Water Week 24 - Event Details
Events at El Paso, Texas
Community Dance Offering by the River
Join us for a community ritual with the soothing flow of the river at our 'Community Dance Offering by the River'. Nestled along the serene banks of the Rio Grande, this gathering celebrates the vital essence of water while embracing the diverse rhythms and movements of our community.
Time: 9:00-9:30 am
Location: Sunland Park Rio Grande River Site,
Directions: From 成人头条, take 1-10 to Sunland Park Drive exit, turn left onto Sunland Park Dr., turn left onto Doniphan Dr., turn right on Racetrack Drive, just before the bridge going over the Rio Grande turn right into the parking lot..
World Water Week Community Organizations Tabling
Tabling at World Water Week is a fantastic opportunity to engage with a diverse audience of community organizations passionate about water-related issues.
Time: 10:00 am - 1:20 pm
Location: 成人头条 campus – Centennial Plaza Corridor
Opening Binational Community Plenary "Bridging Borders: Leveraging Water for Peace"
The Binational Community Plenary, "Bridging Borders: Leveraging Water for Peace," serves as a pivotal platform for fostering dialogue and collaboration on water-related issues between border communities. Directly engaging with this year’s conference theme, this inaugural session provides an overview of the events, objectives, key discourses, and anticipated outcomes.
Time: 11:30 am - 1 pm
Location: 成人头条 – IDRB Auditorium 2.204 + smaller conf rooms 2.208; 2.206; 2.308
Presenters: Luis Garnica, Melissa Melpignano, Liz Walsh, Alex Mayer, Judith Ríos, Eric Murillo, Evan Lopez
Actions of Care and Stewardship at the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park
Rio Bosque Wetlands Park is a 372-acre city of El Paso park located near the town of Socorro, TX. At Rio Bosque Wetlands Park, 成人头条 and its many partners are working on bringing back historic river valley ecosystems once found in the Mission Valley. Get an inside look at the ecological restoration process and the many challenges managers face with water availability, invasive/exotic species, and unexpected residents.
Time: 1:30 - 2:50 pm
Location: 成人头条 – IDRB Auditorium 2.204
Presenters: Sergio Samaniego
Assessing Global (In)stability through Water Data
Title: “Analyzing public opinions and environmental behaviors on climate change, net-zero carbon emissions, and water conservation topics in Taiwan: A big data approach”
Abstract: This study explores emerging climate change, net-zero carbon emissions, and water conservation topics in Taiwan. As a government-funded project, we employed a mixed method of quantitative and qualitative methods to develop a Big Data Resource Center that will offer public opinions, sentiment analysis, and media resources in an integrated dashboard to help the public, the media, and government agencies in policy-making. We presented our project's 1st phase (out of five-year plans). Through emerging big data technologies such as text mining, opinion mining, and sentiment analysis, the data and dashboard will present data visualization and guide future policy-making and research projects. Our presentation aims to showcase how a Big Data approach can help better address these vital climate changes (particularly in water conservation issues) to foster a more sustainable society when the public is fully informed and the government agencies (in Taiwan) can implement environmentally accountable policies.
Presenters: Yuh-fang Chang, Kun-Hung Cheng, Yowei Kang (National Chung Hsing University, Taichung, Taiwan)
Title: “Water Conservation Issues at the Time of Global Turmoil: A Computational Text Mining Analysis”
Abstract: Global geopolitical turmoils will likely affect the concerns over water conservation and other environmental issues in recent years. This computational text-mining study extends from our previous programmatic research on how global media institutions respond to external ecological triggering events for agenda-setting and media framing. Our study was based on a corpus of 5,415 newspaper articles from global media outlets. Our study employed the 2022 Ukraine-Russia War as the historical triggering event to hypothesize that a peace-disrupting event could affect the media’s framing of water conservation topics. A series of F-tests to compare keywords before and after the Ukraine-Russia War have supported media institutions that have changed their agendas significantly after the War in terms of “conservation”, “water”, and “sustainable”, among others. The extracted key phrases provide similar findings to support the impacts of peace disruption in terms of “global warming”, “water resources”, and “water supplies”, among others.
