(exciting music) (singers vocalizing) - Good evening and welcome to "Horizonte," a series that takes a look at current issues through a Hispanic lens.

I'm your host, Catherine Anaya.

Tonight we talk to one of the board members of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, a board charged with the delivery of Colorado River water through the Central Arizona Project canal.

Ylenia Aguilar is one of the new faces on the 15-member board with a unique perspective, having come to this country as an illegal immigrant.

She's now a US citizen with a mission to educate Spanish speakers and other communities about protecting the environment and conserving water.

You'll meet her in just a few moments, but first here's a short history of the Central Arizona Project.

- This morning we have come here to sign another bill that will help assure us of the water that we need.

This bill, as all of you know, is the Colorado River Basin Bill.

This will be one of the largest reclamation projects that's ever authorized in any single piece of legislation.

Colorado River begins high in the snowcapped Rockies.

For an entire region of America, this great river, therefore, is the lifeline of survival, lifeline of growth, and of prosperity, and of hope.

Next to the air that we breathe, water is our most precious resource.

Each year, civilization's appetite for water doubles and then redoubles.

It takes 70,000 gallons of water to produce a single ton of steel.

It takes 500,000 gallons of water to irrigate a single acre of California orchard land.

As our demand surges and our population grows, the earth's supply of water remains constant.

That supply has not changed in 5,000 years.

- Fortunately, a group of great men, Carl Hayden, and Mo Udall, and Stew Udall, and John Rhodes, and Barry Goldwater, they all got together in a bipartisan fashion and the Central Arizona Project was born.

It was a many-year effort.

Phoenix would not be what it is today.

Tucson would not be what it's today.

Our valley would never have been able to grow the way that it has without the CAP water getting an authorization through the Congress of the United States.

That was a key element, and it took 'em a long time to do it.

- Joining me now is Ylenia Aguilar, a member of the Central Arizona Water Conservation District, and I should mention, a member of the Osborn School District governing board.

It is so nice to meet you and have you here in person.

- Thank you.

It's nice to be here.

Thank you for this opportunity.

- Well, thank you.

So congratulations on all you've accomplished in less than 10 years after becoming a US citizen.

You've lived in the US as an undocumented immigrant for years before you became a citizen, which was in 2014, and you voted for the first time just two years later.

Do you ever sit and process exactly what you've been able to do in just a short amount of time?

- That's a great question.

I think that my story isn't unique.

There are millions of undocumented, and the fact that I was able to gain path to citizenship was something that I didn't anticipate.

And as I did gain my status, and I did run for my first election, which was school board, I haven't stopped since then.

So no, I haven't really stopped to process anything that has happened to me.

I am grateful, though.

However, I do feel like it's just moving so fast and there's no stop because during my school board we had a pandemic, and now we're facing a water crisis.

So there really isn't a lot of time to stop and reflect.

There's just a lot of taking action.

- Yes, and you have been so busy, like you said, nonstop.

You are also a first in both positions that you hold.

And you know, I should mention that one of the names that was on the ballot when you first voted was your own back in 2016 when you ran and won for that seat on the Osborn School District governing board.

What motivated you to run for that position?

- Yeah, so during that time both of my kids, now they're older.

One's in college studying sustainability at NAU, and the youngest is a high school student.

But at the time, they were both students in the Osborn School District.

So there weren't any parents on the board who had children in the district, and there was no Latino representation.

So it was really great to join the board and advocate not only for Latino parents, but also the dual-language program, which, for me being bilingual, biliterate, bicultural, it's opened every door that I've had professionally.

So I wanted to continue on that legacy, expanding the program to seventh and eighth grade, and also ensure that the voice of our families was represented through my leadership.

And yeah, it was like incredible.

And I do remember that still, voting for the first time ever, and seeing my name on the ballot - [Catherine] I can't imagine.

- Yes, it's still like an a-ha moment and something that I'll never forget.

- Well, you know, we mentioned that you are the first Latina on both boards, but for you to be on the conservation district board, I mean this is, tell me about what that feeling is like for you because you have been a lifelong environmentalist.

I mean, is this a dream come true for you?

- It definitely is more in line with my academic passions.

And I do believe that as a child, and someone who is indigenous of Mexico, and my grandmother and my ancestors, we've always believed in protecting the planet and taking care of our water, our resources.

They're finite, and if we are not protecting them we are going to continue experiencing the climate changes disruptions that we're experiencing currently.

