What can we learn from the Israelis with respect to operating in an arid environment?
Check out colloquium on Wednesday, December 12: 2:30 PM – 4:30 PM
Colloquium – Augustus I
Israeli and U.S. Water Technology: Versatile Solutions for Colorado River Challenges
- Moderator: Sharon Megdal, Ph.D., Central Arizona Project Board Secretary and University of Arizona College of Agriculture
- David Johnson, Deputy General Manager of Engineering and Operations, Las Vegas Valley Water District
- Oded Distel, Head of New Tech Program, Israeli Ministry for the Economy
- Abraham Tenney, Consultant and Retired Head of Desalination Division, Israel Water Authority
- Tamar Shor, Chief Operating Officer, N-Drip and Former Deputy Director General, Israel Water Authority
- Maureen Stapleton, General Manager, San Diego County Water Authority
- Dan Thelander, Partner, Tempe Farming Co.
About Sharon Megdal
Sharon B. Megdal was re-elected to the CAWCD Board of Directors by the voters of Pima County in November 2014. Her second term runs through December 2020. In February 2016, Director Megdal was elected CAWCD Board Secretary by her fellow directors. As Board Secretary, she chairs the Board’s standing Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District and Underground Storage Committee.
Dr. Megdal keeps very busy as Director of the Water Resources Research Center at the University of Arizona (UA), where she holds the title C.W. and Modene Neely Endowed Professor. She is Professor, Department of Soil, Water, and Environmental Science, and Director of the UA Water, Environmental, and Energy Solutions Initiative, which is funded by the Technology and Research Initiative Fund (TRIF). In 2010, Dr. Megdal was named Distinguished Outreach Professor by the UA. Her UA work focuses on water management and policy, on which she writes and frequently speaks. She places particular emphasis on how to achieve desired policy objectives in terms of institutional structures and possible changes to them and authors a water policy column for the WRRC’s quarterly newsletter. Dr. Megdal, who holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University, teaches the multi-disciplinary graduate course titled Arizona Water Policy and advises graduate students in multiple programs, including the MS in Water, Society, and Policy Program.
Dr. Megdal has served on numerous state boards and commissions, including the Arizona Corporation Commission, the Arizona State Transportation Board, and the Arizona Medical Board. She serves on the boards of the American Water Resources Association, the International Arid Lands Consortium, and the Universities Council on Water Resources, where she serves as President-Elect.