Presenters: Kenneth C. C. Yang (成人头条), Yowei Kang (National Chung Hsing University)
Breaking Barriers: Navigating Public Acceptance of Direct Potable Reuse
The panel will introduce the concept of Direct Potable Reuse to the public and provide an overview of the technology that will be implemented in the construction of the full-scale direct potable reuse facility in El Paso, which will be the first-of-its-kind in the Northern Hemisphere. The panelists will also discuss how the successful implementation of Direct Potable Reuse in El Paso would pave the way for the expansion of the technology to other communities in arid lands.
Time: 9:30 - 11 am
Location: 成人头条 - IDRB Auditorium 2.204
Presenters: Lauren Kenney and Camila Madeira (in person), Ivonne Santiago (remote)
Binational Water Research Panel
Join us for an engaging binational panel discussion aimed at fostering and strengthening collaborative research efforts between institutions on both sides of the border. With a focus on encouraging active pursuit and enhancement of binational research collaboration, this panel will feature esteemed speakers from various academic institutions, including 成人头条, UACH, and UACJ.
Time: 11:30 am - 1:00 pm
Location: 成人头条 - IDRB Auditorium 2.204
Presenters: Mario E. Vázquez Valles, Beatriz Rocha-Gutierrez, Juan Carlos Burillo Montúfar
What do climate change and binational water sharing mean for water availability in the Rio Grande basin?
More than one-third of the world’s largest cities are in drylands. Populations in drylands are expected to grow substantially over the next half-century, putting further stress on water supplies already stretched beyond their limit and expected to become increasingly unreliable due to climate change. Like many other climate change-induced stressors, the negative impacts are likely to be felt the most by the most vulnerable. El Paso (Texas, US) and Ciudad Juárez (Chihuahua, Mexico) are emblematic dryland cities, where water supplies are scarce, households are characterized by low income and other factors related to vulnerability, average temperatures and very hot days are increasing. The two cities are also unique because of their interdependence on water supplies across a national border.
Time: 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm
Location: 成人头条 - IDRB Auditorium 2.204
Presenters: Alex Mayer
Interdisciplinary Digital Water Projects
Immerse yourself in the exploration of the Rio Grande through three captivating lenses: participatory mapping, modeling, and underwater biology. Join us for an enlightening Water Week event where we delve into innovative approaches to understanding and conserving this vital waterway. From engaging participatory mapping initiatives that empower communities to contribute to watershed management, to sophisticated modeling techniques that forecast water dynamics and inform decision-making, to fascinating studies of underwater biology revealing the rich ecosystem beneath the surface, this event offers a comprehensive journey into the heart of the Rio Grande.
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:20 pm
Location: 成人头条 - IDRB Visualization Lab
Song Performance: "Rowboat" by Larry Lesser
Presenters:
Aliah Candia, Alex Mayer, Melissa Melpignano for Mapping the Rio
Joe Hayman, Luis Garnica for Sustainable Water Through Integrated Modeling (SWIM)
Judith Ríos, Liz Walsh and Patrick Brown for An underwater journey along the Rio
Student Posters and Breakfast with Keynote Speaker C.J. Alvarez
Students will display their research via a poster presentation format in the Interdisciplinary Research Building foyer.
Time: 10 - 11:30 am
Location: 成人头条 - IDRB Back Foyer
Keynote, C.J. Alvarez, “The River Below: Border Water and the Search for Peace”
The more durable, fixed, and seemingly permanent the United States Mexico border has become, the more elusive the idea of peace has become also. This is nowhere more evident than in and around the desert section of the Rio Grande, the place where a once great and wild river has been converted into a political divide. This talk explores the complex history of river straightening, relocating, and channeling that took place between El Paso and Juárez to arrive at a better understanding of the relationship between water and peace.
Opening remarks by College of Liberal Arts Dean, Dr. Anadeli Bencomo
Time: 11:30 am - 1 pm
Location: 成人头条 - IDRB Auditorium 2.204
Plenary Roundtable, “Peacebuilding through Water”
In this dynamic session, esteemed panelists will delve into the crucial nexus between water resources and peacebuilding efforts specifically within the El Paso del Norte region. From fostering collaboration and transboundary water governance to addressing environmental justice and community resilience, the discussion will explore the unique challenges and opportunities for peacebuilding in this borderland context.
