After 44 years, the adjudication of water rights in Arizona is still far from being resolved, and water policy experts say that resolving these competing claims is essential to providing certainty about water rights.

With Memorial Day behind us, summer has unofficially begun. And that means Arizonans will escape the heat by enjoying rivers like the Salt and the Verde, fish in the cool pine lakes up north and stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water.

Water issues in Arizona are as varied as the state’s terrain but one thing’s for certain — the price we pay for our most precious natural resource is going to increase in the face of shortages triggered by continued drought and climate change.

The water district that supplies much of the Phoenix area's water supply says snowmelt produced enough runoff to refill Salt and Verde river reservoirs to near the levels before the year's period of heaviest use.

This is one of a series of biographical sketches Cronkite News Service is producing about new members of the Arizona State Legislature. Each follows this format and includes a mugshot and video.

Volunteers spend a day every other month wading through one of the state’s few perennial rivers, collecting samples to monitor PH levels, E. coli bacteria, arsenic, nitrogen, phosphorus and water flows.

Rita Maguire has a long history with Arizona public policy. She began as an intern in the state Senate, helped draft some of the state’s major laws as a legislative committee analyst, led the Department of Water Resources and headed up a think tank. Now a water attorney, Maguire recently represented Prescott and Prescott Valley in litigation with Salt River Project over a proposed water ranch near the Verde River.

Two municipalities are challenging the authority of one of the state's largest utilities and are now asking a Maricopa County court to order Salt River Project (SRP) to turn over records under the state's public records law.

PRESCOTT - U.S. Geological Survey researchers plan to study how changes in the flow of the middle and upper Verde River might affect plant and animal life and water quality. Lower stream flows could be caused by global warming or groundwater pumping and affect the viability of some fish and bird species.