06/03/2026
We are excited to share that Sonoran Institute staff have published a paper about the Growing Water Smart program and GWS community outcomes in the academic journal Water! This paper dives into Growing Water Smart’s unique approach to addressing water scarcity by integrating water and land use planning, and shares three case studies of collaborative water resilience that resulted from the program in the San Luis Valley of Colorado, the Verde Watershed in Arizona, and between the sister cities of Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora along the US-Mexico border. Successes in each of these communities point to the value of the Growing Water Smart program in creating the dedicated time and space for local governments to create action plans for water resilience, which are creating tangible impacts across the Southwestern US and Northern Mexico.
This paper is published in a special issue of Water, titled “Working Across Borders to Address Water Scarcity.” The journal is open access, so you can see the special issue here: https://www.mdpi.com/journal/water/special_issues/5I6012V0Q6
And read the Growing Water Smart article here: https://www.mdpi.com/2073-4441/18/11/1345