Time: 1:30 pm - 3 pm
Location: 成人头条 - IDRB Auditorium 2.204
Presenters: C.J. Alvarez (UT Austin), Andie Everett (MatriARC PROJECTion), Allison Orr (Forklift Danceworks), Chris Hall (Oregon Water League)
A Night at the Museum – A Waddle Through Time
Join us for an unforgettable evening of exploration and discovery as we delve into the rich heritage of our region's natural and cultural landscapes. As part of this enchanting event, we are thrilled to present the screening of "Experiencing the Bosque," a documentary that offers a mesmerizing glimpse into the unique ecosystem of the Rio Bosque Wetlands Park along the Rio Grande. Through breathtaking imagery and compelling narratives, this film invites audiences to witness the beauty and biodiversity of this vital riparian corridor and the ongoing efforts to preserve its fragile ecosystem.
Time: 4:30 - 6 pm
Location: 成人头条, Centennial Museum
Presenters: Evan Lopez
A Night at the Museum – “Adan Vallecillo: Tiempo Libre” and “Presentements”
Experience a Night at the Museum with the Rubin Center for the Visual Arts! Dive into the world of contemporary art as we celebrate World Water Week with a special evening event. Join us as we explore our current spring exhibitions, Presentiments, Adan Vallecillos: Tiempo Libre, and Who Slept with Your Print.
'Presentiments': Including work by 11 artists from Latin America, Presentiments takes the weather as a starting point to ask questions about how we inhabit the world and how we make sense of our landscapes: national, geographic, and emotional.
'Adan Vallecillos: Tiempo Libre': Experience Honduran artist Adán Vallecillo's first solo U.S. exhibition at the Rubin Center. Through research-driven projects, Vallecillo untangles historical ties between Central America and the West, offering a poetic exploration of everyday life's beauty and imperfections.
'Who Slept with Your Print': "Who slept with your print?!!!" is a print portfolio curated by Miguel Aragón and Nabil Gonzalez, honoring the teaching legacy of Kim and Terri Bauer. Showcasing artists from across the nation, including 成人头条 alumni, the portfolio celebrates the Bauers' profound influence on artists since 1989, coinciding with Kim Bauer's retirement.
Time: 6 - 7:30 pm
Location: 成人头条, Rubin Center for the Visual Arts
Presenters: Claudia Ley and Laura Augusta
Community Movement Workshop with Forklift Danceworks
Join community-based dancemaker Allison Orr for a movement workshop, open to people of all backgrounds. Both dancers and people new to dance will enjoy moving with Allison as she shares key tools she uses in her artistic practice of making dances with people who may not identify as dancers. Learn more about Allison and her work at .
Time: 9:00 am - 10:00 pm
Location: Centennial Plaza
Dance Workshop with Forklift Danceworks (invitation only)
Choreographer Allison Orr joins dance students for a movement workshop exploring deep listening. Using improvisation exercises, we will practice moving with curiosity and awareness. Students will also learn how this process of deep listening has informed Allison’s 25+ years of making dances in and with diverse communities. Learn more about Allison and her work at .
Time: 10:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: Fox Fine Arts, A452
Presenters: Allison Orr (artistic director of Forklift) and Arturo Hernandez (assistant choreographer Forklift)
Interdisciplinary Community Engagement Methods - presenting Allison Orr’s book Dance Works: Stories of Creative Collaboration (Wesleyan University Press)
Join guest artist Allison Orr (Forklift Danceworks) and 成人头条 community-engaged faculty Dr. Adriana Dominguez (Theatre) and Dr. Melissa Melpignano (Dance) for a conversation on how to mobilize interdisciplinary methods to weave meaningful, long-lasting, and mutually enriching collaborations with community members and organizations. Allison Orr will share her successful community-engaged methodology as outlined in her book, published by Wesleyan University Press. With a background in anthropology and social work, Allison has created award-winning choreographies engaging the people whose work sustains our everyday lives in large-scale civic spectacles for audiences of 60 to 6,000+.
