On Wednesday, April 13 at 5:00 PM, Dr. Nancy Steele presented What About Water in the Verde Valley?

A recent study published in Nature Climate Change reported that the current drought in the southwest was the driest 22-year period since 800 CE.  For the Verde, stream gage data shows summertime flows have declined significantly over the last thirty years. What about water quality? One finding from the 2020 Verde Report Card was that we are lacking much information about water quality throughout the Verde system. This talk will focus on what we do know, what we don’t know, and what we are doing to better understand water in the Verde Valley.

Dr. Steele is the Executive Director and CEO of Friends of the Verde River, working collaboratively for a healthy, flowing Verde River System. Before joining Friends in 2018, she was the Executive Director of the Council for Watershed Health in Los Angeles for ten years. A key focus of her work with CWH included a long-term research and demonstration program to augment water supplies through increasing the ability of cities to infiltrate stormwater to augment groundwater supplies. Dr. Steele co-founded the Arroyos & Foothills Conservancy in 2000, serving as President/CEO through 2011 and as Director of Conservation in 2017.