Happy Monday! It's World Teachers' Day.

• ⭐️ Gold stars all around for the educators who keep our classrooms going.

☀️ Today's weather: Sunny, with a high of 98.

🎧 Sounds like: "Take Me to the River" by Talking Heads

Today’s newsletter is 927 words — a 3.5-minute read.

Mesa is weighing how to replace Colorado River water it expects to lose starting next year, including with recycled wastewater.

Why it matters: Looming cuts to Arizona's river supply are putting pressure on the city to line up replacement supplies before deeper shortages hit.

Driving the news: Officials are set to evaluate the city's long-term water supply plans during Thursday's City Council study session, though a vote is not expected.

Catch up quick: About half of the city's water comes from the river, but Mesa's share of the cuts is still unclear as the Lower Basin states — Arizona, California and Nevada — work out how to divide the reductions.

• Local officials say alternative supplies will become increasingly important after 2030.

The big picture: Nearly all of Mesa's treated wastewater is reused today, and the city is now participating in regional planning on a project that could eventually turn wastewater into drinking water.

State of play: Mesa is helping fund a Phoenix-led regional study of a planned advanced water purification facility at the Phoenix 91st Avenue wastewater treatment plant, which would further treat wastewater so it can be used as drinking water.

• The study will determine how participating utilities could receive their share.

Yes, but: Piping purified water all the way from the Phoenix facility would be expensive and complicated, Joe Giudice, Mesa's water resource director, tells Axios.

• Instead, the city is in preliminary talks with its 91st Avenue project partners — Phoenix, Glendale, Scottsdale, EPCOR utilities and others — over a proposed water exchange in which Phoenix uses the highly purified water and Mesa receives Salt and Verde River supplies, Giudice tells Axios.

Between the lines: In Scottsdale, critics dubbed this purification technology "toilet to tap."

• But official water experts say "advanced purified water is the cleanest water that we can produce today."

Zoom out: Mesa's long-term water strategy is a mix of Salt and Verde River supplies, groundwater conservation, stored reserves, wastewater reuse and innovative projects like advanced water purification and even desalination, says Giudice.

The bottom line: Giudice says residents have a role, too.

• "We live in a desert, so adapt a desert lifestyle," he says.

Dive deeper

Axios Local helps you make sense of what's happening in your community and why it matters. Our journalism is free to read, but it takes resources to produce.

📍 Become a member today to support the reporters doing the work and help make more local reporting possible for everyone.

Thank you for reading and supporting local journalism.

Mesa wants to pay you thousands to save water.

Why it matters: Residents can qualify for hundreds or even thousands of dollars for water-efficient upgrades around the house.

How it works: Several kinds of property upgrades qualify:

• Mesa's popular Landscape Irrigation Equipment Incentive provides up to $20,000 per property for efficient irrigation equipment like smart controllers, high efficiency nozzles and flow sensors.
• Plus, homeowners can get up to $2,100 for replacing at least 500 square feet of grass with desert-friendly landscaping while commercial properties qualify for up to $50,000 for replacing at least 2,500 square feet.

By the numbers: The city says 46 residential and 12 commercial grass-to-xeriscape projects were completed in fiscal year 2025, replacing nearly 185,000 square feet of grass with desert landscaping.

• The city estimates those projects will save about 5 million gallons of water each year.
• Since the program launched in 2007, it has saved more than 300 million gallons.

What they're saying: "These individual choices add up; it's a win-win for our residents and the city," Lauren Whittaker, deputy director of the city of Mesa's Environmental and Sustainability Department, tells Axios.

Tell your neighbor

🏙️ Mesa wants to stand out in metro Phoenix. Mayor Mark Freeman says the city's outdated image doesn't capture its growing sports, entertainment and business scenes, so officials are giving the brand a refresh. (KJZZ)

🗳️ Today is the deadline to register for Mesa's Nov. 3 election. Early voting begins Wednesday. (City of Mesa)

🎸 Stage 12 West, a new restaurant and music venue, opened Friday in the former 12 West Brewing space in downtown Mesa. Its hidden Jolie's Secret Speakeasy is scheduled to open Friday. (KTAR)

🏨 The Valley's first Tempo by Hilton has opened in southeast Mesa, sharing one building with a Homewood Suites near Gateway Airport and Cannon Beach. The 174-room property also has a chophouse, pool, cabanas and event lawn. (AZ Big Media)

We survived summer. Now comes the glorious stretch of patio dinners, desert hikes and packed weekends.

Why it matters: Fall's a sprint in Mesa, so make the most of it.

Here's a list of events I marked on my calendar for October.

🌽 Get lost in a corn maze: Vertuccio Farms' Fall Festival runs through Oct. 31, with pumpkins, a petting zoo, ropes course, barrel train, giant slide, mini golf and carnival games.

🛍️ Shop after sunset: The free Downtown Mesa Sunset Market is 5-9pm Friday at Main and Macdonald streets, with local vendors, food and live music.

🎸 Find your new favorite band: The free Mesa Music Festival brings three days of emerging artists to downtown Oct. 15–17.

🌕 Hike under the full moon: A ranger will lead a 2.2-mile sunset and full-moon hike at Usery Mountain Regional Park on Oct. 24. Registration is required and space is limited.

🕯️ Spend an evening with Edgar Allan Poe: Southwest Shakespeare Company stages "Whispers in the Dark" Oct. 15–25 at Mesa Arts Center, using soundscapes and immersive staging to bring Poe's gothic stories to life.

All events

💧 I am suddenly reconsidering how long I really need to run the shower.

This newsletter was edited by Astrid Galván.