And it is kind of like a dream come true.

It's a full circle, because advocating for education was amazing because I am here as a result of quality education.

I went to more than 20 different schools, had amazing teachers who encouraged me, empowered me, but actually advocating for things that I really care about like water and the environment really make me feel like I'm fulfilled, I'm living the dream, and very lucky to say that, right?

Like from being undocumented, to path to citizenship, to actually working in green tech and advocating for the environment and specifically the Colorado River, is definitely something that I don't take lightly.

- Well, you do have a lot of work ahead of you.

In this role you oversee the Central Arizona Project.

That is that 336-mile canal that we saw earlier, the canal system that brings Colorado River water to the valley.

So tell me a little bit about how you plan to use your position, especially your personal journey along with that, to bring awareness to the Latino community in particular when it comes to developing that deep connection, the education, and the awareness of the environment and of water conservation.

- So the first thing, and I'm really excited it already happened, is language access.

So most people don't know what the Central Arizona Water Conservation District Board is.

Most people don't know what CAP is, which is the Central Arizona Project, which is the canal system that we operate and maintain for the delivery of water to all three counties, which is Maricopa County, Pima, Pinal.

Very, very important.

So we are pretty much a water wholesaler.

We deliver water to cities, municipalities, agriculture, and tribes.

And that's so important because we need to think about the voiceless communities, the underserved communities.

In this instance, they aren't women and children.

These are our Latino communities.

Like these are our agricultural workers, people working in the fields, picking our fruits and vegetables and our produce.

And these are gonna be the communities that are gonna be the most impacted by what is happening currently with the Colorado River, which we all know that because the water that goes into this canal system is from the Colorado River, meaning that the water, the snow melt that needs to come from there is from the Rockies.

So we are learning that there's a lot of snow and rain that's been happening recently that is really creating a surplus for SRP.

So educating our community about the difference, right?

Like most people know that there's rain and snow, and why are we still experiencing a drought?

It's talking to our community in the language that they know, which is, for the English language community that speaks Spanish, Spanish.

But I don't just want to ensure that we translate our website, but we're also creating videos, and education, and a campaign that educates about conservation, and what does it mean to conserve at home.

And for most of us, if we're coming from Latin American countries, conservation is something that we're familiar with, right?

In our developing countries we don't get to just turn on the tap and waste water.

That doesn't happen.

So it's not something that's unfamiliar to us, but we need to go back to those practices that we had in our countries and apply them here because we want to ensure that we have a planet for our future generations.

Like, I'm a mother of two boys and I definitely want to make this a better place for them, and for my grandchildren, and all children, and all future generations.

So that's definitely like the goal.

- Well, you talked about supporting and advocating for the agriculture community and the farm workers.

What happens when we don't do that?

What happens when we don't support them?

- Yeah, so they're one of the most vulnerable population.

And what will happen, what is happening, is we are noticing it already when we're going to the grocery store.

Like our prices and food are going up.

And guess who can't afford food?

These communities.

They're already living in poverty, and they're the ones that are gonna be directly impacted because of the loss of jobs, because of the high increase in food price prices on top of inflation, and housing issues, and all these other variables that impact our Latino community, especially that community that is working really hard to pick our produce, and doesn't really have a voice, or the advocacy that they need.

- Well, I'm gonna ask you a question, and we only have a minute left, but I'll see how you answer this because I know you probably get this a lot.

I mean, you're very impressive in all that you've been able to accomplish.

Have you considered a future in politics at some point?

- I don't discard the idea, but right now I'm passionate about ensuring that what I'm doing on the water board is educating our community and really fighting for ensuring equity.

And for the next five years that's what I'm gonna be doing.

and I'm very passionate about it, but I don't discard that idea for the future.

- Well, I love that.

We love hearing that.

And congratulations on all your success.

It's just been tremendous.

And like I said, you've been a first, and sometimes that's a little difficult to be the first, right?

(chuckling) - It's the only way we can build a bench.

- Absolutely.

- So there can be other people like us.

- Yes.

So thank you for being a pioneer, and for going out and educating the community on some very important issues.

Thanks for being here.

- Thank you for this opportunity.

- It's a pleasure to meet you.

Continued success.

- Thank you.

- Thank you.

That's our show for tonight.

For "Horizonte" and Arizona PBS, thank you so much for joining us.

I'm Catherine Anaya.

Have a great night.

(exciting music) (singers vocalizing)