The Citizens Water Advocacy Group’s Beginning
How CWAG Came About
A Need and a Solution:
It was at a lunch break in the shade of a tree on the bank of the Verde River at its headwaters that the idea emerged. As CWAG’s first president, Kay Lauster, tells it in her history document, it was May 19, 2002 and the Verde River Citizens Alliance (VRCA) was helping USGS scientist Laurie Wirt collect samples for her continuing hydrologic research on the River. Independent scientists had for many years considered the Verde River threatened by development in the Prescott Region and the Big Chino Valley. And a recent proposal for a large development project in the Big Chino Valley made the threat seem imminent and the need for citizen involvement urgent.
At that river-side lunch, Ms. Wirt bemoaned the fact that unlike the east side of the mountain where the VRCA was based, the west side had no comparable interest group. An inspired Ms. Lauster concurred and asked if VRCA would help start a VRCA West. The VRCA members enthusiastically agreed and so began the formation of what soon would become the Citizens Water Advocacy Group.
Conceptual planning meetings took place in June and July. At an August 1, 2002 meeting, a core group of activists decided to hold a citizen workshop to discuss local water issues and gauge interest in the formation of CWAG.
A Citizens Workshop: Local Water Trends, the Past, Present and Future of Water
The workshop was held at the Watson Lake Pavilion on October 12, 2002. The agenda included four prominent speakers with relevant presentations. Nearly a hundred enthusiastic citizens heard vivid descriptions of the threat to the river from potential development and drought cycles. The Daily Courier reported on the workshop in its October 15, 2002 issue. The publicity was helpful, and it was clear there was considerable support for the formation of CWAG.
Organization
In the weeks following the workshop, members were recruited and organizational meetings were held primarily at the Granite Peak Unitarian Universalist Congregation facility, 882 Sunset Ave in Prescott. By mid-December the basics of the organization were established and CWAG was off and running. In subsequent months CWAG became incorporated in Arizona as a 501 (c)(3) and vision, mission statements and working committees were developed and refined.
Today, CWAG conducts informative water-related educational presentations on the second Saturday of most months in Prescott. See our calendar for details.
CWAG's efforts are focused on promoting greater citizen participation and collective change to realize a sustainable water future for us and our children, to achieve safe yield in the Prescott AMA and to preserve the natural and historical flow of the upper Verde River.