Yet another conservation easement has been worked out along the Babocomari River, making the fourth such agreement in the area since January. The total area now protected stands at 1,410.2 acres and 4.61 miles of river. What is occurring along the Babocamari River reflects a national trend: the increased use of conservation easements as a strategy to protect natural resources. According to the Land Trust Alliance the amount of land protected by local and state land trusts using easements doubled to 6.2 million acres between 2000 and 2005.

Includes insert: "The Ecological Implications of Verde River Flows" / Does it take a Crypto Creature to catch public attention and raise concerns about critical water issues citizens should know and care about? The Water Services Department of Bryan Texas found the approach effective in educating citizens about the threat of cryptosporidium in drinking water. Whatever else might be said of the strategy of relying heavily on the skills of a cartoonist, the message came readily across that the crypotosporidium pathogen is mean, nasty and dangerous, a pest best shunned. Another cautionary water message that recently caught public attention was that drinking water supplies throughout the country contain pharmaceuticals.

Includes supplement: Water Sustainability Program, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, The University of Arizona / How much water is needed to produce a hamburger? At one time this was not the type of question many water officials deeply pondered. They were more concerned with the amount of water used to irrigate a lawn or operate a washing machine than worry about hamburgers, sugar, milk, oils and vegetables as significant water-using commodities. This was food that could be purchased, served and consumed, with nary a flow, sprinkle or drip evident to disturb the most devote water-saving consumers and dampen their appetites. Now drought and water shortages have created stricter water accountability.

Includes supplement: WRRC Hosted ADEQ's 20th Anniversary Conference. / Recently passed legislation will allow Cochise County voters to create a special water management district on the upper San Pedro River as part of a plan to preserve its flow. The legislation has varied significance. Many in the environmental community view the new law as first and foremost a river-preservation effort; others see the bill as representing a breakthrough in the state's ongoing effort to adopt a rural water management strategy. Either way most would agree that the legislation is certainly timely, addressing critical problems in need of solution, both river preservation and rural water management.

In a brief commentary piece that appeared in the Aug. 23 Arizona Republic titled “Why the Valley could be the Venice in the desert” editorial writer Kathleen Ingles lauds efforts underway in Scottsdale to develop its canal areas as attractive public space. She hopes the completion of the gateway art project, part of the Scottsdale Waterfront, “sparks more interest in taking advantage of the scenic value of our canal system. Excluding the Central Arizona Project, metropolitan Phoenix has 131 miles of major canals. Four times more than Venice."

Includes supplement: USGS insert prepared in cooperation with the Arizona Department of Water Resources, City of Tucson Water Department, Pima County, the Town of Oro Valley, and the Metropolitan Domestic Water Improvement District. "Land Subsidence and Aquifer Compaction in the Tucson Active Management Area, South-Central Arizona- 1987-2005" by R.L. Carruth, D.R. Pool, and C.E. Anderson. / Prescott Valley town officials are pleased with the results of an auction of 2,724 acre-feet of effluent water rights that could net the town over $67 million, funds the town will use to acquire needed water supplies for the rapidly growing area. The favorable results at auction have been attributed to the careful planning and calculated efforts that went into researching and structuring the unprecedented water marketing transaction. Developing the auction structure, terms and procedures required a special effort because there were no previous examples to use as a model; the town was breaking new ground.

Includes supplement: Arizona NEMO: Watershed Projects and Programs / With desalination looming big on the water resource horizon, many water officials are looking at their options. One option Arizona officials are considering is building a desalination plant in Puerto Penasco that would be a joint Mexican-Arizona project, with both the resort community and the state benefiting from the desalinated water supplies. With desalination an emerging technology, other kinds of options will be available in the future. One such option is seawater desalination vessels, ships capable of onboard desalination for onshore use.

Includes supplement: Colorado River or Tributary Water - U.S. Geological Survey Update of the Accounting Surface Along the Lower Colorado River, by Stephen M. Wiele, Stanley A. Leake, Sandra J. Owen-Joyce, and Emmet H. McGuire. / It is no doubt a sign of the drought-struck times that efforts to strictly account for lower Colorado River water use are now focusing on individual landowners and homeowners who have drilled wells and pump water along the lower Colorado River. Up to now, efforts to regulate Colorado River water use have mainly been directed at the big water users: states, Indian nations and irrigation districts. Collectively these small-scale water users, most of whom are householders taking care of domestic water needs, consume a significant amount of Colorado River water, an amount estimated at between 9,000 and 15,000 acre feet.

