The following articles outline recent, selected University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) research findings along with actual or potential applications to water resource problems in Arizona or, perhaps, in other arid-semiarid regions. These findings were prepared initially for the U.S. Department of the Interior Office of Water Research and Technology.

The Yuma Desalting Test Facility is operated daily, around the clock, to develop, test and evaluate equipment and techniques which may be coupled for later use in a large desalting complex to be built to treat water discharged from the Wellton-Mohawk Irrigation and Drainage District.

Gila Bend, Arizona, is the site of the world's largest solar-powered irrigation system, a system capable of pumping up to 10,000 gallons of irrigation water per minute.

Eleven new Arizona water resources research projects have been funded for Fiscal Year (FY) 1978 by the Office of Water Research and Technology (OWRT), U.S. Department of the Interior. Three other projects funded during FY 1977 received continued support through FY 1978, according to University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center (WRRC) Director Sol Resnick. Eight of the new projects and the three continuing investigations will be funded under the Annual Allotment Grant. Priorities for selecting these proposals from among the 21 submitted were set by representatives of the Arizona Water Resources Committee, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation and the following State of Arizona divisions: Water Commission; Water Quality Control Council; Land Department; Game and Fish Department; and Health Services Department.

The deadline for public comment on the Carter administration's proposed water policy program has been extended 90 days from the original Aug. 20th cut-off date. The extension was requested by the Western Coalition, a group of 30 senators representing 15 western states, including Arizona. Coalition members felt that the first deadline did not allow time for adequate, thoughtful public comment on or thorough analysis of the proposed federal water policy program.

"The Nation's Water Outlook to the Year 2000" was published recently by the Library of Congress Congressional Research Service. Forecasts may include a general nationwide projection and regional projections.

A water-harvesting agrisystem to rehabilitate abandoned farmlands in the arid Southwest has been developed by the University of Arizona Office of Arid Lands Studies (OALS) and the Water Resources Research Center (WRRC).

"Senate Bill 1391 of the 1977 Legislative session charges the Groundwater Management Study Commission to 'Make findings and recommendations and prepare legislation to provide for the best development, utilization and conservation of groundwater in the State.' To aid in this mission the Study Commission requested that the Arizona Water Commission undertake a '. . . study of the impacts of future growth on groundwater resources in the major basins of the State, assuming official projections of the Department of Economic Security of population and economic growth and no change in existing law and institutions as they relate to water and its use."

President Carter signed into law the Water Research and Development Act (P.L. 95-467) on October 17, 1978. The Act repeals the Water Resources Research Act of 1964 (P .L. 88-379) and the Saline Water Conversion Act of 1971 (P.L. 92-60), and amends the Water Research and Conversion Act of 1977 (P.L. 95-84).

Arizona ranks in the top 10 among the 50 states in terms of total amount of groundwater pumped and amount of groundwater pumped per square mile of land surface, according to recently compiled U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) data.