AMWUA.org: Bigger, Brighter, Bolder And A Little Smarter
By Warren Tenney
Our first overhaul of AMWUA.org in a decade is big, bright and bold. It’s not all flash and dazzle, although that’s what makes it more fun—and far easier—to explore. Going deep into the new AMWUA website is effortless and well worth your time. The new amwua.org gives you an understanding of AMWUA’s work to protect the Valley’s water supplies by advocating for smart solutions today that will help our desert cities thrive for the next 100 years.
Where We Stand: We are passionate about our role as advocates, coalition builders and problem solvers. The “Where We Stand” section is the heart of the new site.
This section describes the issues and challenges our communities are facing, where AMWUA stands on the issues, what we are doing to address them, the potential solutions and where you can find more information about the issues.
Here you will find a guide to six of the water challenges AMWUA members cities are working on right now with valuable information for water professionals, teachers, reporters, elected officials, business owners and concerned residents. Issues currently featured include drought planning and preparing for shortages, shoring up Lake Mead, and protecting our aquifers. More issue pages will be coming in the near future. We’ve noticed that organizations, such as the Arizona Geological Survey, are already sharing these pages on social media.
Our much-improved Bill Tracker makes it easy for visitors to be informed advocates of water policy. Here you’ll find an explanation of each piece of water legislation introduced during state legislative sessions, where AMWUA stands on the bill and the bill’s progress.
This section also features AMWUA news items and the latest local water news – part of a searchable library of hundreds of topical news stories we’ve curated over the past five years.
The AMWUA Blog – which offers reliable and readable weekly posts about water policy, advocacy and conservation – has been incorporated into the new website. The archive of 180-plus past blog posts is being moved to the new website over the next few months. For now, you can still find all the posts at www.amwua.wordpress.com. Feel free to use the posts in your newsletters, email blasts or on your social media.
What We Do: This quick trip explains how AMWUA collaborates and advocates for policies that help to protect the Phoenix Metro area’s water supplies and provides shortcuts to the other sections within the website. Here you can access our public meeting dates, agendas and final minutes.
Who We Are: This section is an overview of our city members and their water service infrastructures, AMWUA’s mission and values, and a gallery of our nearly 50 years of accomplishments. It also includes an introduction to the many dedicated people who make AMWUA’s work possible: the members of the AMWUA Board of Directors, Management Board, technical advisory groups and staff members.
What You Can Do: Here’s where you’ll find AMWUA’s “Conservation and Efficiency” information. These are our most popular website pages, including our searchable and mobile plant information pages and our landscape design and watering guides. There is information about water conservation rebates offered by your cities, workshops and events, demonstration gardens, teaching resources, contacts for local conservation experts, resources for professionals and businesses and a link to the Smart Home Water Guide, offering step-by-step assistance to find and fix leaks in your home and yard.
We’re not finished yet. In the next year, we’ll be working to redevelop both the Landscape Plants section and the Landscaping with Style sections. We are in the process of locating and photographing 224 water-thrifty trees, shrubs, cactus, succulents and groundcover plants as well as great examples of desert-adapted landscapes that will be added to the site. Send us a message if you have a specimen of a desert-adapted tree or plant or a landscape that you think is exceptional. Just click on that little pencil in the upper right corner or the menu icon for contact information. We would love to have your suggestions.
Since 1996, AMWUA’s website has been a key resource for central Arizona water information. This new information-rich site is friendlier and more comfortable for long-time visitors but built for a new generation of desert residents. Come visit us. Meet our people, learn about the issues, get involved and help us make a difference.
For 48 years, Arizona Municipal Water Users Association has worked to protect our member cities’ ability to provide assured, safe and sustainable water supplies to their communities. For more water information visit amwua.org.
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