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Nature and Environment

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?
Desert Morning by Joe Orr displayed at the "Painting In, Painting Out" exhibit. The exhibit will be on display through October 12.

"Painting In, Painting Out": The world as seen by the Sonoran Plein Air Painters.

Sep 7, 2022 Also on Arizona Spotlight: "Hey Y'all", Fortune Feimster is coming to the Fox Tucson Theatre; and a new book for young readers tells the story of a female pioneer in molecular science.
Monsoon rainshower.

Monsoon madness reaches final weeks

Sep 6, 2022 Amateur forecasters are predicting Southwest rainfall totals for the second straight year.

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.
This photo provided by Caltrans shows a washed-out section of Interstate 10 near Desert Center, Calif., Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2022. Eastbound traffic on Interstate 10 in the Southern California desert was blocked Thursday after flash floods washed out the roadway. The latest round of flooding caused by monsoonal thunderstorms hit Wednesday evening and also impacted other desert highways.

Washout repair completed on I-10

Aug 29, 2022 A section of highway near the Arizona-California border was washed away in a flash flood.
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.
The seven states in the Colorado River basin couldn't agree on a plan to conserve unprecedented amounts of water before a federal deadline. Meanwhile, grim projections for the future of water levels in Lake Mead have forced mandatory cuts to water for some users in the lower basin. Federal authorities are trying to prop up levels in the nation's largest reservoir before they dip too low to generate hydropower or allow the passage of water.

The Buzz: How will more Colorado River water cuts affect Southern Arizona?

Aug 26, 2022 Tucson's rights means municipal users aren't likely to feel the pinch, but the same can't be said for agriculture.
A rafting outfitter motors through Lake Powell's delta.

As Lake Powell's water level declines, what is emerging in Glen Canyon?

Aug 25, 2022 Also on Arizona Spotlight: "The King of Sting" talks monsoons and insects; Author and illustrator Adam Rex on being "Writer in Residence" at the library; and a Medieval marital dispute -- over a video game -- from "Stories That Soar!".
The Central Arizona Project canal north of Phoenix moves water from Lake Pleasant to southern Arizona. July 2021

Tucson keeps same water order despite drought

Aug 23, 2022 Kozachick urged council to "lead by example" and cut water order.
Lake Mead’s light-colored “bathtub ring” of mineral deposits towers above a speeding boat on June 29, 2022, near Hoover Dam.

No firm new deadline for Colorado River basin states’ conservation plans

Aug 22, 2022 The seven states that rely on the river blew past an August 16 deadline without a plan to conserve 2 to 4 million acre-feet of water.

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