A sign in a Tucson restaurant reads, "We lose a little on each sale, but we make it up on volume." Even the mathematically challenged would likely sense an incongruity in that computation. What is admirable, however, is the optimism; that, in the face of financial setbacks, the job still will get done.

The University of Arizona's Water Resources Research Center suffered its own financial setback last summer. As part of a budget cutting strategy, the University of Arizona's College of Agriculture cut the Water Resources Research Center's budget by 54 percent, from $351,000 to $160,000. Four positions were eliminated.

While the effects of the budget cut are still being determined, it is obvious that this year will not be business as usual for WRRC. Program activities are being evaluated to decide which can continue and under what reduced circumstances. Sources of outside funding are being investigated that could help support now threatened WRRC projects.

One areas impacted by this loss of funding has been the WRRC's information transfer program. The current plan is for Arroyo to continue to be published four times per year. Publication of AWR was suspended last summer, and it appeared doomed.

Back from the Grave -- Again

AWR's at least temporary resurrection is due more to the encouragement of our readers and irrational staff stubbornness than a grand reversal of fortunes. However, if our sponsors come through for us, we will publish AWR six times per year. Wish us luck, and please resume sending us stories, announcements, and letters to the editor. (New sponsors also are welcome.)

CD-ROM, History Published

Despite financial setbacks, this issue of AWR features two major new WRRC publications. They represent our most ambitious efforts in two areas -- "new media" and Issue Papers. Each is intended to serve unique needs of Arizona's water community.

The first is a multi-media CD-ROM entitled Desert Landscaping: Plants for a Water-Scarce Environment. The CD is described in Special Projects, pp. 6-7.

The second major release is our most ambitious Issue Paper to date, a history of Arizona rivers entitled EM>Arizona's Changing Rivers: How People Have Affected the Rivers. This ublication is described in Publications, p. 9.

Solar Water Treatment?

If sun exposure can treat water and reduce cases of diarrhea, as reported by a recent study, then the low-tech method might be applied in many parts of the developing world. A report published in The Lancet said that Kenya's Massai people reduced cases of diarrhea by a third by leaving contaminated drinking water in the sun for several hours before drinking it. The ultraviolet rays destroy many of the microbes that cause diarrhea, which kills between 4 million and 6 million annually. Two groups of children had their drinking water in bottles. One group exposed their water on the roof of their huts at dawn, not drinking it until noon. The other group kept their water indoors. The former had one third less cases of diarrhea.

Water Conservation Redux

With work on the Department of Water Resources' Third Management Plan underway, now is a good time to take note of water conservation practices of yesteryear. The following is taken from Wallace Stegner's memoir, Wolf Willow, A History, a Story, and a Memory of the Last Plains Frontier. "There was a whole folklore of water. People said a man had to make a dipperful go as far as it would. You boiled sweet corn, say. Instead of throwing the water out, you washed the dishes in it. Then you washed your hands in it a few times. Then you strained it through a cloth into the radiator of your car, and if your car should break down you didn't just leave the water to evaporate in its gullet, but drained it out to water the sweet peas." Clearly, a conservation standard to which we all can aspire.

ULFs Save Water, Spray Less

If the notion of washing your hands in the same water "a few times" gives pause, then the hygienic implications of brushing your teeth with toilet water might really raise concerns. Yet, research done a few years ago by Charles Gerba of the UA's Department of Soil, Water and Environmental Science suggested that conventional toilets produced bacteria-laden aerosols when flushed, resulting in the same effect. More recent research from Linda Stetzenbach and colleagues at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, suggests that ultra-low-flow toilets do not disperse measurable amounts of germs when flushed, providing a side benefit to conserving water.