"As shown in the Fifth National Climate Assessment, the Southwest — including Arizona — is taking action on climate change,” said Dave White, director of the Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation at ASU, as well as lead author of the NCA5 chapter on the Southwest region.

Drought and less snowpack are huge threats to Southwest communities in particular. The report’s Southwest chapter, led by Arizona State University climate scientist Dave White, found the region was significantly drier from 1991 to 2020 than the three decades before.

“The climate impacts are rapidly accelerating, even in the last five years since the 2018 report," Dave White said. "Throughout the chapter, we present the connections between all of these different issues and identify ways in which science has progressed in our understanding of how water, food, agriculture, fire and human health are interconnected, which helps to inform adaptations."

Jay Famiglietti, an Arizona State University hydrologist who studies global water supplies, says large-scale farming in southwestern deserts like the Imperial Valley is “not sustainable, it just can’t go on.” Ultimately, production may need to shift to wetter regions.

For more than a quarter-century, ASU Professor Jay Famiglietti and his research team have been working on a satellite system that he says can track groundwater supply changes and depletion from space via the NASA GRACE mission.

Wutich also serves on the strategy team for the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, a state-funded initiative aimed at protecting Arizona’s water security for future generations. She directs the Water for All program within the initiative, which aims to use engineering and social infrastructure to improve water security for vulnerable households and ensure communities that are politically excluded from water access and decision-making can participate in future-focused discussions that impact them most. 

Phoenix is now the nation's fifth most populous city, and it's unlikely to stop growing soon. There are reasons for optimism when it comes to water, write Sarah Porter and Kathryn Sorenson of the Kyl Center for Water Policy and the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative.

The MacArthur Foundation named the winners of its 2023 "genius grants" this week. Arizona State University anthropologist Amber Wutich, who received a grant for her research into water insecurity, joins CBS News to discuss the impact of access to safe and clean drinking water.

"We ended up creating an amazing bond, community and interpersonal experience," said Adriene Jenik, co-director of Drylab 2023, an art and sustainability-based initiative sponsored by ASU. “Understanding the sacredness of water created a special bond between us.” The new initiative, sponsored by ASU’s Impact Water – Arizona, part of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, kicked off Oct. 1.

“Ninety percent of the water used indoors in the Phoenix area is treated and recycled, yet many Phoenix residents we’ve spoken to think that taking shorter showers and conserving water indoors will help. The majority of a home’s water is, in fact, lost through outdoor landscaping,” said Claire Lauer, who also serves as the chief UX architect for the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative.