UA News

In an upcoming episode of "Life After People," Kristine Uhlman is among those who will offer their expertise on the fate of Phoenix in the absence of humans.

Humans have, for centuries, manipulated the landscape to suit their purposes. Speculations about what might happen in their absence has been the raw material for a best-selling book, and now a television series.

Kristine Uhlman of the Water Resources Research Center at The University of Arizona was interviewed for an upcoming "Life After People" episode on The History Channel. The new series offers visually rich scenarios of the fate of our built environment over time when no one is left to maintain our creations. The segment featuring Uhlman investigates how long it might take for groundwater levels and desert rivers to recover with people no longer diverting them.

The May 19 program airs at 7 p.m. in Arizona, and will specifically look at Phoenix, an oasis created with, and maintained by, ever increasing amounts of water. Interviews with Uhlman and other scientists and visually compelling computer simulations will depict the fate of the nation's fifth largest city.

The ten-episode series postulates that humans won't be around forever. The fate of a particular environment, city or theme is examined in each of the various episodes. Special effects, combined with interviews from top experts in the fields of engineering, botany, biology, geology and archeology provide an unforgettable visual journey through the ultimately hypothetical.

By describing nature reclaiming modern metropolises like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C. and Phoenix, the series at the same time exposes some surprising insights about how they function today. Viewers learn how these places were built and why they were so significant.

The program's special effects show the epic destruction of iconic structures and buildings, from the Sears Tower in Chicago, the Houston Astrodome and New York's Chrysler Building to the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Big Ben will stop ticking within days. The International Space Station will plummet to earth within a few short years, while historic objects, like the Declaration of Independence and the mummified remains of Egyptian pharaoh Tutankhamun will remain for decades.

As an area agent for the UA Cooperative Extension, Kristine Uhlman has developed a state-wide educational outreach program on water resources and watershed planning, with a focus on water quality.

Uhlman has spent 30 years in hydrogeology, including a stint with the U.S. Geological Survey and several international consulting firms. Her work has included projects in mine-site restoration, water resource management, Superfund/environmental site clean-up and expert witness testimony.

As part of her extension mission, Uhlman has developed the Arizona NEMO Program with hydrologic modeling and pollutant risk assessment for the watersheds of the state. NEMO  (Non-point Education for Municipal Officials) is geared toward educating land use decision makers to make choices and take actions that will lessen non-point source pollution and protect natural resources.

Non-point source pollution, unlike pollution from industrial and sewage treatment plants, comes from many diffuse sources, including excess fertilizers, herbicides and insecticides from agricultural lands and residential areas; oil, grease and toxic chemicals from urban runoff and energy production; sediment from improperly managed construction sites, crop and forest lands and eroding streambanks; salt from irrigation practices and acid drainage from abandoned mines; and bacteria and nutrients from livestock, pet wastes and faulty septic systems.

A popular component of Uhlman's stakeholder engagement and outreach is the community volunteer monitoring of Arizona's perennial river flow. In her role as commissioner for the Arizona Water Protection Fund, she has supported the funding of river restoration projects across the state since 2004. Uhlman also is an associate editor for the journal Ground Water and the international Desert Journal (BIABAN) and a peer reviewer for the Journal of Extension. 

Uhlman has a bachelor's degree in hydrology from the UA and was, in 1974, the first woman to graduate from the hydrology program.  She also has a master's degree in civil engineering from Ohio State University.