Award Winner: 
Environmental Quality Community Science Alliance

The Community Science Program earned the inaugural Excellence in Government Award as part of the Governor’s Office success recognition program on January 27, 2025. 

In 2017, the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality launched the Community Science Program to empower communities and better monitor the state’s 114,000 square miles of land and waterways. The program trains community scientists all over the state–including retirees, students and many others–to collect water, air and soil samples that provide public health data.

“What we are trying to get to is safe water, clean air and healthy land for everyone. Arizonans care about the communities they live in, so the Arizona Community Science Alliance Program allows them to get involved with how we at ADEQ protect public health and the environment in Arizona,” said ADEQ Deputy Director Karen Peters.

The volunteers work with Community Science and Education Coordinator Meghan Smart to do everything from collecting water quality samples, air quality data, wet-dry mapping and even trash cleanups.

“All of this data really helps us fix problems once they’re found,” said Smart.

The program has facilitated the cleanup of over 70,000 tons of contaminated material from Arizona’s surface waters and land; Eight water bodies have been removed from the impaired surface water list as a result of the work that these volunteers have helped ADEQ conduct. 

The Arizona Water Dogs and students at Grand Canyon University are among the community scientists who have together uploaded 47,000 total water records.

Lorley Eastburn and Burt Eastburn volunteer for the program as the Arizona Water Dogs. Lorley said they call themselves the Water Dogs because they’ve had dogs for years and have always brought them out to Arizona rivers. 

“I was reading the news one day and the title was ‘would you like to be a citizen scientist doing water samples?’” said Lorley Eastburn. “And I told Burt, you’re out there Monday, Wednesday and Friday as it is… so I said why don’t you do this?” 

The couple now have 52 sites where they collect samples and conduct E.coli tests, which Smart says is the number one impairment in the state. Because there are so many possible sources of E.coli, it’s hard to pinpoint. 

“The volunteers [are] like an army of people who care. And they’ve been trained to collect critical data,” Smart said. 

Students from Grand Canyon University are also among the Community Science Program’s volunteers. As part of a class, students test for total coliforms (a group of bacteria that can indicate contamination with fecal matter) and E.coli. 

Kyleigh Howell, a junior at GCU studying environmental science, said the class has seen water quality improve since they began testing.  

“We’ve seen a lot of different progressions in the water quality since I’ve started. I’ve seen a lot of improvements in the lower Salt River specifically in our E.coli levels over the past year,” she said. “This is a community we all live in and we all care about, so seeing how the changes are improving the community for the people around us is really amazing.”

Elijah Hawkins, a senior at GCU studying environmental science, noted that the class’s testing sites tend to be upstream of agricultural areas to ensure that produce and drinking water aren’t contaminated. Students are getting hands-on experience in gathering data that can protect communities. 

“I believe it starts right here in our own individual communities, and so participating in that is essential to getting toward a larger goal of what we want for our state, our cities and our country,” he said.

The Community Science Program is among the first of its kind for regulatory agencies in the nation. It has facilitated the collection of thousands of credible environmental data records to safeguard our environment and enhance our understanding of environmental health. 

It’s a professional honor for program coordinator Smart, but it’s also a personal one.

“I love this program because I get to work with amazing people,” she said. “They’re not just people. They’re not just volunteers. You’ve established a relationship with these people and the community. And they have taught us about the communities in which they live; their regular Arizona daily life—and the partnership and finding solutions together is my joy.”

If you are interested in learning more or volunteering for the program, visit the ADEQ website.

Award Finalist:
Office of Youth, Faith and Family Council on Aging Listening Sessions

The Aging Council Listening Sessions initiative was honored as a finalist for the inaugural Excellence in Government Award as part of the Governor’s Office success recognition program on January 27, 2025. 

Arizona is facing some stark realities related to the aging population. According to the Arizona State Plan on Aging 2023-2026,  in the next five years, there will be more older adults than young children. By 2030, the older adult population will increase by nearly 50%.

According to the Foundation for Senior Living, one out of 10 seniors face food insecurity; seniors are also the number one growing population experiencing homelessness. 

In 2024, the Governor's Office of Youth, Faith and Family, on behalf of the Governor’s Advisory Council on Aging, collaborated with various stakeholders to host community listening sessions to understand the needs of aging adults in Arizona, especially within underserved populations. Sessions were held in Parker, Oro Valley, and Tucson, including one at the Dunbar Pavilion, a historic cultural center that plays a vital role in Tucson’s African American community.

Barbara Lewis, vice president of the Dunbar Pavilion, attended a session in October 2024. Although she initially wasn’t interested, she ended up being grateful for the opportunity for her to share her experiences and hear from peers. 

“I’m so very glad I did [participate]. If we have more, I will urge other people to do the same,” she said. “Young and older [people] talked about things that were needed in the aging population in Arizona.” 

Some of the issues that came up were the challenges of living on fixed incomes, increased living expenses, the fear of falling as an older adult, the limited opportunities for socializing, lack of access to high-quality meals, confusion about technology, and much more. Participants emphasized the need for affordable housing, caregiver support, and help navigating community resources. The Aging Council is now working on education, programming, and more to respond to this community feedback. 

The Aging Council Vice Chair Carol Brown said that it’s important to give older adults a voice so that they can share their fears, successes, and ideas with the people who can take action.

“There’s a lot of work to be done. And yes, there are challenges that we are facing,” said Brown. “But when we shine a light on it… we are going to see things change. And we’re going to see things improve. Our older adults will benefit from that, yes, but so will their caregivers. So will their family members. And so will the communities.”