The miles and miles of canals that run throughout our Valley are a constant reminder of the significant role they play in our ability to thrive in the desert. While the primary purpose of this vast...

It was a celebration of statewide sustainability as Arizona Forward held their Annual Environmental Excellence Awards this past weekend highlighting exemplary projects that have directly impacted...

The City of Tempe has become the first in the Valley to utilize a fully automated system to read and bill all residential customer water meters. The new system records how much water a home uses...

In 2013, the City of Tempe had 25 water professionals with over 850 years of institutional knowledge and all of them were eligible to retire before the end of 2017. Tempe needed a way for these...

Container gardens of cactus and succulents can add color and dimension to a yard, drama to a small patio, and life to an apartment balcony. They also can be frustrating and leave you with dead and...

Setting water rates is never easy. There are two overriding considerations for a city when calculating a new rate structure. First, city water departments need to cover service costs. These costs...

Lisa Osborne and her husband bought their City of Avondale home in 2008. They planted two citrus trees in the backyard that sat in a field of gravel for years and proceeded to turn brown. Until...

Central Arizona's desert cities offer rebates, outdoor water audits, videos, free publications and landscape classes to help customers use water more efficiently outdoors. Cities also lead by...

We're approaching peak demand season for city water departments, which means peak water bills for residents and businesses. The demand for water is at its highest in June or July when landscape...

Is this your year to become a water advocate? Yes, I know, we're all pressed for time, but water advocacy doesn't have to take much time. What it takes is a question or a suggestion to the...

Luiza Yordanova appreciates the Valley's winter weather as much as we all do but winter makes her job as supervisor of a City of Tempe drinking water treatment plant a bit more complicated. She...

Arizona's largest wastewater treatment plant already cleans and re-uses nearly all of the waste it receives from 2.5 million people in five AMWUA cities. Now, the cities that own the treatment...

In the first six months of 2017, Arizona will screen water samples from 7,000 school buildings looking for unsafe levels of lead. The program is designed to determine if drinking water is...

The Sonoran Desert is an incomparable place to hike, bike, run, horseback ride and bird watch. When it comes to foraging for food, it's not so grand. Even those knowledgeable and enthusiastic...

Grease sent down drains in restaurant kitchens has plagued city sewer systems since they were built. The Tempe Grease Cooperative takes an artful step toward better controlling the ugly problem....

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...

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...

The City of Tempe is finishing the largest public works project in its history. Tempe Town Lake has a new $47 million steel dam 900 feet long and, in some places, sunk 80 feet into bedrock. The new...

When you pay your water bill, a big part of the charges is something called a sewer fee. If you live in an AMWUA member city, it's the responsibility of your city's water department to...

AMWUA started its weekly blog posts in March 2014. This is our 83rd message to a growing audience. The AMWUA Blog is designed to explain where the Valley's water comes from, how cities deliver,...

Here's the first rule about changing your landscaping: start with a plan. A plan takes a little know-how and right now many of your cities are offering classes about how to revamp, restore or...

Grass does have a role in our desert environment with proper care and appropriate irrigation. There are heat-tolerant and less thirsty varieties of turf for those who love that patch of green in...

Each year an average family in the City of Tempe uses about 30,000 gallons of drinking water to wash clothes. Tempe is the first city in the Greater Phoenix Metropolitan Area to help homeowners pay...

Tempe Town Lake is a manmade lake set in a dry riverbed in the middle of the desert. The 261 acre urban lake is a surprise to newcomers and still a marvel to those who were here when it was first...

So you stand there for a minute with the frying pan in your hand and think about sending bacon grease down your kitchen sink’s drain. What could it do to the plumbing? Imagine if you served...