The University of Arizona investigates water security, management, and governance, and interfaces with decision-makers and public stakeholders in the Southwest and other water-stressed regions of the world to develop water management practices and policies that improve and secure access to water.
Water permeates almost every facet of society and its management requires a wide spectrum of expertise. Southern Arizona water managers and policymakers look to the University of Arizona’s faculty for their wealth of experience in the analysis of water laws, policies, property rights, and compacts, the integration of natural resource and land use planning, and the management of irrigation and wastewater. Water resource researchers affiliated with centers such as the Water Resources Research Center, and the Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy promote the understanding of critical state and regional water management and policy issues, provide guidance on water governance and planning, create partnerships with stakeholders from federal, state, and local governments, and collaborate with civil, governmental, and business organizations.
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Departments and Schools
The School of Geography and Development includes water in much of its research on natural and human systems. The school also houses the Graduate Certificate in Water Policy and offers a Water Resources, Politics and Policy research track, which focuses on topics such as comparative and international water law and policy, water and urban growth, water reuse, the energy-water nexus, climate and water variability, paleohydrology, climate change, drought, water resources and sustainability and dryland environments.
The School of Natural Resources and the Environment (SNRE) forms part of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and works with water on multiple levels, from measuring the hydrologic flow of a single wash, to conducting large-landscape ecosystem studies. SNRE offers both undergraduate and graduate degrees that encompass wildlife and fishers science, conservation and management, rangeland ecology, watershed management and ecohydrology, and global change ecology and management, multi-day workshops, international initiatives, community programs, and decision support tools that integrate water with other natural resources and with the communities that depend on them. In addition to the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. in Natural Resources and the Environment, the school is the home to the M.S. in Water, Society and Policy.
The Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics (AREC) offers a wealth of resources related to the economics of water. AREC faculty members have researched the cost of using, cleaning, and allocating water, water demand, and the impacts of industry on water quality, among other issues. Also, the department’s extension program specializes in natural resource policy, risk management, crop and livestock budgets, and more.
The School of Government and Public Policy offers leading programs in political science, international relations, public policy, and public management, preparing students for leadership positions in the public and nonprofit sectors. The school houses research in environmental policy; water-related work has included institutional analyses of water laws, policies, property rights, and compacts in the western U.S.
The Program on Economics, Law, & the Environment, the first of its kind in the nation, is a collaborative research and education initiative of the James E. Rogers College of Law and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The program generates research on contemporary issues related to the use and conservation of environmental and natural resources. The College of Law also offers courses and public forums on water law and policy. Faculty members offer leading expertise in western water law.
Initiatives, Programs and Centers
CCASS brings together the wealth of expertise at the University of Arizona to support sound management choices in the context of global change, linking science, the information needs of managers and decision-making. Areas of expertise include: climate science, modeling, impacts and vulnerability; hydrology, drought planning and water policy; ecology, restoration and environmental mitigation strategies; large-scale ecohydrology research; monitoring and remote sensing; adaptation engineering; and others.
The Water Resources Research Center promotes understanding of critical state and regional water management and policy issues through research, community outreach and public education. Faculty and staff partner across campus and with public and private entities in the region and around the world on a range of water management and policy issues, including water governance and planning, competition for water resources and international comparative analysis.
The Udall Center sponsors policy-relevant, interdisciplinary research and forums that link scholarship and education with decision making. The center’s environmental and policy programs include: Climate and Societal Interactions; Global Water Initiatives; Transboundary Aquifer Assessment; the Water-Energy Nexus; Water Reuse; and the Center of Excellence for Water Security.
SWAN (Sustainable Water ActioN): Building Research Links between E.U. and U.S., is a four-year International Cooperation Project granted by the European Commission. It focuses on the creation of a research center on water to reinforce links between E.U. and U.S. research in the field. The project promises to strengthen European research capacity in the USA and promote competitiveness of European research and industry, while also informing and involving policy-makers and the general public. The project focuses on three main theme areas: Climate Change and Uncertainty; Risks and Vulnerabilities; and Participation.