SIERRA VISTA — The southwest sizzled this week with high temperatures surpassing the triple digits.
So, what’s the best way to avoid heat-related illnesses?
If it’s not possible to stay indoors at all times during this week’s scorcher, the best defense is keeping cool and drinking plenty of water.
There are typically three main heat-related illness that can occur when body temperatures get too high and fluids too low: heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke.
Heat exhaustion, which is more severe than heat cramps, causes symptoms that include nausea, dizziness, headaches and a rapid pulse.
Heat stroke is the most severe heat-related illness.
“In heat exhaustion, that person is clammy and still has the ability to sweat,” Ryan said.
A person suffering from heat stroke loses the ability to sweat, which is critical in lowering body temperature.
They turned to The Cove Aquatic Center and the Teen Center to avoid the blistering heat and prevent dehydration.
For 8-year-old Ella Cartwright, the Cove is where she goes with her family to escape from the summer heat.

The plan will save the equivalent of 35 percent of the Colorado River water used annually by Phoenix residents, according to the Associated Press.
The City of Phoenix also will fund a contribution of 13 billion gallons of Colorado River water to system conservation in Lake Mead this year.
Lake Havasu City officials say such a reduction could affect every community with a connection to the Colorado River.
According to Havasu water conservation specialist Briana Morgan, Phoenix’s reduction in water usage could affect every community in the Lower Colorado River.
“In the Lower Basin, it sets an example for every community to aim for a significant reduction.” Lake Havasu City has already instituted water conservation efforts, including water conservation education, rebates from the city’s water division for reduced usage and an expansion of Havasu’s effluent system to treat city parks and golf courses.
Nexsen believes Phoenix’s reductions will offset Lake Mead’s diminishing waterlines, and delay potential future drought declarations.
“I applaud Phoenix and the tribal communities for their efforts,” Nexsen said.
Last June, Lake Mead water levels dipped to 1,071.64 feet – its lowest water level in more than five years.
Statements by LVVWD officials indicate that it may take many years of above-average runoff in the Rocky Mountains before Lake Mead water levels return to pre-drought levels.
If Lake Mead’s water level fell below 1,075 feet during any given August, the states of California, Nevada and Arizona would be forced to reduce their usage under a 2010 tri-state agreement.

PHOENIX — Arizona is one of three states in which tap water has the highest average statewide levels of chromium-6, the carcinogen made popular by the 2000 “Erin Brockovich” movie.

The Environmental Working Group’s new report also shows Phoenix leads the nation’s largest cities for tap water that contains the cancer causing chemical.

The report found 79 of 80 samples from around Phoenix (taken by the city of Phoenix for an EPA study), contained “by far the highest average level” of chromium-6 of any major U.S. city.

“That number is misleading, because it doesn’t take into consideration that chromium-6 comes from mostly our ground water system,” said Troy Hayes, assistant director of the city of Phoenix Water Services Department.

“Ground water only makes up 2 percent of the water in which we distribute every day,” he said.

Hayes maintained the water in Phoenix is completely safe.

But of all major cities, why are only Phoenix’s numbers “misleading?”

“It’s skewed in the sense that we’re so heavily dependent on surface water here that has hardly any chrome in it, that it dilutes that number down,” he said.

But David Andrews, the co-author of the study, said the mixed water has chromium-6 levels that are worrying.

“I don’t think we need to run away (from the water), but it definitely raises some questions and it definitely raises some concerns,” he told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Bruce St. James and Pamela Hughes.

The city of Phoenix issued a response to the study that can be read here.

“For the city of Phoenix, one test of a ground water well, and one test of a surface water well don’t necessarily count as equal,” Hayes said. “When you put in 98 percent surface water, and only 2 percent ground water.”

Andrews said people who are worried about chromium-6 and other contaminants in their drinking water should consider installing a filtration system.

“In my home, I would add slightly more filtration to clean it up more,” he said.

The study also showed Arizona has one of the highest average statewide levels, highlighting high levels of the carcinogen in the water of Maricopa, Yavapai and Mohave counties.

Another water bottling operation to open in Arizona desert — this one in Mesa.
While bottling water in a drought-stricken desert might not seem a natural fit, water experts say the facility will use no more water than other large manufacturers in the state, and will fill a growing localized demand.
The Mesa facility will be slightly larger than a Nestle water bottling plant expected to open in Phoenix next year.
Bottling water in the desert Niagara is investing approximately $76 million into the bottling operation and will filter, bottle and distribute water provided by Mesa.
This isn’t Niagara’s first Arizona facility.
In 2016, Nestle Waters announced plans to invest $35 million to revamp a 395,000-square-foot Phoenix warehouse into a water bottling facility.
Similar to Niagara, the Nestle’s Phoenix plant will treat city tap water.
Nestle’s Phoenix plant, which was expected to open this year but now is slated to begin production in 2018, may use up to 35 million gallons of municipal water per year.
But, she said, massive amounts of water are used in all types of manufacturing across the Valley, and access to appropriate water systems varies from city to city.
For every dollar spent on the operation, $1.81 will return to the local economy, according to Mesa Director of Economic Development Bill Jabjiniak.

