AMWUA Blog

Nov 14 2016

Pima 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

Here'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

Mark 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

Cities 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 ...

Oct 17 2016

Running a public water utility isn't like any other business. This is because water is essential to everyone, at every economic level. Also, a city water utility isn't out to make a profit. It can't simply raise its prices to cover the cost of rising expenses or decreasing revenue. An elected city council, board or regulating commission must approve rate changes and that doesn't always come easily...

Oct 10 2016

Various races are competing for your attention on the ballot this election season. You know the high profile races for President of the United States, the U.S. Congress and the State Legislature. Yet, near the bottom of your ballot is one of the most important races - one that will directly impact you and your water. It is the election of five new members to the Central Arizona Water Conservation ...

Oct 03 2016

Imagine watching your water consumption online in real time as easily as you access your checking account or medical records. By Spring 2017 about 5,000 City of Tempe homes and businesses will have online access to their hour-by-hour water use. Tempe will continue to add more customers until every Tempe business owner and resident with a water meter can monitor their water use by early 2019. The n...

Sep 26 2016

When media reports mix together the words "water" and "toxic" it's no surprise the public would have concerns. Throw in a reference to an award winning film with Julia Roberts and certainly it must mean something is wrong with our water. This happened last week with stories about chromium-6. It is important to step back, make sure we have all the facts, and read beyond the headlines or sound bites...

Sep 19 2016

Monsoon storms brought temperatures down and brought more desert dwellers out to their patios. It's the time of year when homeowners begin to reimagine their yards: a new tree here, some flowering shrubs there, perhaps a new irrigation controller or some contouring to retain more rain water. AMWUA cities understand this and are offering dozens of free landscape classes that can help you create the...