Contributed Article
DUNCAN – Arizona State University Professor of History and Senior Sustainability Scholar Dr. Paul Hirt will give a presentation entitled “Water in Arizona: Past, Present, Future” at the Greenlee County Annex off Fairgrounds Road in Duncan on Wednesday, May 1, from 7 – 8:30 p.m.
Water is Arizona’s most precious resource, yet few people know where their water comes from, who provides it, how the quality is assured, or how secure future water supplies are for the state’s seven million residents.
A billboard near Roosevelt Dam proclaimed in the 1960s, “Arizona Grows Where Water Flows.” But growth and the control of water to support it have never been simple uncontested endeavors. Who gets cut where there is a shortage? Who has priority? Who makes these decisions about our water future?
Join Dr. Hirt for a bird’s eye view of the past, present, and future of water in Arizona. This will be the only time Dr. Hirt will make this presentation in Greenlee or Graham counties.
Dr. Hirt specializes in environmental history and has written a book on the history of electric power in the U.S. northwest and British Columbia, as well as more than two dozen articles and book chapters on various topics in environmental history, including two essays on water and sustainability in Arizona. Dr. Hirt is the State Scholar for the Smithsonian’s Water/Ways exhibit that is traveling through Arizona from June 2018 – May 2020. He is also an elected member of the Board of Directors of the Salt River Project.
This presentation is brought to you by the Gila Watershed Partnership of Arizona, Friends of the Frisco, and the Simpson Hotel. For more information call the Simpson Hotel at 928-359-3590.
