USGS’s Nick Melcher Retires

Nick Melcher, U.S. Geological Survey’s Arizona Water Science Center director, is retiring after 34 years with the agency; 13 of those years have been in his current position. He began his career as a staff hydrologist in Montana, later became subdistrict office chief in Kentucky and district chief in Iowa before coming to Arizona. In a statement prepared by staff Melcher was lauded for having “developed one of the broadest and most innovative ground-water programs in the nation, advancing critical studies on ground-water availability, land subsidence, ephemeral channel recharge, and ground-water/surface-water interactions in the Verde, San Pedro, Yuma, C-aquifer, and Tucson areas among others.” Melcher also was involved with the Water Resources Research Center, serving on its advisory committee, participating in its activities and supporting its operations. WRRC Director Sharon Megdal says, “The WRRC has enjoyed an excellent working relationship with USGS, thanks to Nick’s leadership. We appreciated Nick’s strong commitment to sound water management, and we wish him the best in his retirement.” John Hoffmann will replace Melcher. Hoffmann has been the AWSC associate director and section chief of the Hydrologic Investigations and Research Program.

Peter Gleick Presents Tucson Public Lecture Peter Gleick, co-founder and president of the Pacific Institute for Studies in Development, Environment, and Security, will be presenting a lecture at the Temple Emanu-El, 225 N. Country Club, Tucson at 7:30, Aug. 30. He will discuss innovate strategies for achieving sustainable water use. The lecture is free and open to the public. Gleick has a PhD from the Energy and Resources Group at the University of California at Berkeley. He is a recipient of the prestigious MacArthur Fellowship for his work on water issues, and the BBC named him a “visionary on the environment” in its Essential Guide to the 21st Century. He is the principal author of the recent publication, The World’s Water 2006 - 2007, The Biennial Report on Freshwater Resources, published by Island Press. Sponsors of the event include Pima County, Arizona Hydrological Society, Southwest Hydrology, Southern Arizona Leadership Council and Temple Emanu-El. Along with Southwest Hydrology the other University of Arizona sponsors are the Water Resources Research Center and the Institute for the Study of Planet Earth. Gleick is in Tucson participating in a regional water symposium, “Sustainable Water, Unlimited Growth, Quality of Life: Can We Have it All?,” an event sponsored by the AHS and Southwest Hydrology. Check the symposium web site for information about the event: www.watersymposium.org.

WRRC Marks Successful Annual Conference

The Water Resources Research Center conducted its annual conference on June 5, titled “The 20th Anniversary of the Environmental Quality Act and ADEQ: Assessing and Protecting Arizona’s Water Quality.” Among the issues discussed was whether the shabby hotel that hosted a critical post-Christmas EQA planning session was located in Casa Grande or Eloy. For a summary of some of the more substantive issues addressed at the conference see this issue’s center-fold supplement.

WRRC Co-sponsors Research

The WRRC is using its TRIF Water Sustainability Program funds to co-fund Translational Science Fellowships in Environmental, Water, Land and Natural Resources. Translational refers to activities that inform the public, promote a sound basis for decision making and facilitate the implementation of sustainable technologies and knowledge systems in the private and public sector. The WRRC-co-sponsored researchers are Janick Artiola, Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science and Eric Betterton, Department of Atmospheric Sciences. Artiola is building a citizen science program in conjunction with Cooperative Extension’s Master Gardeners to analyze arsenic and lead levels in fruits and vegetables grown in Arizona gardens. Betterton will work with a private sector partner to scale up a catalytic converter system developed in his lab to treat volatile organic carbon contaminants on Superfund sites and convert the system to use solar power. (TRIF is the Technology and Research Initiative Fund that derives its funds from a voter-approved increase in the state sales tax to support education.)

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