Transboundary Water Cooperation in the Colorado River Basin

Please join us for our next Monday departmental seminar on the 31st of October from 15:00 to 16:00 at the Porter Auditorium

Transboundary Water Cooperation in the Colorado River Basin

Professor Sharon B. Megdal, The University of Arizona 

The Colorado River Basin spans parts of seven U.S. states and two Mexican states. Thirty Indigenous Nations are located in the basin

and Colorado River water is transported outside the basin to populated regions in Southern California, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico. A complex system of interstate and international water laws, allocations, and court decisions has been made even more complicated by the basin’s long-term drought (mega-drought, aridification). This lecture will focus on long-run U.S.-Mexico cooperation on Colorado River water management and the emerging binational cooperation on groundwater, which is relied upon by many trans-border communities. Research results from the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program (TAAP) investigations along the Arizona-Sonora portion of the border, where there are shallow aquifers and effluent flows from an international wastewater treatment plant, indicate the need for attention to transboundary groundwater management. The lecture will also touch on matters involving sovereign Tribal Nations, including an innovative managed aquifer agreement between the state of Arizona and the Gila River Indian Community

Bio
Sharon B. Megdal, Ph.D. is Director of The University of Arizona Water Resources Research Center and Professor in the Department of Environmental Science. Additional titles include
C.W. & Modene Neely Endowed Professor and Distinguished Outreach Professor. She aims to bridge academic and nonacademic communities through her water policy and management research, education, and engagement programs. Applied research projects include analysis of water management, policy, and governance, groundwater recharge, and transboundary groundwater assessment. She is the lead editor of the book, Shared Borders, Shared Waters: Israeli-Palestinian and Colorado River Basin Water Challenges and she has guest edited several special journal issues. Dr. Megdal teaches the multi-disciplinary graduate course “Water Policy in Arizona and Semi-arid Regions”. Her Reflections essays and other information about her work can be found at https://wrrc.arizona.edu/director. In 2020, she was awarded the Warren A. Hall Medal for lifetime achievement in water resources research and education by the Universities Council on Water Resources. She serves on the board for the Kasser Joint Institute for Food, Water, and Energy Security, and she is an ex officio member of the Leadership Team for the Colorado River Basin Water & Tribes Initiative. Recently concluded volunteer service includes serving for 12 years as a popularly elected Director for the Central Arizona Project. Sharon Megdal holds a Ph.D. degree in Economics from Princeton University

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Alon Shepon

The Department of Environmental Studies

The Porter School of the Environment and Earth Science

Tel Aviv University | website