Could ocean water help fix Arizona’s drought troubles? This agreement puts it one step closer
- KJZZ
Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University, said it could be a “very tidy solution to a really big problem.”
“I think it's a win-win,” Porter said. “San Diego County Water Authority has an overbuilt desal plant, and they would like help paying for that most expensive water and there are water users in southern Nevada and central Arizona that are urgently looking for new water supplies because they're facing uncertainty, except for certainly very deep cuts.”
ASU partnership helps ADOT optimize water use across urban freeways
- ASU News
Every day, hundreds of thousands of drivers travel Phoenix-area freeways lined with desert trees, shrubs and cactuses. Few likely consider what it takes to keep those landscapes alive, or how much water it requires. A new partnership between Arizona State University and the Arizona Department of Transportation is taking a closer look.
Led by Harry Cooper, director of water conservation innovation for the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, the ADOT Urban Freeway Landscape Water Use Efficiency Project aims to better understand how much water is used to irrigate freeway landscapes, and how to use less while keeping plants healthy.
How a new wave of water management called a “conservation pool” could provide a way forward for Colorado River users
- Colorado Sun
“They hold great promise. They do incentivize conservation. They do create tremendous operational flexibility,” said Kathryn Sorensen, director of research at Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy. “I think people want to see them go forward. They just also know that there’s some things that need to be fixed.”
Arizona’s water is drying up. That’s not stopping the data center rush.
- Grist
Despite local backlash, water experts and many local officials appear to have largely made their peace with the industry’s arrival — and with the Phoenix region’s emergence as one of the nation’s largest AI infrastructure clusters.
“There’s not a hair-on-fire context right now,” said Sarah Porter, a fellow at Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy. “We just don’t see it.”
Worst CAP cuts will 'flatten' Arizona's economy, agency says
- Arizona Daily Star
Sarah Porter, director of ASU's Kyl Center for Water Policy, said, "We all understand the need to explain how important Colorado River water is to Arizona. But we shouldn’t ignore that cities have taken big steps to be prepared" for major CAP shortages. "It will be disruptive. ... There's a longer term cost in finding long-term renewable supplies. But it won't flatten the economy, at least in the short term."
"Most cities have groundwater supplies. They will turn to the Arizona Water Bank supply (but) there's a cost for turning to those supplies," Porter said.
Here’s how to give public comment on future Colorado River plans
- ABC 15 Arizona
“The reason for this current impasse is because the upper basin states have refused to take cuts in their Colorado River use,” said Sarah Porter, the center’s director.
Upper Basin states like Colorado and Utah rely on different water rules than Arizona and other Lower Basin states, complicating negotiations that have dragged on for years.
‘The risk of litigation is high’ for Colorado River states, says Utah’s negotiator
- KUER
“If anything, it seems like that gap is widening, which is unfortunate,” said Kathryn Sorensen, director of research at Arizona State University’s Kyl Center for Water Policy. “It doesn't seem like it's moving in the right direction.”
What’s next in the Colorado River crisis
- LA Times
Kathryn Sorensen, a researcher at the ASU Kyl Center for Water Policy, said: “There’s so little water to go around that positions have become hardened as a result. We’re not just talking about inconvenient cuts; we’re talking about severe pain to economies at this point.”
Scottsdale leaders may raise water rates. Will bills get more expensive in other Valley cities?
- AZ Family
Will other Valley cities raise water rates because of the Colorado River situation?
The short answer is yes: your bill will likely go up eventually, but there’s a lot of nuance to this issue. That’s according to Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.
Between two watersheds
- Politico
“The questions are, who has the authority, and more potentially complicating, whether the Upper Basin would assert that they need to approve of this exchange,” said Sarah Porter, director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University.