Director, Arizona Department of Water Resources

Director Buschatzke serves as Arizona’s principal negotiator on matters relating to the Colorado River, is the Chairman of the Arizona Water Banking Authority and Co-Chair of the Drought Inter-Agency Coordinating Council and represents the State in Indian water right negotiations.

Director Buschatzke possesses over thirty years of experience in water management and has been a member of several statewide long-term water planning initiatives including serving as Co-Chair of the Statewide Water Resources Development Commission, the Governor’s Blue Ribbon Panel on Water Sustainability where he served as Co-Chair of the Regulatory and Permitting Group and was an active participant in the Statewide Water Advisory Group and Governor’s Drought Task Force. 

During his twenty-four year tenure with the City of Phoenix, he served as the Water Resources Management Advisor and was responsible for policy development for management of the City’s water resources and worked with directly with the City’s executive staff, the City Manager, the Mayor, and with members of the City Council on a variety of water issues.  He began his career with the City in 1988 as a Hydrologist in the Law Department where he provided assistance to City management and attorneys on issues relating to the City’s water rights, water use and water supply.

In addition, he has been on the Board of Directors of the Western Urban Water Coalition and served as Chair of their Endangered Species Act Committee.  He was previously a Commissioner on the Arizona Water Banking Authority and the Arizona Water Protection Fund. 

Previously he served on the External Advisory Committees of the University of Arizona’s Water Sustainability Program and Water Resources Research Center and the Decision Center for A Desert City at Arizona State University.  He has been a member of the Colorado River Water User’s Association; American Water Resources Association; and the American Water Works Association.

Director Buschatzke’s career in Arizona water resources began with a 1982 Arizona Department of Water Resources internship in the Phoenix Active Management Area and he ultimately became a Program Manager in the Adjudications Division.  He holds a Bachelor of Science in Geology from the State University of New York at Cortland.

President-emeritus and Senior Fellow, Pacific Institute

Dr. Peter Gleick is a leading scientist, innovator, and communicator on water and climate issues. He co-founded the Pacific Institute in Oakland, California in 1987, one of the most innovative, independent non-governmental research centers, creating and advancing solutions to the world’s most pressing water challenges. He is currently President-emeritus and Senior Fellow at the Institute. Dr. Gleick is a scientist trained at the intersection of hydrology, climatology, and policy. His work has redefined water from the realm of engineers to the world of social justice, sustainability, human rights, and integrated thinking. He developed one of the earliest analyses of the consequences of climate change for water resources, the earliest comprehensive work on water and conflict, and defined basic human needs for water and the human right to water – work that has been used by the United Nations and in human rights court cases. He pioneered the concept of the “soft path for water,” developed the idea of “peak water,” and has written about the history and background of the growing bottled water phenomenon.

Dr. Gleick is a MacArthur “genius” Fellow, an elected member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). In 2019 he was awarded the Carl Sagan Prize for Science Popularization. He received his B.S. from Yale University and an M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Gleick serves on the boards of numerous journals and organizations, and is the author or editor of many scientific papers and twelve books, including the influential series The World’s Water, Bottled and Sold: The Story Behind Our Obsession with Bottled Water, and A Twenty-First Century U.S. Water Policy. His most recent book, The Three Ages of Water: Prehistoric Past, Imperiled Present, and a Hope for the Future, was published in 2023 by PublicAffairs/Hachette.

Inaugural Director of sustainability and Impact, Earthjustice

As an active change agent for sustainability and equity with national and local impact, Jasmin (she/her) has more than 15 years of experience in local government, strategic planning, policy development, coalition building, and integrating sustainability and equity into decision-making.

Jasmin is the Inaugural Director of Sustainability and Impact for Earthjustice, the largest environmental law organization in the world. Under her leadership, the organization is integrating sustainability into decision-making at all levels, practicing the sustainable future that we want to see.  Before joining Earthjustice, Jasmin spent a decade serving three local governments in Kansas where she was the sustainability leader and resource to over 4,500 employees and more than 700,000 residents.

Jasmin is a member of the American Institute of Certified Planners, holds a Master of Science Degree in Community & Regional Planning from the University of Texas at Austin School of Architecture, and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Applied Behavioral Science from the University of Kansas.

Jasmin lives in Kansas City, MO with her partner and two children. Her favorite season is spring, whose arrival is official when the daffodils bloom in her front yard. Reading brings her joy. Two favorites on her bookshelf include Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teaching of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer and Emergent Strategy by Adrienne Maree Brown.