The town of Florence and city of Apache Junction along with other private and public entities participated in an inaugural Growing Water Smart training program in early 2020. Also learning to better integrate land use and water planning were officials from Avondale, Buckeye, Casa Grande, Gilbert and Surprise.
Now new cities are being sought by the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy and Sonoran Institute as they seek funding to deliver the training throughout the Colorado River Basin of Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Wyoming and two states in Mexico.
“It has proven very useful and served as a great kick-start for the town of Florence to begin focusing more on water policy and implementing practices that will help our organization and community become more sustainable into the future,” Benjamin Bitter, assistant to the Florence town manager and the intergovernmental and communications manager, said of the Feb. 5-7 training. “Our partnership with the Babbitt Center and with the Sonoran Institute has played a vital part in our progress to this point.”
