Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs stood at ASU's SkySong campus in Scottsdale on Wednesday to praise a multiyear water research initiative that keeps Arizona's taps running a little longer — a program her Republican predecessor, Doug Ducey, helped jumpstart. Hobbs called the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative necessary work that puts the state at the forefront of water management solutions, framing it as central to the state's future water supply.
The visit, which showcased the initiative's progress, comes as the program has been operating for more than three years. As reported by KJZZ, Hobbs told the crowd that solving Arizona's water challenges requires partnership, innovation and technology to create water supplies, and she said the initiative is developing water recycling, reuse, quality, efficiency and industrial cooling evaporation-reduction technologies. The program actually traces back to November 2022, when Arizona State University and then-Gov. Ducey announced that ASU would lead the multiyear effort, according to ASU News.
The state committed $40 million to ASU for the initiative, per that same ASU News announcement. The Arizona Technology Council reported that the money was slated to come from the federal American Rescue Plan Act, the $1.9 trillion package signed by then-President Joe Biden, per KJZZ. Hobbs, who said she invested $40 million in the initiative, won the election to succeed Ducey about a week before the grant was awarded and did not take office until two months later, according to KJZZ's reporting.
A Grant With a Complicated Timeline
KJZZ's reporting lays out the awkward sequencing: Ducey selected the $40 million federal COVID-19 relief investment to jumpstart the initiative, and his administration awarded the grant to ASU in November 2022, in the middle of roughly $950 million in grants the outgoing administration doled out that year. Hobbs's own staff acknowledged that the Ducey administration awarded the program's funding, per the outlet. After taking office in 2023, the Hobbs administration criticized a number of decisions made by the previous administration and sought to claw back about $210 million in grants.
Jennifer Loredo, Hobbs's deputy chief of staff, told KJZZ that Hobbs deserves credit for keeping the ASU grant in place rather than unwinding it along with other disputed awards. Patrick Adams, Hobbs's water policy adviser, said the Hobbs administration deserves credit for collaborating with ASU to stand up the water innovation initiative. The initiative officially launched in April 2023 under the leadership of ASU's Julie Ann Wrigley Global Futures Laboratory and Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, according to the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative's own year-in-review, which also notes a $5 million gift from the Virginia G. Piper Charitable Trust supplemented the state's $40 million.
What The Research Has Produced So Far
Per Peter Schlosser, a university vice president and director general of ASU's Global Futures Laboratory, the initiative launched six technology test beds and advanced six patents in 2025, while also supporting 10 spin-off companies and training nearly 300 water professionals that year, according to KJZZ. The program brings together researchers and stakeholders from around Arizona to measure, reuse and predict future availability of the state's water supply, and it examines advanced water purification technologies meant to bolster that supply long-term.
During its first year, the initiative focused on water treatment practices for the semiconductor industry and on tools to help leaders adapt to Colorado River climate impacts, per the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative's year-in-review. It also established a statewide network to support water-insecure communities. A year later, the initiative's Advanced Water Observatory and Decision Support System was collaborating on a statewide groundwater assessment, and its Global Center for Water Technology was working with the Arizona Department of Water Quality on technologies addressing contaminants like PFAS in groundwater, according to the 2024 year-in-review published by the same source.
The initiative works with industrial, municipal, agricultural, tribal and international partners, and its list of collaborators has included the Bureau of Reclamation, the National Science Foundation and NASA on the federal side, plus Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., Intel Corp. and SOURCE Water in industry, per ASU News and the Arizona Technology Council. Dave White, director of ASU's Global Institute of Sustainability and Innovation, said the initiative also receives funding from the National Science Foundation, the U.S. Department of Energy and industry partners, according to KJZZ.
Why Arizona's Water Math Keeps Getting Tighter
Nearly 40% of municipal water use in the Phoenix metro area supports commercial, industrial and institutional users, per the Arizona Water Innovation Initiative, which is why ASU researchers are exploring systems to capture water vapor from evaporative cooling equipment and reuse it onsite, along with treatment approaches that could recover valuable minerals while improving industrial water reuse. The stakes are rising statewide: Arizona will remain in a Tier 1 Colorado River shortage through 2026, continuing to give up about 30% of the Central Arizona Project's normal supply, according to The Arizona Republic. Arizona has lived with that same level of cutbacks since 2022, apart from a deeper Tier 2a shortage in 2023, the newspaper reported, and the seven Colorado River states are now racing to reach a new long-term shortage-sharing agreement before the current tier system expires in 2026, with experts warning conditions could turn dire in 2027 and beyond.
That backdrop has sharpened the political stakes around the program's funding. KJZZ reports that Hobbs and Republican Andy Biggs are competing on the campaign trail over who is better equipped to address Arizona's issues, including its water future. Hobbs confirmed that the original funding source would not be available after the allocation runs out, telling KJZZ the initiative's funding is one-time and that ARPA dollars are nearly exhausted. Patrick Adams said ASU has secured additional funding to keep the initiative operational, according to the same report.
Separately, ASU News reported in December 2024 that the Arizona Water for All network, a statewide collaboration addressing water insecurity, had announced partnerships with Northern Arizona University and the University of Arizona in November. Whatever happens with federal relief dollars down the line, Hobbs made clear on Wednesday that she intends to keep claiming a share of the credit for a program Ducey helped jumpstart and the Hobbs administration worked with ASU to establish.
