A couple of weeks after the Hands Off protest, news of the dismissal of almost 400 contributors to the Sixth National Climate Assessment (NCA) mandated by Congress clearly showed that the second Trump administration’s policies are not just anti-science but outright vengeful and destructive. The firings leave states across the West — from Washington to Nevada and Arizona — without the ability to prepare for climate impacts such as extreme heat, wildfires and drought.

In a social media post, Arizona State University scientist Dave White, a lead author of the 2023 Fifth National Climate Assessment, said he and his colleagues remain committed to scientific integrity. “We must continue to push forward,” White wrote. “The stakes are too high.”

Whether the measure will actually lead to large tracts of ag lands being converted is an unknown, said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University. She said the moratorium created the unintended consequence of preventing farmers from retiring their land and cutting water use, and SB1611 would remove that disincentive. 

“You have to be careful in how you think about it in terms of water,” said Kathryn Sorensen, director of research for the Kyl Center for Water Policy and former director of Phoenix Water Services. “They’re obviously going to use water. They’re going to follow the laws of physics.”

“It’s great that they’re not going to use groundwater,” she said. “But is there a higher and better use for that reclaimed water? That’s the real comparison.”

State lawmakers have sent to Gov. Katie Hobbs a bill that some supporters are calling the most significant piece of water legislation since the landmark 1980 Groundwater Management Act. The measure, known as the "ag-to-urban" bill, would allow developers to buy the water rights from farmers who are ready to move on from agriculture. 

Kathleen Ferris, senior research fellow at the Kyl Center for Water Policy at ASU and a former director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, joined The Show to talk about the potential impact of this bill.

Enrique Vivoni’s work integrating land surface models, sensor networks and remote sensing has earned him the Arid Lands Hydraulic Engineering Award, which recognizes noteworthy contributions to water and energy optimization in arid climates.

He has transformed the way Arizona researchers understand and manage water. As the director of the Center for Hydrologic Innovations and executive committee member of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, or AWII, at ASU, he leads groundbreaking research to address critical challenges in the local arid and semi-arid landscapes.

"In addition, in Arizona, the Governor’s Office has been focused on statewide water security, and as part of this effort, the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative was created. This initiative focuses on identifying technology innovations and policy changes that will improve water security. The development of our paper was partially funded as part of this initiative," said Clare Cropper.

As the seven Colorado River Basin states haggle over the future of water allocations, authors of a new report on groundwater argue that equal attention should be paid to the water beneath our feet.

Jay Famiglietti, a global futurist professor at Arizona State University and one of the authors of the research, said groundwater depletion has been worse than losses measured at reservoirs like Lake Mead or Lake Powell. 

"I think Ted Cooke is a great choice for this job for a couple of reasons. One, as you mentioned, is that he's really familiar with the issues related to the Colorado River, and we're at a critical time. But in addition to that, Ted was the general manager of the Central Arizona Project and so he's very familiar with  the ground practicalities that all of the stakeholders in the Colorado River discussion live with, so he's a very good choice at this moment as commissioner," said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University,

“I’ve heard on calls that about 25% of the workforce is now gone from Reclamation in general, and so just for water in the West, that’s significant.”

Cora Tso (Navajo) researches tribal issues at Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy.

“These settlements will continue to go through, but I don’t think the motivation for conservation will be as significant as previous administrations,” stated ASU's Cora Tso, suggesting there’s “more of an emphasis” on the Navajo-Hopi-San Juan Southern Paiute deal as opposed to the Yavapai-Apache Nation’s $1 billion bill involving the Verde River.

“This idea of water investments looks different from administration to administration, but it’s just what industries,” she explained. “The Trump administration is prioritizing oil and gas and nuclear energy in the West, so it doesn’t seem like those water concerns are an issue for them.”