Central Arizona Project (CAP) is a modern aqueduct system that stretches 336 miles across the state. CAP delivers water from the mighty Colorado River to where it’s needed in Arizona.

KIDS & FAMILIES—

Welcome to Bear Essential’s water conservation column. Water means life to all of us desert dwellers. In fact, water is Arizona’s most precious natural resource, and using it wisely is everybody’s responsibility!
Water means life to all of us desert dwellers. In fact, water is Arizona’s most precious natural resource, and using it wisely is everybody’s responsibility!

What in the World Is a Watershed?

High up in the mountains, winter storms drop snow that is much needed in the West. As this snowpack starts melting in the spring, water is released into rivers and soil.

Even if you live in an area without snow, your water may come from melting snow from distant mountains!

Those mountains are part of a bigger picture called a watershed. No matter where you live, there’s a watershed.

A large watershed is an area that drains into a body of water like a stream, river or lake. It includes everything within its borders—the land, mountains, air, water, plants, animals, cities, farms and even people! Within a large watershed, there are several small watersheds that contain streams that drain into it. Similarly, a large watershed might be part of a even larger watershed.

Arizona has some very large watersheds. For example, the watersheds for the Salt and Verde rivers cover 13,000 square miles—an area larger than the state of Maryland! The Salt and Verde rivers provide Phoenix with much of its water.

Watershed Neighbors

Protecting watersheds is very important. Watersheds support everything from the water we drink and use to grow food to water for industry, transportation and wildlife.

Every watershed is special, but the old saying holds true for ALL watersheds: “We all live downstream.” This means that we’re all responsible for protecting our watersheds. Good watershed neighbors treat the land with care, maintaining clean, healthy rivers.

More Ways to Learn About Water!

Info and artwork from “Watershed Protection” booklet. This column is a collaborative effort among CAP, Arizona Project WET, the UofA Cochise County Cooperative Extension Program and the Bureau of Reclamation.

H204U Online Game Ends Soon!

Middle & high school students could win a $1,000 scholarship! You must complete the game to be entered in the drawing. Contest ends Feb. 15, 2010. Go to www.caph2o4u.com/contest/ for details!

For more information, visit
www.CentralArizonaProject.com
or call toll free: (888) 891-5795

The Arizona Conserve Water Educators’ Guide provides lessons that can be used to bring your curriculum alive with local relevancy! Sign up today for Arizona Project WET’s exciting new professional development opportunity. Register for locations across the state at http://cals.arizona.edu/arizonawet/workshops/ current_workshops.html

http://ag.arizona.edu/arizonawet/

Is Shaq Sinking Suns?

There's a new big man in town; the Phoenix Suns are betting he's the spark they need to win the playoffs.

One of the biggest stars in the NBA universe, Shaquille O'Neal, is now wearing purple and orange. And both Shaq and the Suns have a lot to prove. Shaq, who just turned 36 and has endured knee and hip injuries, wants to show he's still a big force in the NBA. His critics say that the Diesel is too old and too slow for a high-octane, blazingly fast team like the Suns.

During the regular season, the Suns are one of the toughest teams in the West. And while fans love the Suns' exciting and high-scoring brand of basketball, led by two-time League MVP point guard Steve Nash, the team has never won the NBA Finals.

The Suns believe that Shaq is the piece that's been missing. At 7 feet 1 inch tall and 325 pounds, Shaq gives the Suns a true center who grabs rebounds, plays tough defense and passes the ball well. Up till now, Amare Stoudamire has been stuck playing center for the Suns, even though he's really one of the best power forwards in the game. With Shaq in at center, Stoudamire is freed up to do what he does best!

"Psychologically it really helps us out. Guys are much more willing to go to the boards and fight around the basket with Shaq in there," explains Head Coach Mike D'Antoni.

Fans love Shaq's superstar qualities. The big guy has won four NBA Finals and was MVP for three of them! But the Suns have lost their winning ways since Shaq started playing on Feb. 20. In the trade for Shaq, the Suns gave up All-Star forward Shawn Marion, who said he wanted to be traded at the beginning of the season. For years, Marion had been a clutch scorer. As of press time, the Suns have won just two of their last six games and have fallen to fifth place in the Western Conference. Fans wonder whether it's growing pains with the big guy or could it be a bad fit?

'Doomsday Vault' Opens for Business!

SVALBARD ARCHIPELAGO, Norway-Imagine a bank that's so far north that polar bears outnumber the people living there! The bank is located on Norway's Svalbard archipelago just 620 miles from the North Pole. As you may have guessed, it's cold there. During winter's around-the-clock darkness, temperatures can fall to -22° Fahrenheit.

The bank was blasted into the side of an arctic mountain and has reinforced concrete walls to help protect its valuable deposits from natural disasters, global warming and even a nuclear explosion. Welcome to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault-also called the "Doomsday Vault" by the press!

You can find seedbanks all over the world. Native Seeds/SEARCH is a seedbank here in Arizona. Its mission is to protect the diversity of local seed used in farming and their wild relatives. "We have nearly 2,000 varieties in our seedbank, mainly corn, beans and squash," explains Carolyn Owens, who works on grants for the seedbank. "Just like the seedbank in Norway, the seeds need to be kept cold, so they're stored in a freezer," she says. Seeds for the bank come from southwestern states and northern Mexico.

Seedbanks help protect our food supply from the "what ifs" in life-like what if there's drought; what if a disease attacks a certain kind of wheat, or what if global warming changes what can grow around here?

Modern farming has led to fewer and fewer varieties of crops. This has brought about many varieties of food crops being lost forever, and Owens says it's alarming. "It's just more cost effective to grow a single variety...but you don't know what disease is going to come along down the road," she says. A disease could wipe out an entire variety of a crop, leading to food shortages. But if there are enough other seed varieties, like wheat for instance, one of those types of wheat may turn out to be resistant to the disease.

Owens points out that a lot of seedbanks are in politically unstable areas like Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and have been looted or destroyed. In the Phillipines, a flood wiped out the country's seedbank.

That's why the Svalbard Global Seedbank was created-to protect the diversity of seeds no matter what happens in the world. Countries can "deposit" different varieties of seeds. If a disaster jeopardizes crops, the country can make a "withdrawal" of seeds.

The vault was built by Norway at a cost of about $3 million. Because seeds are so small, the "Doomsday Vault" can hold up to 2 billion seeds!