Program Identification and Planning
Desired Program Outcomes
Program Inputs
Program Outputs
Outcomes & Impacts

 

Program Identification and Planning

Pollutants such as pesticides, nitrates, and pathogens entering groundwater and surface waters are health hazards to the community. Arizona communities rely on both groundwater and surface water for their drinking water. Some communities, Tucson for example, rely more than 60 percent on groundwater for their primary drinking water source.

Public water supplies are regularly tested under the Safe Drinking Water Act, however, private wells are generally not tested on a regular basis since it is not required. Failing onsite sewage systems, mining operations, and irrigated agriculture are threats to drinking water safety. The University of Arizona has a broad range of research-based educational materials that relate to protecting groundwater and surface waters from pollutants, as well as wellhead protection and proper onsite sewage system maintenance and operation.

Desired Program Outcomes

The objectives of the Safe Drinking Water Education program are to implement an information and education program that will encourage:

1. the various publics to be aware and knowledgeable of the relationships among groundwater quality, surface water quality, and land uses;
2. the various publics to be aware and knowledgeable of the methods/strategies/techniques that can be used to prevent or improve drinking water safety;
3. well water users to better understand the potential health threats of contaminants; and
4. well water users to proactively protect wellheads and fill and/or seal unused wells.
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Program Inputs

(1) Funding, both intramural and extramural, is sought for projects.
(2) This program is supported by a 0.5 FTE Extension coordinator.
(3) Technology in the form of the Internet, web pages, listservs, digital cameras, etc. support the program.
(4) Curricula and other educational materials, both created and adapted, support the program.
(5) Partnerships are being explored to extend the program's resources.

Program Outputs

1. Three (3) groundwater models were purchased to be used with or without the Groundwater Education tabletop booth display and delivered to Yavapai County, Maricopa Agricultural Center, and Yuma Agricultural Center/Statewide Program through an ACES Program Enhancement grant.
2. Four (4) watershed models were purchased to be used with or without the Surface Water Education tabletop booth display and delivered to Yuma County, Navajo Nation, Maricopa Agricultural Center, and Yuma Agricultural Center/Statewide program through an ACES Program Enhancement grant.
3. Through an ACES Program Enhancement grant, three (3) booklets were updated and duplicated for a workshop on Water Quality Education Models and Training: Water Quality Educational Materials, Arizona Water Quality Education Activities for Grades 1-12, and Groundwater Flow Demonstration Model Activities for Grades 6-12.
4. Through an ACES Program Enhancement grant, 7 Arizona Extension professionals learned how to demonstrate various nonpoint source pollution concepts and received water quality resources to augment their county water quality program.
5. Coordinated statewide efforts for National Water Monitoring Day (18 October 2002). It was celebrated in Arizona as "The Big Dip In." Ten (10) people volunteered to participate in the event: 2 in La Paz county, 3 in Pima County, 2 in Gila County, 1 in Cochise County, 1 in Yavapai County, and 1 on the Hualapai Indian Nation and wrote an article in The Sun (Yuma, AZ newspaper) about National Water Monitoring Day to drum up interest in Yuma county.
6. Conducted 1-hour workshop for Vo-Ag teachers about integrating water quality concepts into their curriculum.

Outcomes and Impacts

• Clients in Yavapai county and those of the Maricopa Agricultural Center have a better visual understanding of what groundwater is, mechanisms by which groundwater can be contaminated, and practices that they can perform to reduce their impact on groundwater by the use of the groundwater model.
• Clients in Yuma County, the Navajo Nation, and Maricopa Agricultural Center have a better visual understanding of nonpoint source pollution through the use of the watershed model.
• The participants of the Water Quality Education Models and Training workshop are more aware of the various sources and types of audio, video, and written educational materials pertaining to animal waste management, onsite wastewater treatment, safe drinking water, water conservation, and water quality.
• Through the development of the three booklets, the participants of the Water Quality Education Models and Training workshop know where to obtain educational materials and how much they cost.
• The participants of the Water Quality Education Models and Training workshop are able to demonstrate water quality concepts using one of three physical models purchased for the project.
• The participants of the Water Quality Education Models and Training workshop are motivated to use the creative ideas incorporated in the various displays and models to teach others about water quality.
• The Water Quality Education Models and Training workshop event motivated the P.I. to update previously developed water quality educational materials for dissemination via had copy and the State Extension Water Quality Program Home Page.
• 11 Vo-Ag teachers in Yuma and La Paz counties have a better awareness and knowledge of how to integrate water quality concepts into their curriculum and resources to assist them in that process.