Praise for Orr’s book Dance Works: Stories of Creative Collaboration: “A spellbinding story of an artist’s journey to inspiring and facilitating creativity in ‘ordinary’ people. If more firefighters, sanitation workers, and electrical grid professionals were involved in ‘doing’ art as described here, the arts—and our communities—would be far healthier.” – Doug Borwick, author of Building Communities, Not Audiences and Engage Now! A Guide to Making the Arts Indispensable.
Time: 1:30 pm - 2:50 pm
Location: Biosciences Research Building Auditorium 2.168
Visual Representations of Border Water and Desert
“Desert Rivers” by Dr. Celina Osuna
“Claws of Border Wall at Rio Grande Valley: Elegía Por el Agua Fronteriza” by Mohammad Rubaiyat Rahman
“A textile documentation of the Rio Bravo Grande" by Jane Terrazas
Time: 11:00am- 12:30 pm
Location: 成人头条 Education Building 202
Live Transmission: UACJ – Instituto de Ciencias
Biomédicas – Audiovisual Felipe Fornelli –
Edificio K
Water, Health, and Civil Action in Texas and Paso del Norte
Presenter: Brandon Carrillo
Title: “Water Weavers: Cultivating a Collective Response to Water Challenges”
Description: Water Weavers is a community-oriented initiative aimed at deepening understanding and dialogue around water sustainability in El Paso. Recognizing the complexity and long-term nature of water security, the project seeks to engage various stakeholders—ranging from city officials to local businesses and educators—by providing them with tailored research materials. These resources are designed to shed light on how water issues uniquely impact different sectors and outline possible actions for addressing these challenges. Through fostering awareness and encouraging collaboration, Water Weavers aspires to lay the groundwork for future action, supporting the community in collectively navigating the path toward sustainable water management. Our approach is rooted in the belief that informed conversations today can lead to impactful decisions tomorrow, ensuring a water-secure future for El Paso.
Presenters: Yvonne Santiago (in person), Jennie Concha, and Sharlene Leurig
Title: “Poor drinking water quality: a major concern among low-income populations across Texas”
Description: Approximately 140,000 Texans live in unserved “colonias,” 1.3 million Texans live on unregulated groundwater wells, and as much as 18% of the state’s population drinks from utilities that have received health-based violations. In collaboration with Texas Water Trade, 成人头条 contracted with local Community Healthcare providers (“promotores”) to perform 650 household surveys to understand opinions, perceptions, and knowledge about their drinking water in El Paso County, Lower Rio Grande Valley, Metro Houston, and Dallas Fort Worth Metroplex.
The survey is not a comprehensive analysis but paints a picture of how low-income Texans view their drinking water and the expenses they incur in securing bottled water and purchasing trucked water when not connected to a public utility system. The survey also included an embedded analysis of behavioral factors to help us identify future interventions and outreach activities to encourage colonias residents to use point-of-use (POU) filtration systems as an alternative to have safe drinking water.
Presenter: Berenice Vasquez Bernal
Title: Sustainable Advertising: Cultural Aspects through Green Marketing in raising water awareness
Description: Market trends seek to satisfy the needs, desires, or limitations of consumers. Advertising has developed experiential aspects that raise awareness about the issues that sustainability addresses. The cultural aspect, combined with green marketing and sustainable advertising, seeks to persuade intelligent consumption, raising awareness not only about the use and purpose of a particular product, but also focusing on issues that concern the well-being of living beings, creating a relationship satisfaction with the brand on the impact on the planet. The waste, pollution and commercialization of water has been a focus of attention for some brands that seek, not only to market, but to promote its care; The visual narrative supported by rhetorical discourse emphasizes consumption habits, generating social behavior seeking an evolution in cultural formation. Water, as a vital resource, requires immediate media attention, to teach, through creative content, the importance of its consumption, use and preservation, taking advantage of high-reach advertising tools to raise awareness among old and new people. generations, having a memory not only of the brand, but a memorability of positive association to safeguard the wellbeing of the future of the planet, in the conservation and preservation of this natural resource.
Time: 1 - 3 pm
Location: 成人头条 Education Building 202
“The Wall,” dance performance by Human Nature Contemporary Ballet
The Wall is a dance work set to the music of Max Richter’s album Infra. The piece explores the stories and struggles of people living in the border area of El Paso and Juárez. This performance aims to bring light to the topics of femicide, deportation, and the journey people are willing to make for the promise of a better future. Reclaiming the term “wetback,” The Wall shows that the very water that divides us and is at times used to bring us down, can also be used to heal. The work had a first reiteration before the pandemic at the Borderland Heritage Festival in 2019.