A community program that included keynote addresses rounded out the day's events on Sept. 1. University of Arizona's President Robert Shelton greeted about 225 people attending the community event. Ben Grumbles, director of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality, further extended the welcome. The keynote speakers were Uri Shani, director general of the Israeli Water Authority, and Shaddad Attili, chairman of the Palestinian Water Authority. Attili, who was unable to attend the event in person, provided his message via DVD. Ayman Jarrar, director general for the regulatory and water control directorates of the Palestinian Water Authority, joined Shani at the podium to answer questions. Shani described Israel's predicament confronting the dire consequences of ongoing drought affecting the Middle East. “The trend is very clear, and we need to understand it. If we don't work on the future development of water, we don't solve anything. Demand is increasing, and the supply is decreasing, and we are left with no solution,” he said. With brackish water threatening groundwater reserves, Shani said the importance of desalination as a water source has increased. Conservation measures, a national priority, have decreased Israeli water consumption. Agricultural allocations are half what they were nine years ago. Contributing to the conservation savings is the relatively minimal water lost to evaporation and leakage, about 10 percent in Israel compared to much higher rates in other areas of the developed world. The use of reclaimed water has also increased dramatically. Attili discussed the precarious state of Palestinian water supplies. He said that water is a daily problem in the Palestinian Territories, with many communities lacking basic infrastructure for delivery of clean water and for water treatment. “We are trying to create a vibrant Palestinian state; our state will not be vibrant if there is not enough water.” He stressed the need for Israel to increase water allocations. Going beyond an acknowledgment of the political work to be done, Attili spoke of water supplies as a humanitarian cause. He said, “In the end of the day, it is a basic human need.” Jarrar sounded a pessimistic note with regard to an immediate solution to Palestinian water problems. He said what is needed is “political will from both sides, which is unfortunately not available at this time.” He said, “We are suffering, and the time should come to end our suffering with regard to the water supply.” He expressed confidence in Uri Shani's willingness to work with the Palestinian Water Authority, but also made clear that final decisions on critical water issues were often politicized and made at a higher level of government than the water authorities. The keynote session ended on a hopeful and conciliatory note. Despite the obstacles, Jarrar expressed optimism that trust can be built between the two sides, leading to adequate water supplies for both Israelis and Palestinians and contributing to peace in the region. Shaddad Attili also expressed confidence that he and the Palestinian Water Authority can work with Uri Shani and the Israeli Water Authority to resolve conflict in the area of water. Shani found significance in the fact that part of the conflict is about water. He said, "The general method to extinguish fire is to use water. I believe water can lead to peace, and this is my hope. Nobody promised us to have easy solutions, but it can be done.” The AzIP workshop was organized to help both Israelis and Palestinians achieve the goal of resolving conflict over water and working together to find shared solutions.

Includes insert: USGS Fact Sheet 2008-3076, National Water-Quality Assessment Program: Dissolved Solids in Basin-Fill Aquifers and Streams in the Southwestern United States - Executive Summary. / Agriculture faces a conundrum: populations needing food are increasing and the necessary land and water resources to produce crops are not. What to do? The perplexing situation was addressed recently in an article in the November Scientific American, titled, “Growing Skyscrapers: The Rise of Vertical Farms.” Author Dickson Despommier says an insufficient supply of arable land is available to feed a projected 9.5 million population by 2050. Agricultural practices causing environmental harm contribute to the problem. His solution is to grow food indoors in glass high-rises; he figures that a 30-story structure located on one square block could be as agriculturally productive as 2,400 outdoor acres, with less spoilage. Crops could be grown year-round on these vertical farms under rigorously controlled conditions. He is proposing an agricultural revolution with an urban twist: high-rise vertical farms would be located in urban areas on now vacant lots and multi-story greenhouses constructed on rooftops. Food would be grown using non-mechanized farming techniques and relying on recycled urban wastewater in areas with the greatest demand, thus reducing transportation costs. This means less fossil fuels consumed and less emissions. Urban life would become more sustainable. Techniques for growing crops in-doors — drip irrigation, aeroponics and hydroponics— have been successfully applied throughout the world. Despommier singles out for special notice the 318-acre Eurofresh Farms located in Arizona that produces bountiful and varied crops 12 months a year. He mentions the Southwest with its abundant sunshine as being especially hospitable to vertical farming. He would modify his structures in the region to two or three stories, 50 to 100 yards wide and miles long to maximize natural sunlight for growing and photovoltaics for power. Despommier also describes the paths best not to take. He says that intensive, highly mechanized industrial farming capable of producing a greater yield of genetically-modified crops fertilized by agrochemicals is not the answer. Nor is the further deforestation of land to produce farmland. Both have severe environmental consequences. Despommier summarizes: “Vertical farming could revolutionize how we feed ourselves and the rising population to come.” For another, more here-and-now perspective of Arizona agriculture and its future water needs see above sidebar. It notes a recent CAST issue paper (Council for Agricultural Science and Technology) titled “Water, People, and the Future: Water Availability for Agriculture in the United States.”