WRRC 2026 Annual Conference Summary
Last week, WestWater Research joined industry leaders, researchers, tribes, and policymakers at the University of Arizona WRRC’s 2026 Annual Conference, which focused on water for tech, mining, and energy.
The two-day conference addressed some of the most critical questions facing Arizona’s growth sectors — particularly how water can most be effectively used, where will the water come from, what will it cost, and how will it impact local communities?
A consistent message across sectors was that inexpensive and abundant water is limited. Mining, energy, and tech each carry distinct water footprints and supply challenges, but most are large water volume users competing for the same shrinking pool of assets. Although industry is working to efficiently use water through reduce, reuse, and restore frameworks, the scale and pace of industrial growth remains a challenge. Municipal utilities, for their part, are raising the bar for large users through mandatory conservation plans and portfolio requirements, while making their own significant investments to develop new supplies and replace reduced Colorado River allocations.
Community engagement and transparency emerged as one of the central themes of the conference. Whether the context was tribal sovereignty, environmental advocacy, or industry siting, speakers consistently called for early, meaningful, and honest dialogue, not one-time public meetings. Successful partnerships between industry and communities, several case studies showed, require patience, trusted data, and a willingness to slow down in order to move faster later. As one panelist put it: “water moves at the speed of trust”.
WestWater Associate Amanda Long presented during a session dedicated to planning for large industrial water use. Amanda shared WestWater’s market perspectives on pricing trends for common asset classes used by industrial buyers: Type II non-irrigation groundwater, Long-Term Storage Credits, and effluent. As demand grows and supply options tighten, prices across almost all asset classes have trended upward — a pattern expected to continue as buyers face increasing competition from mining, energy, tech, and other sectors vying for the same limited pool of resources. Understanding pricing trends and future expectations of value is imperative for industrial buyers planning long-term water strategies.
The WRRC has continually built a great conference that brings the right people to the same forum to discuss important issues. WestWater is proud to contribute our market expertise to that conversation.