Time: 3:30 - 4:00 pm
Location: 成人头条 Centennial Plaza
Choreographer: Rafael Chavez
Dancers: José Barraza, Rebeca Angelica Chavez, Rafael Chavez, Sarah Fuentes, Luis Llanes, Chandell Molinar, Kimberly Trigueros, Karen Valles.
Water, Water Everywhere: Water Resources at the 成人头条 Library
Many archival and book collections at 成人头条’s Library contain materials about the water resources in the Southwest. Records from government agencies, railroads as well as work by photographers, cartographers, writers and artists provide different points of view toward water. This exhibit will highlight some of these precious collections.
Time: 4:00 - 5:30 pm
Location: Third floor gallery, 成人头条 Library
Presenter: Claudia Rivers
Rio Bosque Wetlands Park 50th Celebration!
Experiencing the Bosque Workshops & Workday
When: 8:30 am - 12:00 pm
Where: Rio Bosque Wetlands Park
Events at Ciudad Ju谩rez
Opening of Painting Exhibit: "Puentes entre Fronteras: El Agua como un Vínculo de Paz"
Time: 10:00 am - 10:30 am
Location: Centro Cultural de las Fronteras - Ciudad Juárez
Water Conservation Workshop “Challenge of Sustainability: Conservation of the Hueco Bolson and Zero Waste Strategies”
By Ing. Edmundo Urrutia - Junta Municipal de Agua y Saneamiento (JMAS)
Time: 9:00 am - 11:00 am
Location: Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas - Edificio de Posgrado Auditorio G1
Painting Exhibit “Puentes entre Fronteras: El Agua como un Vínculo de Paz”
Time: Walk-ins welcome from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location: Centro Cultural de las Fronteras - Ciudad Juárez
Opening Binational Roundtable Plenary on "Bridging Borders: Leveraging Water for Peace"
Retransmission of Monday Session
Time: 9:00 am - 11:30 am
Location: Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas - Edificio de Posgrado Auditorio G1
Painting Exhibit “Puentes entre Fronteras: El Agua como un Vínculo de Paz”
Time: Walk-ins welcome from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location: Centro Cultural de las Fronteras - Ciudad Juárez
Binational Water Observatory
By Ing. Mario Vázquez
Time: 11:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas - Edificio de Posgrado Auditorio G1
Actions of Care at the Bosque
Retransmission of Monday session by Sergio Samaniego
Time: 1:30 am - 3:00 pm
Location: Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas - Edificio de Posgrado Auditorio G1
Asessing Global (in)stability Thriugh Water Data
Retransmission of Monday session
Time: 3:00 pm - 4:30 pm
Location: Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas - Edificio de Posgrado Auditorio G1
Water Bohemia Coffe Party
Time: 7:00 pm - 9:00 pm
Location: Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas - Edificio de Posgrado Auditorio G1
Painting Exhibit “Puentes entre Fronteras: El Agua como un Vínculo de Paz”
Time: Walk-ins welcome from 10:00 am - 6:00 pm
Location: Centro Cultural de las Fronteras - Ciudad Juárez
Water Tale Screenings
Time: 10:00 am - 1:00 pm
Location: Instituto de Ciencias Biomédicas – Audiovisual de Veterinaria “MVZ Jesús Trejo” - Edificio D
Closing of the UACJ Painting Exhibit “Puentes entre Fronteras: El Agua como un Vínculo de Paz”
Time: 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Location: Centro Cultural de las Fronteras Anillo Envolvente Jose Reyes Estrada #445, Zona Pronaf, Ciudad Juárez
Water Bohemia Coffee Party
Time: 5:00 pm - 7:00 pm
Location: Centro Cultural de las Fronteras Anillo Envolvente Jose Reyes Estrada #445, Zona Pronaf, Ciudad Juárez
The Fessinger-Springer and Margo Louise Springer Memorial Lectureship, and 成人头条 and UACJ collaborating departments.
