World Water Day

2026 event recap

City of Sedona, Oak Creek Watershed Council, and Arizona Water Company co-hosted the 3 rd annual Sedona World Water Day event on Saturday, March 21st , 2026, at Slide Rock State Park. This year’s event featured music, raffle prizes, worms, educational materials, and interactive activities focused on local water and environmental stewardship. Thank you to the following organizations for attending and bringing engaging activities to the community:

Arizona Attorney General’s Office hosted a booth to educate people about the importance of the Attorney General’s office and encouraged the public to get involved with voting. Their booth also led a water trivia game and covered updates on what the Attorney General’s office is doing to help protect water resources across the state.

Arizona Department of Environmental Quality hosted an interactive watershed pollution model and handed out pet waste baggies, camping utensil kits, and more!

Arizona Game and Fish had a booth dedicated to educating the community about invasive species and how they could impact the local environment.

Arizona State Parks & Slide Rock State Park donates state park passes for raffle prizes and toured visitors through the historic apple packing shed at Slide Rock State Park.

Arizona Water Company hosted a water cycle crafting activity and an interactive groundwater flow model with lesson materials loaned by Arizona Project WET.

Boyce Thompson Arboretum donated arboretum day passes for raffle prizes.

Verde River Growers donated native plants for raffle prizes.

City of Sedona led an interactive lesson modeling stormwater activity in the watershed and provided America the Beautiful national park passes.

Coconino National Forest had educational materials and activities related to local waterways, how to protect them, and how fires affect local water systems.

Coconino Plateau Water Advisory Council and Watershed Partnership shared the organization’s mission and efforts and featured large-scale maps of regional water supplies and demands.

Friends of the Verde River hosted an activity where people could make their own native seed bombs and spoke about the many opportunities with the organization like the Otter Spotter program.

Gardens of Humanity had educational materials explaining the purpose and mission of the organization, as well as a live exhibit of Vermiculture Composting with worms people would dig for and observe.

Keep Sedona Beautiful shared information related to the organization’s mission and had an activity encouraging people to think about who in their community uses water and shared stewardship.

Master Gardeners of Yavapai County encouraged the community to consider sustainable gardening practices in their our yards to support the local environment and had activities to support this message!

Oak Creek Watershed Council took visitors through the Tiny Wildlife Survey where participants counted and identified live macroinvertebrates down at the creek! They also hosted a litter activity to encourage people to consider the impact of their litter on the environment.

We greatly appreciate all the vendors who came out to educate the community this year and prior.

Check out this positive feedback from one of this year’s vendors:

“I am so proud and happy to have been a part of the World Water Day event at Slide Rock!

Proud, because all of our visitors were from other states or other parts of Arizona. Together, we presented a fun and informed community of Earth protectors, united by preserving the beauty and gifts of our ecosystem.

All the parts of our sustainability community show a solidarity of purpose and the joy of cooperating for the common good. I was proud that we were able to showcase our exceptional community, and to provide a living model for how the world can work.

Happy, because I felt a love and friendship with the other participants and saw how we spread this to others through our work together.

The children and parents were so happy to be surrounded by the beauty of Nature, and by the beauty of our united hearts. Our joy is a wonderful resource that we share with others.

Thank you for all the hard work you put in creating this event. Every detail was perfect! You are a great team!

WATER IS LIFE!

– Richard Sidy, Gardens for Humanity

Join us!

Interested in hosting an activity at next year’s event? Email savewater@azwater.com for more information!

RESOURCES

Want to learn more? Check out the following online resources from our World Water Day hosts for ongoing water education!

City of Sedona stormwater information: Storms and Stormwater | City of Sedona

Oak Creek Watershed information and updates: Resources – Oak Creek Watershed Council

Arizona Water Company hydrology education and water conservation hub: https://www.azwater.com/conservation/