Sarah Porter
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Mail code: 4220Campus: Dtphx
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Sarah Porter is Director of the Kyl Center for Water Policy at Arizona State University's Morrison Institute for Public Policy and Professor of Practice in ASU’s College of Global Futures. Established in 2014, the Kyl Center promotes research, analysis, collaboration and open dialogue to build consensus in support of sound water stewardship solutions for Arizona and the West. The Kyl Center’s cornerstone project is the award-winning Arizona Water Blueprint, a comprehensive online hub of information about Arizona water resources and policy.
Sarah came to the Kyl Center from the National Audubon Society, where she served as the Arizona state Director and led Audubon's Western Rivers Project, a multistate initiative to protect and restore important river habitats in the Intermountain West. Sarah was a key team member in the effort to launch the Nina Mason Pulliam Rio Salado Audubon Center, a nature education center located in a restored riparian habitat in South Phoenix. Before joining the staff of Audubon in 2006, Sarah spent fourteen years as an attorney in private practice, specializing in complex commercial litigation.
Sarah serves on Governor Hobbs’s Water Policy Council, University of Arizona's Water Resources Research Center's External Advisory Council, Phoenix’s Environmental Quality and Sustainability Commission and other community boards. In 2023, Sarah was named to the Arizona Capitol Times Powerlist as an “Unsung Hero” in recognition of her work on Arizona water policy.
A native of Phoenix, Sarah received her bachelor’s degree with honors from Harvard College and her J.D. magna cum laude from Arizona State University College of Law, where she was a John S. Armstrong Award recipient. She clerked for Hon. William C. Canby, Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals.
- J.D. Arizona State University
- Bachelor's degree. Harvard University
Water law, resources and policy in Arizona and the US Southwest.
Kyl Center Publications
The Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Agreement (2024)
Groundwater Protection in the Valley of the Sun (2024)
Untangling Housing Affordability & Groundwater Regulation (2023)
What Does the New Phoenix Area Groundwater Model Mean? (2023)
Water Rights and Water Use of Coal Facilities in the Colorado River Basin (2022)
The Myth of Safe-Yield: Pursuing the Goal of Safe-Yield Isn’t Saving Our Groundwater (2021)
Ten Tenets of Water Equity: Considerations for Community Water Systems (2021)
Lessons from the Past: What Changes to Arizona’s Adjudication and Surface Water Statutes Will Survive Constitutional Review? (2020)
The Elusive Concept of an Assured Water Supply: The Role of CAGRD and Replenishment (2019)
The Arizona Drought Contingency Plan: A Tribal Perspective (2019)
The Price of Uncertainty (2018)
Other Publications
Gu, Z., Li, W., Hanemann, M., Tsai, Y., Wutich, A., Westerhoff, P., Landes, L., Roque, A. D., Zheng, M., Velasco, C. A. & Porter, S., 2023. Applying machine learning to understand water security and water access inequality in underserved colonia communities. Computers, Environment and Urban Systems. 102, 101969.
Quimby, B., Nichols, C., du Bray, M., Cantor, A., Bausch, J., Wutich, A., Williams, C., Porter, S., Eaton, W., Brasier, K.., 2023. Changing Flows: Sociotechnical Tinkering for Adaptive Water Management. Environmental Management, 71, pp. 421-431.
Roque, A., Wutich, A., Quimby, B., Porter, S., Zheng, M., Jobayer Hossain, M., Brewis, A., 2022. Participatory approaches in water research: A review. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, e1577
Wutich, A., Jepson, W., Velasco, C., Roque, A., Gu, Z., Hanemann, M., Hossain, M. J., Landes, L., Larson, R., Li, W. W., Morales, O., Patwoary, N., Porter, S., Tsai, Y. S., Zheng, M. & Westerhoff, P., 2022. Water insecurity in the Global North: A review of experiences in US colonias communities along the Mexico border. Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Water, 9, 4, e1595
Beresford, M., Jones, J.L., Bausch, J.C., Williams, C.F., Wutich, A., Porter, S., Quimby, B., Eaton, W.M. and Brasier, K., 2020. Third-Party Effects in Stakeholder Interviews. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 19, p.1609406920966482.
Wutich, A., Beresford, M., Bausch, J.C., Eaton, W., Brasier, K.J., Williams, C.F. and Porter, S., 2020. Identifying stakeholder groups in natural resource management: Comparing quantitative and qualitative social network approaches. Society & Natural Resources, 33(7), pp.941-948.
Hondula, D.M., Sabo, J.L., Quay, R., Chester, M., Georgescu, M., Grimm, N.B., Harlan, S.L., Middel, A., Porter, S., Redman, C.L. and Rittmann, B., 2019. Cities of the Southwest are testbeds for urban resilience. Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, 17(2).
Ferris, K. and Porter, S., 2017. Not Just Tilting at Windmills. Ariz. J. Envtl. L. & Pol'y, 8, p.22.