Donate cases of water bottles to help the less fortunate and get deals to two locations!.
Autoplay:Play VideoPlayMuteCurrent Time 0:00/Duration Time 0:00Loaded: 0%Progress: 0%Stream TypeLIVERemaining Time -0:00Playback Rate1 Chapters Chapters descriptions off, selected Descriptions subtitles off, selected Subtitles captions settings, opens captions settings dialog captions off, selected CaptionsAudio TrackFullscreen This is a modal window.
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Escape will cancel and close the window.TextColorWhiteTransparencyOpaqueBackgroundColorBlackTransparencyOpaqueWindowColorBlackTransparencyTransparentFont Size50%Text Edge StyleNoneFont FamilyProportional Sans-SerifDefaultsDonex Ford Motor Company, Big Surf Waterpark and Valley-based Famous Dave’s are partnering in the 5th Annual "Fill an F150" water drive benefiting The Salvation Army’s Extreme Heat Relief Project.
Quantities for both offers are limited.
In order to get the deals, each person must donate at least one case of water (16 oz or larger, 24 or more bottles) at any Metro Phoenix-area Ford Dealership, Valley Famous Dave’s restaurant, or Big Surf Waterpark.
All 13 Metro Phoenix-area Ford dealerships, four Valley Famous Dave’s restaurants and Big Surf Waterpark are collecting cases of water.
Ford’s goal is to collect 175,000 bottles of water during the two-week drive in support of The Salvation Army’s goal of collecting 200,000 water bottles.
Ford will also jumpstart the drive with a $10,000 grant in support of the water drive and other Salvation Army programs courtesy of Ford’s Operation Better World Arizona program.
According to the Arizona Department of Health Services, more than 1,500 weather-related deaths from exposure to heat have occurred in Arizona since 2000.

Water Hole: No running water on Navajo Nation reservation.
Navajo Nation members have scarce access to running water in Monument Valley, which spans Arizona and Utah.
This one, leading to a one-spigot watering hole a few miles away, is the main water supply for about 900 people living nearby.
It’s about nine miles one way from my house to the nearest water hole.” Leaders of the Navajo Water Project, a non-profit working to bring more running water to Navajo homes in New Mexico and clean water to an Arizona school for youths who are disabled, estimate about 40 percent of Navajo Nation members don’t have access to running water in their homes.
In tiny Oljato, where about 900 people live in this Monument Valley community, traveling to get water is a normal part of life, with some regretting it and others shrugging it off.
“That is the big challenge,” said John, who is not related to Lionel John.
“We have to haul in water just to live off of,” Mark Holiday said.
“That is an issue with the Navajo EPA,” John said.
The challenge to a rural area is that it’s hard to bring qualified people in because it’s not easy living out there in a rural area.
Gregory Holiday, a member of the Navajo Nation, said even if he had access to running water he doesn’t trust that it is safe to drink, saying longterm uranium mining in the area contaminated the water.

Speakers at the Irrigated Agriculture in Arizona Conference, from left, included meteorologist Paul Brown, University of Arizona, Tucson; plus Arizona farmers Arnott Duncan, Duncan Family Farms, Goodyear; and Terry and Ramona Button, Ramona Farms, Sacaton.
Entrepreneurial ways to survive Half a dozen farmers took to the podium at the Irrigated Ag event to discuss their farming plans and strategies to share their efforts in water conservation and cropping systems, including Central Arizona farmers Arnott Duncan of Duncan Family Farms based at Goodyear and Dan Thelander of Tempe Farm Company who farms around Maricopa.
“During the winter, we turn on the same sprinklers to help control frost.” Water is also used to “lubricate the soil.” Since harvest occurs one-half inch above the soil line, the wet soil helps reduce the amount of field removed with the crop at harvest.
“Trying to hold water and nutrients in the soil is greatly enhanced by increasing the organic matter.” Today, Duncan’s water conservation practices utilize a high pressure main line manifold irrigation system with sprinkler valves pre-set for the right distance to provide the highest application efficiency.
In the future, Duncan Farms aims to save additional water by using plant and soil sensors to automate irrigation events.
“The potential for water shortage is something that we are definitely very worried about and are trying to plan for,” said Thelander who then asked, “How do you plan for water shortages?” This year’s Thelander cropping system includes about 1,600 acres of Desert Durum wheat; 2,200 acres of alfalfa including 400 acres in drip irrigation; and 250 acres of guayule (natural rubber plant) farmed with drip.
About 1,000 acres of cotton includes about 400 acres each irrigated by drip and furrow, plus about 200 acres of double cropped cotton following wheat.
Thelander says alfalfa prices have dropped $50-$75 per ton over the last several years; the wheat price is down $400 per hundredweight; and the cotton price is up.
However, Thelander quipped that the higher cotton price around 70 cents per pound at press time was the same cotton price when he started farming more than 40 years ago.
Thelander says, “If a farmer can grow a higher water use crop that’s also a high value crop then the farmer might be able to fallow acres to irrigate the more profitable crop.” Overall, the end result could be, even with fallowed land, an overall profit.

