The Decision Center for a Desert City at Arizona State University was established in 2004 with funding from the National Science Foundation to advance the scientific understanding of environmental decision making under uncertainty. With additional funding awarded by NSF in 2010, "DCDC II" has expanded its already extensive research agenda, engaged the policy-making community, and built stronger ties between scientific knowledge and decision making enterprises. New DCDC research has developed fundamental knowledge about decision making under uncertainty from three interdisciplinary perspectives: climate impacts, urban dynamics, and adaptation decisions. Simulation modeling and boundary organization studies cut across these themes and are a core component of DCDC activities.

DCDC is focused on developing, implementing, and studying an interdisciplinary decision-support process for environmental decision making based on principles derived from social science research. Through an integrated approach to research, education, and community and institutional outreach, DCDC is training a new generation of scientists who can work successfully at the boundaries of science and policy. Broader impacts are realized as research informs innovative solutions to society’s pressing environmental challenges. To accomplish these goals, DCDC has built a dynamic bridge between ASU and local, regional, and national policy communities to foster local to-global solutions for water sustainability and urban climate adaptation.

The South Mountain neighborhood is located in the southern part of the City of Phoenix in Maricopa County. The three zip codes of 85040, 85041 and 85042 comprise the bulk of the neighborhood and serve as the target area boundary for this report. South Mountain is a distressed community, with significant need and limited resources. It is an area that differs from most of the city, with a pre- dominantly economically disadvantaged Latino and African-American population. As part of Maricopa County’s efforts to identify the needs, the gaps in services and resources, and to use data to inform the County about making effective and meaningful policy changes, this report uses data collected as part of the ongoing AARIN project and economic measures derived from U.S. Census data to help examine and potentially guide restoration efforts in South Mountain.

Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport completed a comprehensive analysis of the cargo service opportunities of Phoenix metropolitan airports, specifically Phoenix Sky Harbor International, Phoenix Deer Valley, Phoenix Goodyear, and Phoenix Mesa Gateway Airports. The Study researched regional air cargo opportunities, forecasted regional air cargo demand, determined necessary facilities and infrastructure at Phoenix region airports, identified market opportunities and outlined approaches for further development.

Pima County's Cienega Creek Natural Preserve surface water and groundwater monitoring project. This report summaries PAG's groundwater and surface water monitoring between July and June each fiscal/ monitoring year. The report contains monitoring methodology, comprehensive maps, and graphs of trends for surface flow volume, wet-dry flow lengths, groundwater levels and water chemistry. It also contains information on drought, erosion and repeat photography.

Pima Association of Governments updated a portion of the Water Usage Along Selected Streams in Pima County, Arizona, which PAG created in 2000. The updated report and datasets show current potential water usage in these critical areas. Deliverables include the shapefiles, spreadsheets and maps that accompany this memorandum. The purpose of this report is to provide updated information about the location and pumping history of wells located in Pima County near shallow groundwater areas, generally located near drainages.

This report summarizes published reports and public datasets pertaining to the subsurface hydrology of Sopori Basin. It includes descriptions of the hydrogeology of the basin, recharge, the number and type of wells, well installation frequency, changes in water levels through time, shallow groundwater areas, groundwater pumping, grandfathered irrigation rights and water quality. Data sources and limitations also are discussed. This report is intended to provide a broad understanding of the groundwater conditions in Sopori Basin based on existing information.