Water and energy are fundamental components of our 21st century life, but they can no longer be considered separately. Just as producing energy consumes water, pumping, treating and distributing water requires energy. In other words, water is an energy issue; energy is a water issue. Called the water-energy nexus, this interrelationship is beginning to receive the attention it merits. This Arroyo aims to provide comprehensive and timely information to support the public discussion of this important topic.

The Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) has just released its 2013 annual Arroyo – a 12-page newsletter devoted to a single topic of timely interest to Arizona. This year, the topic is “Contaminants of Emerging Concern in Water,” a subject that has raised questions from the public and challenged water managers and regulators across the country. Contaminants of Emerging Concern (CECs) are “substances we use every day for all kinds of purposes, which get flushed, washed or otherwise discarded and end up in water and soil.” They are being detected in trace amounts in the water supply, raising the need to know what risks they represent and what, if anything, should be done about them. The new Arroyo brings together current information and presents definitions, examples and study results, while describing efforts to tackle the issue. The WRRC publishes Arroyo each spring, and initial research is carried out the previous summer by the winner of the Montgomery & Associates Summer Writing Internship. The 2012 intern was Madhumitha Raghav, a Ph.D. student in Environmental Engineering at the University of Arizona.

With the generous cooperation of Peabody Coal Company, the financial support of the U.S. Bureau of Mines, and the ingenuity of two University of Arizona scientists, surface-mined land on northern Arizona's Black Mesa is being reclaimed using a unique water-harvesting and agriculture technique. Peabody annually mines about 200 acres for coal on Black Mesa to fuel the Mojave and Navajo power generating plants at Bullhead City and Page, Arizona, respectively.

Faced with the significant challenge of groundwater overdraft, Arizona adopted groundwater recharge as a water management priority. This 12-page publication discusses early interest in recharge, describing legislative efforts to encourage and regulate projects and identifying significant issues relating to recharge such as water quality implications and control of subsidence as well as focusing on ongoing recharge projects.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently released its first stage (1992-1994) Integrated Environmental Plan for the Mexican-U.S. Border Area (see Publications, March AWR). Motivated by Congressional consideration of the North American Free Trade Act, the plan addresses potential environmental consequences of increased trade along the border.

The second Symposium on Settlement Indian Reserved Water Rights Claims was held in Albuquerque, NM on September 1-3 , 1992. Sponsored by the Native American Rights Fund and Western States Water Council, the symposium drew some 250 people from across the country. The symposium focused on negotiating Indian water rights settlements, and included discussions of alternative dispute resolution techniques, marketing, and jurisdiction over water use.

After five years of debt negotiations between officials of New Magma Irrigation and Drainage District and the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, NMIDD filed for municipal bankruptcy in Federal District Court in mid-January.

Certain U.S. Bureau of Reclamation properties may be up for sale. The agency recently issued a document, "Framework for the Transfer of Title," outlining the process of transferring title of certain of its projects to interested beneficiaries and non-federal governmental entities.

Proclaiming that "we don't just want Arizona's water, we want its ideas (on water management) as well," Nevada state senator Mark James convened an April 20 legislative hearing on use, allocation and management of water. The legislative committee, consisting of three senators and three assemblymen, heard testimony from the U S Bureau of Reclamation (BuRec), Nevada Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Colorado River Commission, the Las Vegas Valley Water District (LVVWD) and others. The committee is statutorily charged with developing legislative proposals for changing Nevada water law.

The Arizona legislature has created a Water Protection Fund administered by a 15-member Commission. Appointments to the Commission are made by the Governor, the president of the Senate and the speaker of the House, with certain numbers allocated for various categories. Ex-officio, non-voting members are Rita Pearson, ADWR, Jean Hassell, State Land Commission, and the chairs of House and Senate natural resource committees.