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Water and environmental news

Postal bins with tags for ballots in the 2020 general election.

Cochise County officials say 550 voters got wrong ballot

Oct 18, 2022 Some voters should have been given a ballot with a question about water management.
Strong Arm, a well-known saguaro cactus in the Tortolita Preserve near Marana, was estimated to be 150 to 200 years old and 40 feet tall when it toppled during an August storm. But the actual cause of death was Erwinia cacticida, a bacteria that causes saguaros to rot and ooze a thick, black liquid.

Iconic Strong Arm was one of many saguaros killed by climate change, deadly bacteria

Oct 15, 2022 For close to two centuries, Strong Arm stood sentinel over the Tortolita Preserve near Marana.
Michael Connor, assistant secretary for the Army for Civil Works, back to camera, Tempe water engineering manager Mark Weber and U.S. Rep. Greg Stanton, D-Phoenix, gather Sept. 1, 2022, in front of the Kyrene Water Reclamation Facility. Stanton is working to secure $37.5 million in federal funds to rehabilitate the plant.

Tempe plans to reopen long dormant water reclamation plant amid grinding drought

Oct 10, 2022 The recession caused its closure but the drought is changing plans.
Fencing and signs like these near Dragoon, Arizona, aim to keep people away from some of the state’s estimated 100,000 abandoned mines. Minerals from such mines, many abandoned decades before environmental laws imposed clean-up requirements on mine owners, can leach out and pose a threat to nearby waterways. (File photo by Nicole Neri/ Cronkite News)

‘Good Samaritan’ bill aims to allow cleanup of abandoned, leaking mines

Oct 2, 2022 A bill in Congress could help Arizona clean up old mines.
The Central Tucson Groundwater Treatment System, located near Davis Monthan Air Force Base, removes PFAS contaminates from the aquifer below the area.

The Buzz: Dealing with Arizona's PFAS problem

Sep 29, 2022 Why are the chemical class also known as forever chemicals so dangerous, and what's being done to fix the problem?
The Milky Way seen from Reddington Pass east of Tucson. May 2022

First-ever 'Oracle Dark Sky Cultural Festival' is this week

Sep 22, 2022 Residents embrace the economic boost to the town.
Reductions to Arizona's Colorado River supply, including water delivered by the Central Arizona Project, are issued starting in January 2022. The first-ever cutbacks will mean less available for underground storage.

Tucson gives up some CAP water for cash

Sep 21, 2022 City will still get its daily need, but less surplus.
An ore cart, encrusted in invasive mussel shells, rests on a ledge above a receding Lake Powell.

‘It’s getting close’: As the megadrought grinds on, Arizona working to meet water demands

Sep 18, 2022 Satellite photos show a dramatic change.
A diamondback rattlesnake flicks its tongue.

Rattlesnakes and toads out during monsoon season

Sep 17, 2022 Herpatologists get plenty of rattlesnake calls in August.
Garnett Querta fills his water truck from a fire hydrant on the Hualapai reservation Monday, Aug. 15, 2022, in Peach Springs, Ariz. The water pulled from the ground here will be piped dozens of miles across the rugged landscape to serve the roughly 600,000 tourists a year who visit the Grand Canyon on the Hualapai reservation in northwestern Arizona — an operation that's the tribe's main source of revenue.

State of unease: Colorado basin tribes without water rights

Sep 16, 2022 Hualapai tribal land in northwestern Arizona borders 100 miles of the Colorado River, but the tribe can't draw from it.
Treated wastewater, like this sample in Carson, California, could soon become a bigger part of the West's water portfolio. Cities in the drought-stricken Colorado River basin are putting big money behind project

Water managers see promise in recycling sewage

Sep 15, 2022 It could be a solution for the shrinking Colorado River
A vacant lot is used as a place to stack and assemble sandbags for use by residents whose properties are at risk of flooding.

The Buzz: A strong monsoon brings road closures and floods

Sep 9, 2022 Why does some infrastructure get overwhelmed by above-average summer rain?

Aerial spraying to combat buffelgrass coming to Saguaro NP Wednesday

Aug 30, 2022 Aerial spray will target areas of high spread, while other treatments continue to be used in less affected areas.
Rush Dougherty looks on as Leaf owner David Gebert checks out his electric car. Both men are members of TEVA, the Tucson Electric Vehicle Association.

Tucson to require EV chargers at many new homes, businesses

Aug 29, 2022 Cost is an issue as inflation continues.
Apache Trout

Arizona state fish might soon shed endangered designation

Aug 29, 2022 The Apache Trout was first listed as endangered in 1973.
Rancho Sahuarita has grown fast, and its water utility has had to grow quickly with it.

We should go where the water is

Aug 29, 2022 Arizona’s economy runs on growth. But as the state is forced to make cuts in its water usage, it will have to reconsider what the housing developments built to accommodate that growth look like and even how many more people it can realistically handle.

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