Policy group helps communities make the most of scarce resource An Arizona think tank is looking to the Western Slope for ways to demonstrate how best to tie together land-use and water planning — lessons that could be used elsewhere.
The Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, a newly formed arm of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, Massachusetts, is looking for local communities it can help in developing best practices, build data and mapping tools, and take other steps to better manage water and land.
“By 2025, the United Nations predicts that 1.8 billion people — nearly one-quarter of the planet’s population by that time — will be living in regions with severe water scarcity.” The center was named for the former Arizona governor and secretary of the Interior under President Bill Clinton, Bruce Babbitt, who served eight years on the board of the Lincoln Institute.
Colorado is on the right track with a 2015 law that ties together land use and water planning, SB 15-008, and includes a goal that by 2025, 75 percent of Coloradans will live in communities that have integrated water resources into land-use planning.
The Lincoln Institute has a long history in land-use planning and has recently branched out into other areas branching out of that, Holway said.
Holway is a former assistant director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources and he serves on the board of the Central Arizona Project.
Sophisticated techniques used by the Chesapeake Bay Conservancy to pinpoint sources of water pollution could be used in the West to learn more about water availability, said Paula Randolph of the center.
Communities that use the center’s services can seek their own answers on water and land use, Randolph said.
“We want to help,” she said, “We don’t want to dictate.” The Babbitt Center will work with a pilot community in Arizona, then seek one out in western Colorado.
The Lincoln Institute was founded by John C. Lincoln, a Cleveland industrialist and investor who established the Lincoln Foundation in Phoenix in 1946.

Launch of Center for Land and Water Policy celebrated in Arizona.
PHOENIX, May 2, 2017 — The Lincoln Institute today announced the establishment of the Babbitt Center for Land and Water Policy, the centerpiece of a new initiative to integrate land use planning and the management of an increasingly scarce resource.
The Center, which will be based in Phoenix, is named for Bruce Babbitt, former Arizona governor, Interior secretary, and longtime board member of the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy.
An initial activity will be to develop a map, using satellite imagery, for selected tributaries of the Colorado River Basin.
"We seek to help state and local officials integrate land and water policies across an entire geography, to imagine better futures."
At the same time the Babbitt Center is launched, the longstanding joint program between the Lincoln Institute and the Sonoran Institute, previously known as Western Lands and Communities and now renamed Resilient Communities and Watersheds, will aim to better integrate land use planning and water management at the local level.
Ultimately, it is hoped that the Babbitt Center will become a hub that connects the people and practices of the arid American West to people and practices in the rest of the world.
"The Lincoln Institute has emphasized the importance of land and land policy in addressing the world’s toughest problems, and the stewardship of water resources is at the top of the list.
"We are optimistic as we all share the goal of ensuring water for future generations," said Holway, formerly director of the Lincoln Institute-Sonoran Institute joint program and assistant director of the Arizona Department of Water Resources, who currently serves on the board of the Central Arizona Project.
SOURCE Lincoln Institute of Land Policy

Arizona water director: I won’t support CAP board’s drought plan.
Mark Henle/The Republic My Turn: The Central Arizona Water Conservation District wants to gamble with water levels in Lake Mead, and that’s just not smart.
Droughts of 30 or even 50 years are not unknown phenomena.
Two board members of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District (CAWCD) recently called for the state’s water managers to rally around a new proposal created by CAWCD staff to (theoretically) protect Arizona’s water in Lake Mead.
This risky gambit lacks a fundamental aspect of credibility and statesmanship that Arizona needs to maintain with our neighbors in Wyoming, Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and California.
A prudent plan – a DCP-Plus plan — would conserve and store enough water in Lake Mead so that a buffer, well above the shortage trigger elevation, is reached.
The Arizona Department of Water Resources is committed to a collaborative approach to water management among all Arizona water users who hold entitlements to Colorado River water.
The Arizona water users who rely on the river have supported my efforts to represent them as DCP negotiations ensued.
It’s simple: I won’t support their plan As director, I am charged with signing the DCP on behalf of the state.
That “Plus plan” is the lynchpin for support by Arizona’s water users when I appear before the state Legislature.