AMWUA Blog
Fix A Leak Week: Time To Hunt Down Leaks That Are Draining Your Budget
Water leaks inside and outside the average American home waste up to 10,000 gallons of water a year. This drain on the country's drinking water supply is so critical that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ...
Mar 13 2017
Good Connection: Goodyear Brings Its Water HomeThe City of Goodyear is a 189-square-mile West Valley community with 78,190 residents. Goodyear expects its population to grow significantly. These big city dreams and big city plans present both opportunities and challenges. One challenge relates to water: Goodyear never had direct access to its renewable supply of Colorado River water - until now....
Mar 06 2017
On The Job: Water Treatment Supervisor Uses Brains, Heart And A Little MuscleLuiza Yordanova appreciates the Valley's winter weather as much as we all do but winter makes her job as supervisor of a City of Tempe drinking water treatment plant a bit more complicated. She sat down on a beautiful day earlier this winter to explain why....
Feb 27 2017
Sen. John Kyl: Compromise Is Key To Water LeadershipThis month, former Senator Jon Kyl told a gathering of elected officials and water professionals that Arizona's past water successes had one thing in common: the willingness of competing forces to compromise for the good of the state. Now, Senator Kyl said, it is time we do it again....
Feb 20 2017
Power Switch: Economics Driving New Energy for Moving WaterIn 2009, I was a new member of the Board overseeing the Central Arizona Project (CAP) and energy, not water, was the primary focus. I was surprised with my sudden immersion into the ins and outs of energy. Yet, there was a good reason for concentrating on energy....
Feb 13 2017
Wastewater Treatment Plant Turns Gaseous By-Product Into ProfitArizona's largest wastewater treatment plant already cleans and re-uses nearly all of the waste it receives from 2.5 million people in five AMWUA cities. Now, the cities that own the treatment plant have found one more way to re-use its products. As of spring 2018, the 91st Avenue Wastewater Treatment Plant will stop burning off the mostly methane gas it creates as a by-product. Instead, the plant...
Feb 06 2017
AMWUA Cities Help State Screen Schools To Ensure Safe WaterIn the first six months of 2017, Arizona will screen water samples from 7,000 school buildings looking for unsafe levels of lead. The program is designed to determine if drinking water is contaminated by lead that might be present in a school's plumbing lines, water fountains and faucets. Water sits in a school's plumbing systems unused over weekends and during holiday and summer breaks, which inc...
Jan 30 2017
Drought: Five Things You Need To Know About This Rainy WinterMany people are wondering what this rainy, snowy winter means for Arizona after more than two decades of drought. Here are five things we know right now....
Jan 23 2017
Desert Edibles: Cities Offer Full Menu Of Landscape And Gardening ClassesThe Sonoran Desert is an incomparable place to hike, bike, run, horseback ride and bird watch. When it comes to foraging for food, it's not so grand. Even those knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the topic admit that sifting and straining food from desert flora is labor intensive. It is, however, a labor of love for people who crave the tastes of the desert. If you think you may be one of them -...
Jan 16 2017
Grease Coop: A Beautiful Solution To An Ugly ProblemGrease sent down drains in restaurant kitchens has plagued city sewer systems since they were built. The Tempe Grease Cooperative takes an artful step toward better controlling the ugly problem. The program saves money for the City of Tempe and its businesses and transforms a government regulation into a government benefit....