Skip to main content
Arizona Department of Water Resources Logo

Arizona Department of Water Resources

Protecting & enhancing Arizona’s water supplies for current and future generations.

Search form

  • About Us
    • ADWR Strategic Plan and Annual Reports
    • Mission - Values
    • History of the Department
    • Arizona Water Facts
    • Small Business Bill of Rights
    • Career Opportunities
  • How Do I?
    • Apply For
      • Change of Ownership
      • New Well
      • Permit
      • Statement of Claimant, Assignments, Amendments
      • Well Driller's License
      • Funding Opportunities
    • Locate
      • A Surface Water Right
      • A Well
      • Statement of Claiment
    • Get Data
      • AAWS Interactive Map
      • ADWR Dictionary
      • GIS Data Center
      • Data Queries
      • Groundwater Levels
      • Imaged Records
      • Land Subsidence in Arizona
      • Wells 55
      • Wells Data
    • Pay For
      • Annual Report Fee
      • Invoice
    • Report
      • Complaint or Concerns
      • Water Use
      • Share or Report a Water Level - 3rd Party Water Level Data Portal
      • Report Dry Well Data
      • Civil Rights
    • Find Info On
      • Arizona Reconsultation Process
      • Conservation
      • Colorado River Shortage Preparedness
      • Drought Contingency Planning
      • Laws, Rules, & Policies
      • Public Records Request
      • Pinal Groundwater Supply Updates
      • Public Meetings
      • Public Notices
      • Water Levels
      • Wells
      • Legislative Affairs
      • Lower Hassayampa Sub-Basin Groundwater Model Report
  • ADWR News
    • ADWR News
    • Blog
    • Podcasts
    • Videos
    • Archive
  • Home
  • Programs
    • Active Management Areas
    • Adjudications
    • Assured and Adequate Water Supply
    • Colorado River Management
    • Community Water Systems
    • Conservation
    • Dam Safety
    • Drought
    • Engineering
    • Floodplain Management and Flood Warning
    • Governor’s Water Policy Council
    • Hydrology
    • Irrigation Non-Expansion Area
    • Laws, Rules, & Policies
    • Legislative Affairs
    • Management Plans Work Group
    • Recharge
    • Statewide Planning
    • Rural Programs
    • Surface Water
    • Wells and Permitting
    • Water Banking Authority
    • Water Protection Fund
  • Online Services
    • Annual Water Use Report
    • Application Forms
    • Hydrology Publications (eLibrary)
    • Land Subsidence Maps
    • ADWR Live Queries and Reports
    • Recharge Long-Term Storage Credit Balance
    • Imaged Records
    • eNOI
    • Online Notice of Well Capping
    • Pump Installation Completion Report
    • Online Driller's Log
    • Online Payments
    • Change of Ownership
    • Assured & Adequate Water Supply Pending Applications
    • Water Atlas
    • Surface Water Online Notices
    • Interactive Maps
      • Assured and Adequate Water Supply Interactive Map
      • Community Water System (CWS) Interactive Map
      • Groundwater Site Inventory (GWSI)
      • Well Registry Data (55)
      • GIS Data
  • Contact Us
    • Concerns
    • Human Resources
    • Contact Us
    • Public Records Request

Departing Department vet illustrates ADWR’s role in Arizona water management

Colorado River

Departing Department vet illustrates ADWR’s role in Arizona water management

Departing Department vet illustrates ADWR’s role in Arizona water management
Published: May 24, 2018

The challenge facing the Arizona Department of Water Resources right now, said Department policy adviser and legislative liaison Doug Dunham, is to balance 17 years of on-going drought in the Southwest with healthy economic growth in Arizona.

“How do we balance that?” asked Dunham.

“We’re getting to a coin-toss on whether we’re going to have a (water-delivery shortfall prompted by low water levels at Lake Mead) or not. That’s very, very sobering for us.”

Dunham made those observations during one of the Department’s periodic “ADWR Water 101” seminars. The May 23 presentation, entitled “An Overview of Water Management in Arizona,” outlined the many and diverse areas of water management that make up the Department’s mission.

The well-attended seminar will be Dunham’s last for the Department. The 19-year ADWR veteran has accepted a position in the private sector. According to Water Resources Director Tom Buschatzke, a decision on replacing Dunham as the Department’s liaison to the State Legislature has not yet been finalized.

A geomorphologist by training, Dunham at various stages in his ADWR career managed the Assured and Adequate Water Supply program, the Recharge and Recovery program, the Statewide Well program and the Surface Water program. He also supervised water rights and conservation within Arizona’s five Active Management Areas.

In addition to his current duties as a policy adviser to the Director and legislative liaison, Dunham also serves as the Department’s ombudsman.

In Wednesday’s presentation, Dunham outlined the Department’s diversity of duties as they relate to water management.

In addition to direct responsibility for managing the State’s Colorado River supplies, which constitute more than 40 percent of Arizona’s water supplies overall, ADWR provides a wide array of water-related management services.

They include programs that Dunham supervised over the course of his lengthy ADWR career such as administering both Groundwater Rights and Surface Water Rights, as well as Statewide Regional Planning.

In his presentation, Dunham also summarized the many other activities ADWR conducts such as conducting dam-safety and flood-mitigation supervision; representing the State of Arizona in Tribal Water Rights settlements; providing technical assistance to the General Stream Adjudication Court; and overseeing Arizona’s vast and complex hydrology. 

Monitoring groundwater levels and maintaining the Department’s enormous database on underground aquifers – one of the Department’s core functions – “helps inform everything we do,” said Dunham.

“Legislators are always amazed that we do these things,” said the legislative liaison.

“Knowing about declining water tables is something that is very important for the general public,” he said.

“The computer models are built by the hydrology division. That information also helps inform the general public.”

 

 

waves.png

Waves icon
  • Overview
  • News Articles
  • News Blog
  • Audio Podcasts
  • Video

 

telephone-icon.png

Telephone icon
  • [email protected]
  • (602) 771-8500

 

Follow Us

Contact Info

Arizona Department of Water Resources
1110 W Washington Street Suite 310
Phoenix, AZ 85007
Find in Google Maps
Phone: 602.771.8500 | Fax: 602.771.8689
File a complaint

Newsletter Subscription

Sign up to get breaking news and information about Arizona’s water industry!

Lists*

© 1980 - 2023 Arizona Department of Water Resources - Statements & Policies | Site Map