AMWUA Blog
Five Water Challenges for Arizona from Avondale's Councilmember Iwanski
There wasn't much David Iwanski didn't know about Arizona water when he joined AMWUA's Board of Directors in 2014. Avondale Councilmember Iwanski trained as an attorney, spent four years in the Army and served as an aide to the late Arizona U.S. Congressman Eldon Rudd. It was Rudd who instructed him to learn everything he could about water and energy in the West. That led to a job with the U.S. Bu...
Dec 19 2016
Gilbert Grows Program To Help HOAs Lower Water BillsIn the last two years, the Town of Gilbert has more than doubled the number of Homeowners Associations enrolled in a free program that takes the guesswork out of landscape irrigation. The program walks HOAs through the steps that lead to thriving landscapes while using less water and saving money. That information fosters greater harmony among HOA board members, residents, property managers and la...
Dec 12 2016
Lawmakers Get Answer To Arizona’s Biggest Water QuestionWhen I meet people and they find out I work in water, they always ask me this question: When are we going to run out of water? Arizona legislators - particularly those who were just elected - have the same concerns and questions about the state's water supplies. Many of these lawmakers from both urban and rural communities attended AMWUA's legislative forum on December 7th to get answers. AMWUA as...
Dec 05 2016
Water: A Conversation With Chandler Councilmember Rick HeumannWhen City of Chandler Councilmember Rick Heumann joined the AMWUA Board of Directors six years ago he knew this about water: "I drank it." He knew Chandler had a water treatment plant and a wastewater treatment plant - and that he had been assigned to the board of an important regional water agency. When it came to water management, Mr. Heumann called himself a blank slate - but he wasn't really. ...
Nov 28 2016
The Art and Efficiency of Fountains in the DesertWater is life and nowhere is that more apparent than in the desert. Fountains and pools of water were built into ancient cities, including desert cities, for both practical and aesthetic reasons. They provided access to water for human needs, to support livestock, to grow food crops and gardens. Water features also cool the air creating microclimates and mitigating noise. They allow city dwellers ...
Nov 21 2016
Salt and Verde: Protecting The Valley’s Water SupplyThe Salt and Verde rivers are two of the hardest working rivers in the United States.Traveling through Arizona's northern high country and onto the desert plains, the Salt and Verde provide more than half of the AMWUA cities' water supply. On November 15th, Phoenix Mayor Greg Stanton and Clarkdale Mayor Doug Van Gausig convened a meeting of mayors, councilmembers, city staffs and business leaders ...
Nov 14 2016
Arizona Is Big Winner Of Water Innovation PrizePima County's Southwest Water Campus is the winner of the New Arizona Prize: Water Innovation Challenge and it has a big job ahead of it. These creative water professionals intend to increase the public's acceptance of reclaimed water - that's highly treated wastewater - for drinking, in this particular case for drinking beer. While the winner received $250,000, the real winner is Arizona....
Nov 07 2016
Desert Landscaping: Ten Tips For Winter WateringHere's one of the easiest ways you can save money and water: learn how to manage your irrigation controller. AMWUA cities' conservation professionals continue to report that many homeowners, businesses and HOAs irrigate their landscapes throughout the winter as if it were still 110 degrees outside. It's such a waste because most desert-adapted plants can make it through the winter months with litt...
Oct 31 2016
On The Job: Chemist Ensures Safe Water Flows To Your Home And BusinessMark Xerxis is a chemist, but don't imagine him behind a set of tubes, Bunsen burners and microscopes. Mark runs the metals lab within Scottsdale's Water Quality Laboratory, which means assuring Scottsdale's water never has a problem with elements such as arsenic, chromium, lead or copper. His main tool is something called an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer. Mark gets up from his chai...
Oct 24 2016
Putting Storm Runoff To WorkCities in the Phoenix Metropolitan area are experimenting with building methods to slow storm runoff and allow more of it to be absorbed into the ground instead of rushing into streets and down storm drains. Low Impact Development (LID) is an approach to land development - or redevelopment - that mimics the natural environment by encouraging rainwater to stay in place and to sink into landscaping ...