply available information about desert rivers and riparian areas to water planning in our region through two projects, Conserve to Enhance (C2E) and Environment in Water Planning, when they speak to the Citizens Water Advocacy Group (CWAG) on Saturday, Feb. 11 from 10 a.m. to noon at the Granite Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 882 Sunset in Prescott (two blocks behind True Value).

C2E is an innovative financial mechanism that links water conservation actions to environmental enhancement projects. Working with water utilities and nongovernmental organizations, C2E tracks water use over time and enables donation of the monetary value of conserved water directly to an environmental enhancement fund.

Environment in Water Planning supports C2E and other community-based programs by quantifying environmental flow needs and informing stakeholders about the current science, providing critical information to inform planning and restoration efforts. Both projects endeavor to establish dialogue among water users about voluntary, stakeholder-driven options for addressing the environment in the context of limited water supplies and existing water rights.

For more info about the Feb. 11 meeting, call 445-4218 or visit www.cwagAZ.org.

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USGS working on response to concerns about its Big Chino computer model. [CWAG Education Committee member Peter Kroopnick is quoted in this article.] The U.S. Geological Survey plans to respond to Prescott-area concerns about the Big Chino Sub-basin portion of its computer model within a month. Read more . . .

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Tribes could turn the tables on water control. It seems like every week there’s another article about the future of western water—how much we’ll have, where it will come from, and who will get it. Since it’s key to our sustainability and growth, it’s something we ought to be talking about. But there’s a key element that is largely ignored in the mainstream media: the role of American Indians. Read more . . .

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Solar project would use less land, water. The federal government has approved a proposal to build a solar-energy project near Buckeye, a decision wilderness advocates cheered for safeguards to land use and water. Read more . . .

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More Water for Las Vegas Means More Resentment in Rural Areas. For Jason King, Nevada’s state engineer, the final months of 2011 were hardly a breeze. On top of his usual workload, he and his resource-strapped office, which manages parched Nevada’s precious water resources, oversaw six weeks of hearings on a controversial permit application, punctuated by often impassioned testimony from 82 witnesses. But 2012 will be more stressful. The longtime civil servant has just over three months to digest tens of thousands of documents and transcript pages as he prepares to answer a decades-old question: If the Mountain States keep getting drier, how will Nevada keep Las Vegas, its economic juggernaut, from going thirsty? Read more . . .

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Recovery and Reinvestment Act money helped water systems small and large. In all, WIFA doled out $55.3 million of stimulus money throughout the state. The largest local award came to the City of Prescott, which received $6.2 million in two grants and used it to help pay for half of the Indian Hill water tank as well as the extension of water mains at the Prescott Municipal Airport, according to city Finance Director Mark Woodfill. Read more . . .

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If you have any items you’d like considered for inclusion in N&V, please forward them to me, Leslie Hoy, at priority@cableone.net.

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To subscribe to this newsletter: If you are reading this on the CWAG Web site or a colleague has forwarded it to you and you would like your own email subscription, please send an email to Leslie Hoy at priority@cableone.net.