Water is the foundation of public health, economic opportunity, unique natural areas and quality of life in any community. Much attention has been paid to the sustainable management of water supplies, as well as the responsible investment in the infrastructure that supports the delivery of safe, clean water. In more recent years, issues regarding broad and fair access to safe, clean water in a community — water equity — have come into sharper focus.

A lot has flowed under the bridge since August 2011 when the Morrison Institute issued "Watering the Sun Corridor," which addressed the understandable concern that urban Arizona might be “running out” of water. Ten years later, land use attorney Grady Gammage Jr. reflects back on "Watering the Sun Corridor" in this new piece sharing his perspective about water supply and demand in Arizona's urban areas.

In 1995, the Arizona Legislature amended the state's adjudication statutes and other statutes that underlie surface water rights in Arizona. Those amendments led to five years of legal challenges that all but derailed the adjudication proceedings. In the end, the state Supreme Court ruled that most of the amendments were unconstitutional. In 2020, the Legislature considered several measures that would impact surface water rights and the adjudications. To help inform the discussion of these proposals, the Kyl Center for Water Policy offered this analysis of what happened with the 1995 amendments.

At Morrison Institute for Public Policy, a research center within Arizona State University's Watts College of Public Service and Community Solutions, we combine academic rigor with the goal of informing real community change. That is why we were eager to collaborate with First Place AZ, the Autism Housing Network and The Daniel Jordan Fiddle Foundation. A Place in the World: Fueling Housing and Community Options for Adults with Autism and Other Neurodiversities is a shining example of rigorous research informed by and in service to the community. Morrison Institute collected and synthesized viewpoints and data to improve our understanding of residential options for adults with autism and other neurodiversities. This body of research provides information, tools and examples that housing developers, families and individuals can use to expand the number and range of residential options.

The Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS) helps over 80,000 AmeriCorps members find a service placement annually. CNCS also conducts research on the outcomes of its programming at universities across the country and has partnered with Morrison Institute for Public Policy for a second time to better understand the employability and employment outcomes of AmeriCorps members. This year's study expands upon Morrison Institute’s 2016 analysis of Arizona's AmeriCorps programs to five states across the country. The findings from this study suggest that strong personal and professional networks emerge within the AmeriCorps program, which leads to positive employment outcomes.

Morrison Institute for Public Policy at Arizona State University led a public policy research team in a project to provide insight into priorities and preferences of Arizona residential utility customers for the development of future energy resource alternatives. Through the combination of quantitative and qualitative research, the project addressed four basic questions: What are the energy preferences and priorities of residential utility customers among the resource choices? What factors influence these preferences and priorities? How does energy education affect attitudes and opinions about energy and energy planning? Do changes in opinions and attitudes persist over time, or do they revert to their previous position? Following exposure to an educational energy booklet and participation in the one-day Energy Forum event held Dec. 4, 2010, several primary findings emerged. These findings are highlighted in this report.

For nearly 40 years in its most urban areas, Arizona has prohibited the sale of new subdivision lots that lack a 100-year assured water supply. Originally, an assured water supply meant primarily renewable surface water. But in 1993, the Legislature changed course and created a new path to show an assured water supply using groundwater — a non-renewable resource — with the promise that the groundwater would be replenished with surface water acquired after the fact. This report examines how this program — the Central Arizona Groundwater Replenishment District, or CAGRD — has worked over the last quarter-century and its consequences for water management and urban development in Arizona. We conclude that the unexpected popularity of the CAGRD has created serious challenges for good water stewardship and recommend changes in the CAGRD to ensure that homeowners in CAGRD have long-term water sustainability.