From Conversation to Action: Workshop Advances Groundwater Solutions in Southeastern Arizona
The Willcox area is a high desert grassland valley with agricultural fields surrounded by mountains. Local residents and leaders gathered to plan for groundwater action.
Faith Kearns
Community leaders, farmers and ranchers, homesteaders, agency staff and nonprofit partners gathered in Willcox, Arizona, for an action-oriented water workshop last month.
Located in the heart of the Sulphur Springs Valley in the southeastern corner of the state, Willcox sits within a closed groundwater basin shaped by generations of agriculture. Because nearly all water in the region comes from groundwater, local decisions carry long-term consequences, making collaboration and action essential.
The workshop, co-organized by Impact Water – Arizona, a pillar of the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, a statewide project led by Arizona State University’s Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory in collaboration with the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, was designed with that reality in mind. Co-hosted with the Sulphur Springs Water Alliance, the workshop followed on the heels of related rural groundwater workshops in La Paz, Coconino and Santa Cruz counties.